Teachers do you even like children?

I touched on this topic in an earlier post.

Teachers. I've met my fair share of teachers whom I'm pretty sure don't like children, don't know how to be respectful to children, don't know how to garner respect from children (respect is earned), aren't very friendly towards children, are outright unfair and even  rude.

1. I've seen a male teacher repeatedly poke
a young boy in the chest while telling him how useless he is. This boy came from a hard upbringing and had a lot to overcome as an adult. This teacher didn't care about any of that and just saw this boy as a reckless stupid child who deserved to be repeatedly poked in the chest and talked down to in front of this whole class (not that this happening privately wold have been better!) Though I never saw this for myself it was ruhmoured that the teacher left bruises on the boy's chest.

2. I know of teachers who have allowed others to bully a child in their class they don't like. In one case the child was more intellectual that usual, also had a hard up bringing (as many of us have) and was seen by the teacher as precocious and obnoxious. The teacher knew that other's in the class didn't like this child and encouraged them to target this individual because the teacher didn't like being shown up by how clever this child was.

3. There was a teacher who had a sibling come into the class of their younger sibling and demanded they stand in front of everyone in the class with their hands on their head, because the younger sibling couldn't tie their own shoe laces yet (they were in first year) and it was somehow the older siblings fault.

4. I know of a substitute teacher who threw a little boy of grade 3 across the room and into a table where the child cut their head open. Again this child had a hard upbringing with abusive parents and somehow rubbed this teacher the wrong way and paid the price.

5. I know of an incident where a high school teacher called a student ugly.

These are just some examples of poorly behaved teachers who don't seem to have chosen their profession because they actually like or care about children, their welfare and their futures, or the effect they will have on any child in their care.

I also know a number of teachers personally who have confessed that during their training to be teachers they are NOT taught conflict resolution or how to handle difficult students, students with harsh upbringings of neglect or abuse, students with high IOs or low self esteems, students who are different. They are taught the stock standard approach to teaching and the well-being of students doesn't come into play, aside from being taught they're not allowed to hug, touch or show affection to children in their care.

Every child is different and every child poses unique challenges to their different personalities. Teachers have the power to be inspirational, to have profound positive effects on children. Sometimes adults will fondly remember one particular teacher who stood out from the rest for the effort and caring they showed to that person as a child.

Considering our children are in the care of teachers for a good part of their day it is not good enough for the education system to neglect to teach teachers how to interact with children in a positive way.