“There was a fellow student in my homeroom who fell asleep halfway through class every day. He was always quiet and reserved. Our teacher was a grade-A jerk, and constantly tried to get this kid to stop sleeping. Even though a lot of us tried to defend him, one day our teacher took a huge book he brought with him and slammed it down next to the kid’s face on his desk.
The kid jumped up and fell against the wall; the teacher started yelling; other students started yelling — it was chaos. A few days later, our teacher wasn’t in homeroom with us (as well as the kid). We had a sub for two days.
It turned out the kid had two jobs, and would start work an hour after school and wouldn’t get let out until 2 a.m. He worked because his dad was absent, and his mom was a drug addict — he needed money to feed his little brother (as well as himself). Our teacher let him sleep after that.”
—u/Riyeko
“In high school I was heavily medicated with prescriptions I never should’ve been prescribed. I was always sleepy, no matter how much I had slept the night before. One of my teachers was a literal medical doctor before she started teaching forensic science — I spoke to her on the first day of class and told her: ‘This is what I’m taking, and these are the side effects. If I fall asleep, it’s not out of boredom or lack of respect — it’s just the medication. You’re more than welcome to wake me up in front of my peers. It won’t embarrass me, and I want to pay attention.’
After I told her this, she kicked me out of class and made me sit in the hallway every time I fell asleep. It was infinitely more embarrassing, and changed my grade from an A to a C.”
—u/teriyakibeansprout
Thankfully, not all teachers are like that:
“My senior year of high school I went through a lot of stuff — couch surfing, health issues that made it impossible to show up, unmedicated insomnia, and drug addiction. My English teacher asked me one day what was going on because my attendance was poor (and when I was there for a full day, I was usually sleeping). I told her what was going on, and she made me a little nook in a spot by her desk with pillows and blankets. She told me I could use it during any of my free periods and take a nap or decompress — no questions asked. I’m still forever grateful for her – she was a great teacher.”
—u/ericakay1
Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/kaylayandoli/toxic-teachers-2021-2022-school-year