Teacher writes loser on 6 grader's paper

Thinking along the lines of what I think this teacher is trying to do, while I do not agree with his approach.

That saying a little humiliation never hurt anyone. Before you jump on me, I mean the child who wants everything done for him and that imo, is best left to a parent to decide. Not a teacher.

Now, if I were this kids mother. I would completely turn this around on the teacher. I would sit down and explain to my child why I thought the teacher made the decision he did, what was right and wrong about it age appropriately. I would make sure my child understood what I was hoping to demonstrate for him.....

and if I felt my child were capable. I would utilize this opportunity as a parent to teach my child a lesson in self empowerment. The two of us would approach the school board and hopefully many other parents. Then I would allow my child ( if he or she wanted) to speak up and ask the teacher just how to explain his decision if the roles were reversed.

Or at least I would find some way to explain to my child. a bully only bullies because they feel weak and they don't know how to express their feelings. In other words it is their feelings of inferiority..... and then I would ask this teacher who finds it OK TO TELL LITTLE KIDS THEY ARE LOSERS how he might feel if he was in X situation. Just so he can perhaps explain that he has a good reason and understands the shoe on the other foot.

then he can explain why he chose a career as a teacher and not a child pscyhologist and just why he thinks it is his business to take that approach and what avenues he has chosen before making this choice..... In a huge arena so ALL the parents can know just why his choice is so right.

that is what I would do.

Cubby said:

not only did he write loser, but -20%. Then the article goes on to say SOME parents actually defend this guys style of teaching because it helps him relate to the kids? What kids? The ones who don't learn respect that we'll be reading about here 20 years from now?

This teacher needs to be fired, never be allowed to teach again and stay away from ANY employment putting him around children.

Un real.

I wonder what the school board will have to say about this.

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helps him relate to bully kids im sure.

what a .

humiliation never hurt anyone?

oh i forgot your a cubs fan

Look, these words are thrown around too liberally. My students call each other horrible names and laugh, and often use things like the El Stinko comment, loser, gay, whatever... we've all used words like this to ridicule each other, or quietly make snide comments in the home.

It goes beyond comprehension why a teacher would try to speak like his students to relate to them instead of model appropriate behavior.

As a teacher, I use "code switching" all the time, using language like "madd much" and "that's ill" to drive a point or make an impact sometimes. Kids remember the content this way. However, I can't understand why this teacher would call a kid a loser even in jest. Just wrong, black and white.

my $0.02

kbl8201 said:

humiliation never hurt anyone?

oh i forgot your a cubs fan

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and now I remember why you might relate.
You had Bill Buckner too.

and you half quoted me. I said " a little " first, in other words everything in moderation.
Just to make sure I clarify what I meant to say. Hey Hey!

Cubby said:

and now I remember why you might relate.
You had Bill Buckner too.

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we had nomar too but not the stupid goat :dance:

At 6, I don't think there is a lot of content that a child can even be a "loser" at. If there is problems with spelling/writing, it could be dyslexia or a severe astygmatism. (sp?) Calling a child a "loser" is bound to make a negative impression that will need multitudes of positive accolades to overcome. Sounds like the teacher is too concerned with his popularity vs actually teaching his students.

Mr. E said:

Wow. The lack of professionalism is staggering.

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Truly staggering.

These are the people who are educating our children?

Linda7NJ said:

WHAT?


Somebody would have a very sore butt tonight had that been my son!

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One of my sons was homeschooled until he decided to attend public school in 6th grade. He had a math teacher who continually wrote little "notes" like this. She got the surprise of her life when my boy brought home a couple of papers for me to sign, and I copied them and went to visit the counselor and then the principal. When that teacher came into the conference and saw me sitting there with the copies of her rude comments, she did not know which way to turn.

Teachers can be wonderful, or they can be Satan incarnate. I'm glad this came to public attention, and I hope this kid knows the teacher has a problem, not him......that took some effort when trying to teach my son. Kids tend to pay attention to what authority figures tell them, even when the authority is an azz.

Celt1997 said:

Ugh teacher's like this are the reason I am so against teacher strikes and teachers' unions. Teachers like this are protected by the system until they finally royally screw up.

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PREFACE: my mom and mother-in-law are both retired teachers, with decades of experience in public schools. I attended college for my teaching degree, stopped two semesters shy of graduating----hubby and I were both in college and we figured I'd go back when he graduated, but babies came and I never went back. So when I say this, it is coming from someone who is intimately acquainted with the public school system.

Teacher's unions and tenure are the WORST thing that ever happened to public school. It is amazingly easy to be sub-standard on every single level and still have job security. Sub-standard, abusive teachers are passed from district to district without the new district being informed of the teacher's history of abuse or stupidity.

I HATE hearing about crap like this. My husband is a geologist/petroleum engineer and if he acted like this teacher, he'd be unemployed. Quickly. The same should happen to this teacher, because whatever he was doing by writing the word "LOSER" on the child's papers, I will guarantee you that he was NOT JOKING.

IMHO there are some people that have no business teaching.

There are some people that shouldn't work with children---period.

What an arse. JMHO.

SunnieRN said:

At 6, I don't think there is a lot of content that a child can even be a "loser" at. If there is problems with spelling/writing, it could be dyslexia or a severe astygmatism. (sp?) Calling a child a "loser" is bound to make a negative impression that will need multitudes of positive accolades to overcome. Sounds like the teacher is too concerned with his popularity vs actually teaching his students.

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I thought 6 yr old too, but this was a grade on a 6th grade test. Big difference imo. The student is closer to applying for college than he is for early intervention imo at this age.

Just shy of a young man, some old man thinks calling him a loser is going to somehow improve his students future?

A never married single momma- who is wondering how I might afford 9700 a year for parochial HS- on a dream- but thinking that I will never retire for a good reason!

I don't need jack mules like this teacher calling my kid any kind of name. He'd be "doing the donkey" instead of imitating hannah montana's bone dance in our child teacher world.

Yer' Out!

No offense to teachers, but when you teach at a parochial schools you make less money but make a better impact! JMO

only loser i see is the one who wrote it on the paper.

maybe it was a self description.

I seem to remember all those little kids we've all read about who get hauled off to a mental ward or in cuffs for throwing things and kicking. This adult male threw a pencil box into the hall and got the girl into trouble with another teacher who thought she'd done it. I guess adult men can throw hissy fits, but not little kids. And, why is this math teacher turning out students with a -20 in the first place. He shouldn't be correcting anything, he should be giving a little extra credit for the kid doing corrections and redoing some problems themselves when they take the paper home for parents to look over. He sounds like he's very over dramatic and a tantrum pencil box throwing type of person who's now in national news and on Yahoo due to his bad behavior at school.

My 8th grade teacher once told me I was going to end up pregnant.... when I was washing my hands in the rest room, because I was allowed to go out with a group and a boy back in 1980.

She was right, I got preggo 22 years later....

Now this you are gonna end up pregnant kid goes there and got!
25 A's out of 27 marks...

at the same school!


and I will double triple dare,

give me any 1st grade 7 year old BOY (because you know boys are just failing in all neck of the woods these days according to the news) Boys are the newly 'frail' according to the news and MENS groups.


Mine is bored studying match and science in 1st grade. We have asked for 2nd to 4th grade math.

Find me a school where my kid can start learning a second language IN GRADE SCHOOL , and I will show you a VERY proud never married single mom. I have piles of papers I collect along the way on chinese and Hindi writing...... Because in our world, when our kids are grown 20 years from now... we need to think about their future.

Right now two words, principals office. It works like juvi... when you tell them
you are lucky to go here, they do not have to allow you to continue giong to school here.

and mine saw mom was not kidding with some kid who was in and out in a day and a half in KG.



I would sweep the guy in golf lesson for preschoolers with the numnuts who calls kids losers on his grading scale....

Yep, I went there.

mae said:

Truly staggering.

These are the people who are educating our children?

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No, this is just one person. Most educators wouldn't even think of being so cruel as to call a student an ugly name.

laura08 said:

Teacher should be fired! I wonder which cracker jack box he pulled his degree from. That child is beautiful!! Teacher says his way of joking, I assume if a child told him you are a loser he would have the child in the office quickly.

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I agree with you & the rest of the posters on here who thinks that he should be fired. Sign me up! If she were my daughter, he would get his behind kicked. What kind of an adult would pick on a child & calls them names, etc.? That's very unprofessional & very immature.

Cubby said:

not only did he write loser, but -20%. Then the article goes on to say SOME parents actually defend this guys style of teaching because it helps him relate to the kids? What kids? The ones who don't learn respect that we'll be reading about here 20 years from now?

This teacher needs to be fired, never be allowed to teach again and stay away from ANY employment putting him around children.

Un real.

I wonder what the school board will have to say about this.

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Of course he can relate to the kids, he has stooped to about the 6th grade level.
The idea is to raise the level of communication not lower it by reducing himself to name calling as children might do.

Heck we don't even allow name calling here on WS because it is beneath our level of intelligence. My dad always told me that once the cursing and name calling begins, it is because the offender has run out of intelligent vocabulary.

I think this guy is the exception not the rule and am thankful for that.

Linda7NJ said:

WHAT?


Somebody would have a very sore butt tonight had that been my son!

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Huh ?

Cubby said:

My 8th grade teacher once told me I was going to end up pregnant.... when I was washing my hands in the rest room, because I was allowed to go out with a group and a boy back in 1980.

She was right, I got preggo 22 years later....

Now this you are gonna end up pregnant kid goes there and got!
25 A's out of 27 marks...

at the same school!


and I will double triple dare,

give me any 1st grade 7 year old BOY (because you know boys are just failing in all neck of the woods these days according to the news) Boys are the newly 'frail' according to the news and MENS groups.


Mine is bored studying match and science in 1st grade. We have asked for 2nd to 4th grade math.

Find me a school where my kid can start learning a second language IN GRADE SCHOOL , and I will show you a VERY proud never married single mom. I have piles of papers I collect along the way on chinese and Hindi writing...... Because in our world, when our kids are grown 20 years from now... we need to think about their future.

Right now two words, principals office. It works like juvi... when you tell them
you are lucky to go here, they do not have to allow you to continue giong to school here.

and mine saw mom was not kidding with some kid who was in and out in a day and a half in KG.



I would sweep the guy in golf lesson for preschoolers with the numnuts who calls kids losers on his grading scale....

Yep, I went there.

Click to expand...

My son (mentioned in an earlier post) who got the negative messages written on his math papers had tested FOUR grade levels above 6th grade.....but they stuck him in a "regular" math class because, apparently, to pass the LEAP test in Louisiana, a child must be able to write his answers down with sentences, instead of just writing "20,978." Like this: When I add 2 to the number 20, 976, the answer is 20,978." "Regular" in his school really amounted to "Dummy Class" because so many of the students were far behind grade level.

My poor kid had been doing algebra at home, and he was stuck in a 6th grade class with a teacher who was WAY past her prime and who held a grudge against home-schoolers. She'd write things like "Let's see if algebra helps you now!" and "oh, even a three year old could write a better sentence."

I guess it is pretty obvious by now that I absolutely hate the public school system. Apologies to those who give a care and try to do their best in the system, but nothing I have seen in a public school can come close to comparing with an education.