I recently transferred schools to a larger school and I have this one teacher I really don’t like, everyone else likes him and he even got teacher of the year. I feel like he’s been targeting me since the start of the school year and my parents keep saying I need to be more respectful, he’s written me up multiple times for things like talking, but while everyone else is talking as well and being loud. I asked my classmate about work I missed the day before because I wasn’t there and he sent me out. There was even one time I was sitting in front of someone that everyone finds pretty corny, he’s lightskin and he kept saying the n word over and over like he was stimming or something, I looked over and asked him to stop and the teacher wrote me up for that. I could go on and on about how much I feel like I’m being mistreated (and I really would love to) but I can’t really figure out if I’m in the wrong for talking back so what do y’all think. AITA?
Needs more info, imo but right now it’s looking like he’s targeting you
YTA! Follow the rules and grow tf up
Alright thank you
I say speak with your guidance counselor about it and see what they have to say. Maybe it would be helpful if the 3 of you had a sit down to discuss the way that you are feeling and the reasons why. It would be good to have an unbiased mediator with you such as the counselor. If/when you do go speak with your guidance counselor though, its important to have specific incidents written down and with the dates if at all possible. That way you have everything laid out clearly and you won’t stumble on what you say or forget things that you feel are important to point out.
I was going with likely the a-hole, until the last incident. Are you saying that the teacher is allowing a student to openly say the n-word and punishes you for trying to put a stop to it. Did this teacher know the student was using the n-word? Is the n-word normally being used in class?
You probably won’t get far while disrespecting the teacher. However, if I understand the above I would definitely complain to the administration about the use of that language in class and the teacher’s apparent tacit support for it.
The teacher definitely knew, I explained it to him later after class and had vouchers with me too, he said he didn’t care
OK, complain to the administration about the use of the word and the teacher’s support of it, if that doesn’t work, complain to the school board. If that doesn’t work complain somewhere very publicly like a newspaper. I don’t know where you are from but in most places where the n-word is used, it is considered a problem and a teacher’s tolerance of it, more so.
However, don’t talk back in class. That’s just going to be a losing battle for you.
A lot of people older than you are going to say Y T A assuming you are just being a disrespectful kid.
I had flashbacks though to when I was in HS and had this teacher that absolutely targeted me. She was an art teacher tapped to for some reason teach geometry and she would only direct her attention to the “smart” kids who were already good at math. I was more of the advanced English classes/ theatre kid. Only teacher in my entire school journey I ever had a problem with.
So I believe you when you say you are being targeted but don’t have better advice than just get thru it and know it gets better.
I can’t actually gauge this because it is (understandably) a super one-sided perspective.
What I can say is that talking with your counselor or admin is the only chance you have of getting in front of it. Be honest with them about your end, because it gives you more credibility. But tell them how it’s affecting you, too, because ultimately they want you to succeed. This teacher may or may not and that shouldn’t be on you to navigate.
The more I read my post I realize it is pretty one sided, thanks for pointing it out I’ll try to fix that next time
As a teacher, you’re probably the asshole. If the kid was stimming, he’s likely autistic and has an IEP. You telling him to stop didn’t make him stop, did it? So now the teacher has the noise of the autistic student and you telling him to stop on top of that. You adding more noise does not fix the situation.
Also it doesn’t matter if every other kid is supposedly breaking a rule. If you’re also breaking it, you can get written up. It’s like if everyone is speeding on the highway. If a police officer pulls me over, he’s not going to be swayed by the argument that everyone else was speeding too. If I broke the law, I can get a ticket.
This is about *power*. He’s got it and you don’t. Everyone loves him and he’s a teacher. He might be targeting you, but there’s not all that much you can do given the context.
In life, you’re going to be confronted with many situations in which you’re treated unfairly. People who just *don’t like you* for whatever reason. And sometimes those people will have the power to do something about it.
I can assure you that *your* situation is not one you will *win* by copping an attitude. You’ll only hurt *yourself*, you’re doing exactly what he wants. See, now he can paint *you* as the problem. After all, who’s been written up? People like that *know* what they’re doing.
I see this happen in classrooms (usually highschool), *especially* with the teachers who cultivate that “everyone loves me” persona. There’s always that one kid that doesn’t like them and they can’t handle it. So they either trigger the student (shameful behavior) or come down extra hard on them. And *they get away with it.*
You have your entire life ahead of you, don’t let one grubby highschool teacher bring you down or hurt your future prospects. Be above board. So, yes, YTA, to yourself. It’s time to cultivate the self-control you are going to need to succeed in this life.
YTA: While I did read the whole post, I really could have answered based on your title. No reason for you to be disrespectful towards a teacher. If you have a problem with the teacher, talk to them privately about it after class. If you don’t feel comfortable with that, take it up with an administrator.