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I was one of the kids who peed himself in class due to one of those teachers. I had asked three times to go. Ripe age of of 12 no less. It destroyed my fear of

by m0xte 7y ago

I was one of the kids who peed himself in class due to one of those teachers. I had asked three times to go. Ripe age of of 12 no less. It destroyed my fear of and respect for arbitrary authority instantly so I look back on it as a good thing today. I realised that rather than my peers turning on me on a shame basis they turned on the teacher because it was going to be them next. It also positioned me well for dealing with the somewhat backwards ideals in my own childrens’ school.

lowercased 7y ago
happened to me at age 7(?) - I remember the grade and room, just not the date. it was one of those things that chipped away at my respect for authority - it didn't destroy it, but still dinged it. Peers still turned on me - no one thought "it could be me next". We were 7/8(?) - I'm not sure most people could reason that far ahead vs living in the moment. What sticks with me is that we had an announcement earlier (few days or weeks earlier?) that no bathroom breaks would be given out because a few kids had 'abused the privilege' (stayed out of the room longer than they should have). So... someone else violates a trivially stupid 'rule', and my own life is negatively impacted, which is wholly unjust. That was my takeaway, which has stuck with me for ~40 years. I still remember a couple of the kids who'd been 'abusing' that privilege beforehand, and remember what impact they and that teacher had on me that day and beyond.
- m0xte 7y ago
  I think at the age of 7/8 your metric of success is tied strongly to how you control your body, probably due to all the reinforcement of this from years before. At 12 things were likely easier for me. They use that ridiculous methodology now. For example my eldest's entire class was held back at the end of the day for 15 minutes due to one child's behaviour. Unfair and her ASD younger sister relies on her to get home and had a complete panic and breakdown over the routine change. Teachers surprisingly never available for comment after such things due to the layer of bureaucracy over everything. Formal complaint raised, pushed to the very end of their own self-inflicted process every time they screw up!
t34543 7y ago
I had a similar experience in school, it still impacts me today. I don’t recognize authority for authority’s sake, only what I feel is reasonable and just. It’s liberating.

by m0xte 7y ago

lowercased 7y ago

happened to me at age 7(?) - I remember the grade and room, just not the date. it was one of those things that chipped away at my respect for authority - it didn't destroy it, but still dinged it. Peers still turned on me - no one thought "it could be me next". We were 7/8(?) - I'm not sure most people could reason that far ahead vs living in the moment. What sticks with me is that we had an announcement earlier (few days or weeks earlier?) that no bathroom breaks would be given out because a few kids had 'abused the privilege' (stayed out of the room longer than they should have). So... someone else violates a trivially stupid 'rule', and my own life is negatively impacted, which is wholly unjust. That was my takeaway, which has stuck with me for ~40 years. I still remember a couple of the kids who'd been 'abusing' that privilege beforehand, and remember what impact they and that teacher had on me that day and beyond.

m0xte 7y ago
I think at the age of 7/8 your metric of success is tied strongly to how you control your body, probably due to all the reinforcement of this from years before. At 12 things were likely easier for me. They use that ridiculous methodology now. For example my eldest's entire class was held back at the end of the day for 15 minutes due to one child's behaviour. Unfair and her ASD younger sister relies on her to get home and had a complete panic and breakdown over the routine change. Teachers surprisingly never available for comment after such things due to the layer of bureaucracy over everything. Formal complaint raised, pushed to the very end of their own self-inflicted process every time they screw up!

t34543 7y ago

I had a similar experience in school, it still impacts me today. I don’t recognize authority for authority’s sake, only what I feel is reasonable and just. It’s liberating.