Re: Best & Worst School Teachers

The head teacher at my elementary school (4-14) was evil, and would be serving a long prison sentence today for cruelly physically abusing children from deprived backgrounds!

Most of the teachers at the Ladies College I attended for my secondary education would have not looked out of place in Harry Potter's Hogwarts. The Latin Master claimed to be the ghost of a prophet!

I am still in touch with my excellent geography teacher, a lady in her mid 80s. she is lovely and now I am in my 60s and an OAP I am permitted to call her by her first name. However when I visit her I still feel as if I should be sitting to attention and putting my hand up before I speak.

Re: Best & Worst School Teachers

I think mine were a pretty mediocre lot, a couple rose above mediocre but not by much and at least one didn't even aspire to be mediocre. 1950's shortages of teachers I guess.

For grammar school teachers they were a pretty poor lot - couldn't wait to leave and did so the day the 'O' levels were over.


Now a sports college with mathematics? is that a joke?

Re: Best & Worst School Teachers

One teacher at my old school would not have been out of place as a guard in a German concentration camp - he was pure evil and a real sadist!!!

Re: Best & Worst School Teachers

My headmaster (and hubby's too, tho' we have a gap of 5 years) was a sadist and sexual predator! He shoved a boy down concrete steps and broke his leg .. us girls would only go to his office in pairs.
He was awarded an MBE or some such for his services to education!
Can you imagine him getting away with it now?
Despite him, we had some good teachers - I loved my English teachers, art and needlecraft (I helped with costumes and scenery and learning lines for school plays - invariably Shakespeare)
Science and biology teachers were good fun, Mr. Atkins and Mr. Parry. I learnt a lot from the teachers I liked.

Re: Best & Worst School Teachers

The teacher that most pupils hated in my Grammar school was the Maths master, Mr Cox, who gained the name "Killer Cox" from his strict behaviour. He used to march into the classroom with his black cloak flowing behind him, bang his cane on his desk and issue a threat of punishment for anyone not paying attention throughout the lesson. He would throw chalk at pupils, rap their knuckles with his cane and generally put fear into all.

I had two favourite teachers, Miss Ewen our French tutor who used to tell us many interesting stories of when she used to teach the children of King Farouk years earlier.

The other favourite was Miss Payne, domestic Science teacher. She always made the lessons interesting and would always help anyone in difficulty.

Those were the days!

Re: Best & Worst School Teachers

Not sure, don't remember much before I went off the rails around the age of seventeen.

Re: Best & Worst School Teachers

These comments are very interesting. I was a high school teacher of English and History/Social Studies for 40 years until 5 years ago and I don't think I ever really knew if I was a good teacher or not. I enjoyed it and never had much trouble with the kids but it's quite hard to know what they really think of you.

I've bumped into past students occasionally and they always greet me cheerfully and a couple have said they enjoyed my classes but who knows? I had some very inspirational teachers at high school and a few really bad ones. The maths teacher put me completely off maths while a couple of English teachers completely turned me on to literature.

A primary school teacher told me I couldn't hold a note and couldn't sing and I've believed it ever since. Some can have a lifetime affect.

Re: Best & Worst School Teachers

Sadly, there are teachers who still think like that

My son had a similar problem with his deputy head - my son had quite a large group of friends but his best friend was a lad called Brad, the two of them were inseperable, so like minded but very definitely straight. This deputy head used to try and embarrass the two of them and once shouted 'oh look, here comes your boyfriend' - Brad and my son immediately ran to each other and cuddled and even gave each other a peck on the cheek the deputy head never said it again though