Students Experiencing Humiliation from Teachers: A Growing Concern

A student experiencing humiliation from a teacher is not new to everyone. We are all aware that
this issue has always been present in the lives of the students, especially in grade school. I,
myself, have experienced humiliation from a teacher, that’s why I know how it feels to be
humiliated by a teacher, in front of everyone in the class. This issue should be addressed for the
reason that even after all those humiliating incidents that have been happening in our society, it
is still happening, and I don’t think some teachers are learning from it. As a student too, I feel
like this is my chance to give voice to those who were silenced and chose to be silent.

Humiliating students can have a negative effect on their emotional health and even their
academic performance. To give you an idea in what situations a teacher humiliates a student, I
am going to give you incidents wherein a student experienced humiliation. (From Blog -
StoryMirror and a Facebook Post)
1. A teacher gave a short quiz to the students to see their capabilities. After the quiz, she
immediately checked the papers and gave it back to the students to show them their
mistakes. A top student, whose answer she had marked wrong, questioned her as she felt
her answer was correct. She was confident with her answer that she had to ask the teacher
why it was marked wrong, but instead of answering the student’s query, she shouted at
her and told her that she was over confident. She humiliated him on three consecutive
days in front of the whole class. After what happened, the student started disliking the
teacher and the school administrator for employing a teacher like her.
2. A kindergarten pupil who was excited about attending school was humiliated by the
teacher through cutting the work of the student just because she found him talking to his
classmates. The kid cried and told his mother he does not want to attend school anymore.

All of this humiliation that is happening, the teachers involved should be held accountable for the
damage he/she has done. Humiliation can make the students withdraw and stop participating in
class altogether. Students may act aggressively, defy authority, place blame on others, or even
become disruptive in class, upsetting other students as a result of negative self-talk and social
anxiety brought on by shame. One thing is for sure, humiliation does not only affect the
academic performance of a student but also its physical, emotional, and mental health. Self-
blaming could be a result of humiliation. The student may start blaming themselves for behaving
like that and for not knowing enough of the topic, where the teacher humiliates them for not
being able to answer his/her question. This may lead to self-sabotaging, where a student becomes
conscious of almost everything they do, even in things they are passionate about doing. Worst
thing to happen is when a student will start to think that he/she deserves being humiliated for not
doing well. Students should not only be the one to follow rules and regulations from the school.
Teachers should also have their own rules and regulations to follow, so that they will become
more careful with how they treat the students.

Some people may argue that students need to toughen up and learn to deal with criticism. That's
why they should not be offended with the things a teacher may say. I believe it is not stated
anywhere that criticism involves humiliating the students. Giving criticism to the students and
humiliating the students are two different things. You can give criticism to your students,
privately. You have the choice whether you are going to criticize them privately or criticize them
in front of the class with a loud voice. Others may also argue that teachers should have the
freedom to discipline their students as they see fit. I agree that teachers should have the freedom
to discipline their students, but is it necessary to discipline them in front of everyone in the class
by shouting at them, making them feel low for doing such things, and insulting their intelligence
and capabilities? There is no problem with teachers disciplining the students, the problem is
more of how they are going to discipline the students.

Considering all this, humiliation is never a way of discipline. Humiliation is not something a
student deserves to experience. Humiliation could affect the students’ physical, emotional, and
mental health. Therefore, it is essential to hold the teachers accountable for the damage they have
caused to the students who have experienced humiliation. To all the students out there that are
experiencing humiliation from teachers, there are still a lot of teachers out there who give
importance to us. I know we can still find hope and safety in their arms, so never close your
minds that there are still good teachers. If you cannot find the courage to tell your parents of
what is happening, other teachers can help you.