Our teachers fit into one of these categories. They were either too strict and to be feared or they were laxed to a fault.
Either way, we looked up to them for guidance and they've left indelible impressions in our formative years enough to look back on today.
Curious to hear of the most unforgettable educators when they were young students, Redditor Difficult_Musician87 asked:
"What was the most insane thing a teacher did in your school?"
Times sure have changed.
Going Too Far
"Held student upside down by the ankles from a 2nd floor window. He was told not to do it again."
"Christian Brothers school in Ireland, 1980's."
– AlienInOrigin
No Anger Management
"RE teacher saw a student reading, asked him what he was reading, received a rude reply and attacked him. They were fighting on the library floor when the headmaster walked in. Awkward."
"Maths teacher, built like a bear, got a wrong answer from a friend of mine, called him to the front of the class, stood on his foot and crushed it. No obvious action was taken."
– Ormidale
Early Days Of Social Media
"When instagram was fairly new 2014, teachers didn't realise they had to put their insta on private, naturally all us students at the time, would try find their instagram accounts."
"We stumbled across a drama teachers account, he was openly gay and made that very clear by his insta when he had posted a picture of him and 5 other men naked in bed. this circulated around the whole school overnight. as you can expect, he was never seen at our school again."
– rainingchardonnay
Scandalous teachers will never be forgotten.
Staff Love
"English teacher slept with the principal and was assistant principal the next year. they were both married and got caught. both lost their jobs and marriages."
– Epic-Epileptic-
Bold Theatrics
"Drama teacher slept with the music teacher who was married to the other music teacher. The music department became drama."
– Epic-Epileptic-
Wasted
"Teacher was drunk and got in to a fight with the principal, his wife cheated with him. He kicked in the office door and attacked the principal. Then got in to a sloppy drunk fight with cops. The whole school was yelling 'f'k the police' when they dragged his drunk as out."
"Coolest sh*t that ever happened at school."
– Souleke_sounix
Sometimes, you learn what not to do or how to be based on example.
Teaching Under The Influence
"Our history teacher, who always reeked of booze, used to smoke out of the window in class when he gave tasks to do."
– Darmok_und_Salat
"We also had a teacher who always reeked of booze. She did a lot of crazy things; none of them were all that crazy individually but all combined it definitely painted a picture of someone who was a little unhinged. My four top examples:"
"Made her students play the '10 minute game'. When she informed us we were playing the game, if anyone talked without being called on first, they got '10 minutes'. Which meant that you spent the first 10 minutes of your lunch hour the next day in her room as a mini detention. She would purposely talk to kids and when they answered her, she would say, 'I didn't call on you first, 10 minutes.' (She was serious)."
"She once marked everyone in the entire class tardy because we were all late due to a fire drill. She said she didn't care that we were outside due the fire drill; we were still late so the tardy still counted."
"She simply did not like one of my classmates; I don't even recall him being rude or disruptive to her class. She build a small space in the one back corner surrounded by filing cabinets. His desk was within the filing cabinet walls and he had to sit there the entire semester. I don't even think he could see the board at the front of the class."
"She coached the girls junior high basketball team. They had a bad game and the next practice she berated them for 'having butterfingers'. She then made them play the entire practice while wearing orange safety cones over their hands/arms."
– jjtharp
Ouch!
"Cut his thumb off on table saw during a wood working lesson."
– Styyyrman
"Pay attention kids, I'm only gonna do this once!"
– _kermit_the_frog_
"My teacher used a band saw. Did not notice before a girl told im that his thumb was on the floor. So he looked at his hands and then passed out. So they cut his big toe and installed that instead of his thumb. He loved to tell the story and show off his somewhat strange thumb…"
– bjorn1978_2
Experimental Shock
"Once had a science teacher demonstrate electricity on his students using an old hand crank telephone magneto. The student would hold a carbon rod in each hand that was wired to the magneto. He would start cranking on the device giving the kid an increasingly intense electric current shock. Kinda freaked out the class."
– Squantumphysics
Never Prank A Teacher
"My history teacher was a Viet Nam vet. One day a student threw a firecracker into the room from the hallway. You can guess the teacher's reaction."
"Once he got up off the floor and realized what had happened, he chased the dude (a varsity lineman around 17-18), tackled him in the hallway, and stuffed his entire body into a locker. He was an epic teacher. One of my favorites."
– Darkm0or
Based on the examples above, we're reminded that teachers are people, too, and they are as flawed as the next person.
The difference that sets teachers apart from the rest, however, is the inspirational ones who leave their baggage at home and are able to bring their A-game to class.
They may not be as enlightened and inspirational as poetry-loving English teacher John Keating from Dead Poets Society, but they're out there, ready to challenge and educate us to be the most outstanding versions of ourselves.
