Don’t get me wrong; I completely respect teachers, and they have to be cut some slack when they occasionally burst out in irrational anger; they put up with a lot from students.           

            The best kind of teacher is one that really cares and tries to positively motivate students. Unfortunately, some teachers who try to motivate students have a tendency to humiliate students who are doing poorly in their class.A teacher who humiliates a student is one who actually goes out of their way in a purely malicious act to destroy the student’s ego.

            I believe the teacher’s logic in humiliating a child probably has one of two perspectives. One, the teacher believes that by embarrassing the student, the student will try harder to avoid further embarrassment. Or two, the student is doing badly in the class, so, as punishment, the teacher will regularly humiliate the child. Either way, the teacher looks at it, intentional humiliation is wrong.

            According to the booklet from the Surviving the Teen Years independent study class, teenagers in general have low self-esteem. By crushing the already vulnerable self-image of a teen, the teacher who chooses to humiliate the student has won himself or herself yet another student that dislikes them. 

            Also, it is especially unfortunate when students who have been doing poorly all year in a class decide to try and pick themselves up out of their rut after midterms, to improve their final grade, but the teacher repeatedly insults their attempts at a comeback.  That is not a teacher.  That is a spoiled child. A spoiled child who lets their own personal dislike of someone get in the way of their responsibilities.

             This whole humiliating process does not motivate the student. In fact, it does the opposite. From my own series of humiliating experiences caused by teachers and certain observations in my classes, I can guarantee that a student who is publicly humiliated will not try to do better in a class they are already doing poorly in.

            Most of the time teachers assume that they will help the student by embarrassing him or her and, in the future, the student will begin to improve just to avoid the sheer terror of being embarrassed again. Why would a teen try hard in a class which they dread every single day? Teens are strange hormonal creatures, and acceptance by their peers plays a major role in their overall happiness. Teachers, instead of embarrassing unmotivated students, why not privately discuss their grades with them after class?

            When teachers decide to humiliate teens in front of their classmates, it doesn’t help anything: not the teen, not the teacher, and most certainly not the student’s grades. Then, why do these instances continue to happen? Put an end to this madness. Teachers, please be the adult here, don’t humiliate students just because they are doing poorly in your class.