The worst teacher ever. Period.

Hi, I’m Eliza of Fembat Unhinged.

From being quite young I loved school. I wasn’t the brightest in the class, but I loved to learn. But I was always very weak at Maths. Later I was diagnosed as suffering from dyscalculia, which is similar to dyslexia but covers problems associated with mathematical calculations. Back when I was at school however dyslexia was still considered an excuse and dyscalculia was unheard of.

Anyway, to bring me straight back to the point, I am going to dish the dirt on an old teacher of mine, who I shall refer to as Mr.Old. I was in my final year of primary school, and this would be the first year where they seperated those children considered exceptionally bright from the others. My previous teacher Mr.K thought I was, and placed me in Mr.Old’s class. I was delighted.

I entered that classroom a confident happy ten year old, and left precisely ten months later a withdrawn child who would intentionally make herself ill to avoid school. I was bullied, not by other students, but by a teacher of the old school.

If you do not like personal whining entries, don’t continue!

From the very first day I felt like I was targeted. Perhaps I wasn’t, but it felt like it. By the end of the first month my marks dropped from over 90% to scraping in at 20 – 40%. By Christmas I was couldn’t even add two odd numbers together without a panic attack. Mr Old’s one response to this sudden change was to stand me at the front of the class and tell everyone how stupid I was, how I didn’t try, and how if I didn’t change I would never amount to anything. I was stood outside the school one freezing January in Gym clothes because I failed a spelling test. I was caned in May because I failed a Maths test.

By then I was already missing weeks of school at a time. I would make myself ill on a morning so I would not have to go to school. But I dare not tell anyone what was happening. It all came to a head late May, when faced with yet another parents evening in front of Mr.Old I confessed what had been happening to my Mum.

I never went back. Mum removed me from the school, and placed a formal complaint. The complaint was dismissed by the school and the governing board. I went onto secondary school, and gradually I improved. I never got to grips with Maths, and the damage Mr.Old did during that ten months still shows when I am faced with any mathematical equation.

Thats my most vivid memory of school.