35 Unethical Practices That Are Surprisingly A Thing In Some Schools, As Pointed Out By Folks Online
Now, school ought to be a place of learning where eager minds would try to soak in every bit of knowledge and experience they can before they hit the real world.
Alas, schools are also a place where certain decisions beg more questions than they could possibly answer and, in some cases, it has reached unethical levels.
People of Reddit have been listing unethical practices that schools do, and nobody is really batting an eye about it. The discussion generated nearly 11,000 comments with over 24,000 upvotes.
Bored Panda has collected the most upvoted responses to this question and compiled a list which you can find below. Vote and comment on the answers that you think are the biggest problems, and why not also share some of your observations in the comment section below!
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Harassing teenage girls for "dressing inappropriately" when a millimeter of their bra strap is showing (or some other bulls**t like that). Telling them it distracts the boys and invites unwanted attention.
When they actually get harassed (or worse) the school does nothing.
It also perpetuates the notion that girls are responsible for controlling boys’ behavior!
Lowering a school's funding if the SAT scores are low. If the scores are low, there should be more funding to help kids learn!
Bullied and harassed students having the same repercussions as their bully for defending themselves.
I've never understood this...even as adults...in our country if someone is trying to kill you and you defend yourself, you can be charged with assault...like what?!?!
It's so administrative staff don't have to think about who did what. Any infraction for any reason will get the same punishment. Cookie cutter zero tolerance.
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I got suspended for punching (and breaking the nose of) the girl who slashed my arm with a broken bottle (I would not give her my project so she could use it as hers) ... when we threatened a lawyer I had mine rescinded but she was only suspended for a week. The police would no NOTHING. (1980s Canada...) I had to live in fear of her repercussion for the rest of the year. She flunked out and could not come back...thank god.
yup, UK and my fiance got suspended from school for his safety because he broke up with a girl and her friends were threatening to kill him. Instead of, you know, punishing the students actually doing the threatening.
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This pisses me off so much.. I know a kid who is always getting picked on, like daily and its bad what they do to him.. school does nothing. One kid started hitting him and he finally defended himself and beat the crap out of the bully and they both got suspended.. he was literally so scared and defending his self. If someone hits you, you should be able to defend yourself without fear of being in trouble.
My special needs daughter was suspended for two weeks because she hit a boy who wouldn't stop grabbing her bra strap on the bus. Broke his nose all over his face. He was kicked out of school
My son (9), level 15 empath.. kind and patient and loving..: did everything he could to get a bully to leave him alone, walked/ran away, informed teachers, etc... none of it worked. Kid shoved him into the street... my son beat the hell out of this kid. School calls byes suspended for a week. No punishment at our house. He did what he had to.
By that logic, if I beat up a math teacher, they would probably be fired and I'd be suspended.
Can confirm. I got pushed into a metal door by my bully and we both got suspended for 3 days, had to do community service and turn the 18 without doing anything else wrong. She claimed I started it even though I had earbuds in and just wanted to go home. She ended up stealing her moms car and breaking house arrest
OOOOOOhhhhhh I am so much to say about this but will leave it at this.... We told our kids that you don't ever pick a fight with anyone but if someone is bullying you, feel free to end it and we both will stand with you 100% and defend you. I cannot stand bullys and I can't stand the way schools handle it!
In my experience "bully free" means bullies are free to fo as they please. My kids attended a school where the admins were overpaid but they supposedly didn't have the budget to have a full time school nurse or soecial needs teachers. As a result there was one kid with severe behavior problems who ran rampant with no consequences. We got our kids out of that school ASAP
At my school (but not while I was there) a kid came to school with a knife and stabbed someone. Both students were suspended and the one who did the stabbing was allow back despite a 'no tolerance' on violence. No one understood why, especially when he then dropped out of school not long after.
Fake news again...telling stories that aren't even yours to tell...easy way to spot a liar
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In middle school a guy pushed me against a locker and shoved his hands in my pants. They punished us both by putting us in a classroom (this was after standardized testing wheb everyone else was outside. Kids who got in trouble had to be in a classroom) … in the same classroom
This brings me fear I mean if school's punish even the victim what not in the real world
This is why I tell my kiddo "as long as you didn't start the fight you won't get in trouble at home (maybe even rewarded) no matter what punishments the school gives". Fight only when you need to. His karate teacher told him the same after finding out that several kids were waiting for him to get off the bus one day outside our home to beat him up a bit. (They knew I wouldn't be home as it was a half day at school when staff stays and that is where I work). Other teachers frown upon me telling my kid to hit back. 🤷♀️
Lies....they would tell them to walk away and only fight if forced to defend yourself..unless you let Rexkwon do teach your kid no instructor would ever say that...the lies and victim games in here is insane
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I basically let my parents handle it, my dad was a big name in this town so I didn't have an issue tattling. My husband on the other hand has told me many stories of being so severely bullied that he was ganged up on in physical fights and yet the moment he fought back to defend himself he ended up being suspended or at minimum detention while his bullies also received a much lighter sentence. But because they still got in trouble they always came back.
Yup my high school had that zero tolerance policy. F*****g bizarre. My principal said it was supposed to discourage violence but yeah wasn't working at all.
To clarify, the logic was that if everyone involved got in trouble no matter what, no one would fight because it meant automatic punishment regardless of circumstance. Think they seriously underestimated how much people gave a s**t about getting in trouble at school lol
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This happened to my autistic son when he was in high school, senior year. He was suspended for taking up for himself and the bully got nothing. NOTHING!!!
Yup cause schools let that happen..sounds like you let it happen cause you were lazy and a bad mom
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When I was bullied in middle/junior/high school they gave me weekly meetings with the counselors. Nothing happened to the kids who harassed me.
I was bullied alot in school from 6th grade to 9th grade, USA. Four years of scholastic hell. I never backed down but never looked for trouble. I always got suspended 3 days every time a bully attacked me, same as them. My mother was always furious, AT ME. The very last attack left both of us in the hospital. My nose was turned into complete paste and had to be completely reformed. A fortunate punch to the center of my attackers forehead did severe nerve damage requiring a nerve graft from her thigh, and left a scar across her forehead and down the right side of her face from the surgery. Again, I was suspended for three days but my attacker apparently had a history and was sent to Alternative School, a last chance educational stop where you make it or are permanently banned from the educational system. Three months later the same bully is at my school, stops me in the hallway, I'm immediately in high alert mode, adrenaline pumping. She says, no, calm down, I'm here to
...apologize and thank you. I'm like, Seriously? She said that the Alternative School was the best thing that ever happened to her. She shook my hand, I never saw her again. She was the last person who ever bullied me in school.
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My kid was getting bullied by some little brat and when she stood up for herself (verbally) she got told off by her teacher who overheard. Doing that stupid s**t making them apologise to each other and "We're all gonna be friends now" rubbish. It ofc started up again and my kid was miserable. Are teachers afraid to actually deal with this s**t so put the blame on both? Nothing ever gets done until a parent gets involved. Also got reminded when I was in school I got caught skipping off and they realised I did it tons of times. I hated school. My punishment was a 3 day suspension. I walked out of the office delighted.
My little brother’s bully caught him in the hallway and started a physical fight with him. My brother beat the s**t out of him and I was proud as hell.
"IgNoRe ThEm aNd tHeY'lL sToP" all i ever heard from teachers and my parents in school. Didnt work at all. All i ever did was ignore them.
Kids should be able to defend themselves without being punished. This happened to my kids many times throughout the years in the PUSD. My children were punished for defending themselves.
This only thought us one thing when we're kids in the 80s. If someone messes with you, you f**k em up. Since you're going to get punished anyway, make sure you deal some pain that fella is never going to forget. Yes, it does sound like jail. The worst I did was broken bones. The worst I heard was a bully getting stabbed with a compass through his cheeks.
I was bullied in high school by the same 4 guys. They would team up everyday to knock my books out of my hands or push me out of the way. They loved pushing me into the lockers when my back was turned. One day I had had enough. I removed the lock from my locker, and took it home and tied a length of nylon rope around it. The next day I went to school and as sure as the sun rises, these 4 came to harass me again. One of them pushed me into the locker while my back was turned and I dropped the lock from my hand by the cord and started cracking those suckers in the skulls. They got kicked out of school and I was never bothered again. They did however switch to built in locks on the lockers right after that though. This happened way back in 1990 at Terry Sanford Sr High School.
Dirk Fafnir are you suffering from some sort of a mental condition, Where you go around accusing ppl of telling lies? Or are you just a douche?
This is true I got picked on by a bunch of kids in school and then got yelled at when I had an asthma attack. The teacher accused me of putting it on to get out of it. To get out of what being beaten up?
I went to school in Flaw'duh thirty years ago (shut up) and I was under the impression that in ALL schools--and jobs, and anything else--management didn't give one single damn what was happening to you; if you spoke up and caused them to have to do their job, or in any way upset their reverie, they'd make you pay for it. I got jumped from behind by someone who tried to choke me out, and we both got beaten with the paddle...but that had more to do with our principal's sexual fetishes than "discipline."
So, I agree that's messed up, but consider this. They did studies with really young kids, like 2 or 3 years old, before they had much time to be indoctrinated by adults. A kid would be told that another kid did something really bad, something the "good kid" agreed needed to be punished by locking up their toy. But the only way to lock up the bad kids toy was to lock up the good kid's toy too. Most good kids would agree to accept the same consequence in order for the bad kid to be punished. This probably wouldn't rest well with older kids who have learned cultural ideas about justice, but it might just be what humans instinctively are okay with.
America...who cares about bullies...how about a gun free zone...:) more kids seem to die from guns then bully's...just saying..
Got beaten up in school and I was at fault for "provoking it" (which I didn't) - breaking a few ribs of the guy the second time he tried got me in trouble too, but at least I wasn't bothered by anyone anymore. (Martial arts training pays off)
I'm sure none of that is true...especially the martial arts part...
Load More Replies... To be fair, it's often impossible for an adult who did not see the start of a fight to tell who is the bully and who is acting in self defense. Teachers have dozens of children to look after and principals have hundreds, and heck, sometimes even parents who only have a few children can't even tell who started what. It's a sad fact that even adults who genuinely want to stop bullying can't be everywhere or know everything, sometimes all they can do is say "Stop fighting".
Unless it’s the first couple weeks of school and the bully is a new kid, everyone knows who the bullies are.
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I'll never forget being given detention in high school for telling a bully to "rack off" after he hit me. I was made to sit in class during lunch and write an essay explain my behaviour. So I wrote: "At school, when I am bullied and physically assaulted, Miss Mitchell (the teacher who gave me detention) believes that I should not stand up for myself. In future I will allow myself to come to as much physical harm as Miss Mitchell deems necessary." And I walked into the principal's office and dropped it on his desk at the end of lunch. Never properly found out what happened, but that teacher never looked me in the eye again. Also, laid out that bully about a month later with a solid right hook to the cheek and permanently shut him up :)
How sports programs have way more money than any other programs at the school… because school is a business not education.
Sports are focused on FAR too much at the schools by me. Whenever I drive past there are ALWAYS notices about games and whatever. School should be focused on education, not sports
Awarding “perfect attendance.” Encouraging kids to go to school while sick is pretty unethical if you ask me.
firing lunchroom staff for serving food to poor students whose families can't afford to pay
We've got school lunches in primary and secondary schools here...which are free and for low income families. A few years back they also instituted breakfast.
Collective punishment; one or two pupils misbehave and the entire class gets punished for it.
Too much homework. Let kids be kids. A little homework is good but god don't drown the kids in it.
I hear that...we used to have hours of homework. Sometimes I just want to relax and sleep.
Requiring you to purchase textbooks brand new from the college's bookstore because that's the only way to get the access code to complete the required assignments on the publishers website.
I remember the problem of buying school books when we were poor. But actually some college books are only purchased by a few dozen people on that particular course, so would not be produced without those purchases. So SOME people purchasing the book is important. However you acquire the book should not be anything to do with the college though.
I was a decently misbehaved third grader. Told my teacher I had a stomach ache and I needed to go to the nurse. I asked a number of times. She thought I was just trying to get out of individual reading time. My appendix burst on the bus ride home.
I was never one to ask to go to the nurse. Just a hyperactive kid my teacher apparently had enough of. Denying medical attention to an 8 year old seems unethical. This is not a "boy who cried wolf" story for all those saying "I told ya so".
I remember one time in digital technology class I developed a splitting pain below my stomach. I think it was trapped gas in my bowels or something. Anyway, I asked my teacher if I could go to the nurse, but she told me no because class was "almost over" and that I have to wait until it was finished before I could go. Except that class was over in an hour, so I had to stay seated in my chair, in agony, for an hour. Did I mention that digital technology was my last class that day? So school was over by the time class ended and I couldn't stay behind because then I'd be late and I can't be late because my mum had to pick up my brothers from their schools as well so I never got to the nurse. And then there was that other time where I nearly fainted in the mandatory religion class and I did have to go to the nurse and while my friend was leaving my schoolbag in the nurse's office, she told me that the substitute teacher was pissed at me for missing class.
Bullied students are told to leave because it's easier to kick out a quiet victim than a loud bully
Or when they call the bully and say "bullied kid said you did X" and when they deny it they just leave it there...like thanks for now increasing the bullying that already existed.
This is probably very specific to my home country but period checks
I'm from Malaysia and yes sadly this is a thing and I've witnessed it firsthand. Mostly to make sure girls aren't lying about their periods just to get out of prayer activities.
zero tolerance policies.
Oh that kid hit you for no reason? both suspended zero tolerance!
Zero tolerance sometimes meant Zero Effort or Zero Intelligence.
Less severe but limiting kids access to water, I.e. you can’t have your drink bottle at the table. Which sucks when you live in Australia and at summer the temperature gets up to 36c and school is during all the hottest hours of the day.
Tormenting socially awkward /introverted students
I hinestly believe that some teachers enjoy making their kids suffer. I speak very fast and because of that i stutter if I read out loud. One of my teachers loved making me read all the time and kept smiling while some of the students laughted. Once i got so tired that i shut up and sat in the middle of a sentence and refused to ever read in her classes. Bitch
Passing students that aren't ready for the next grade because they need to pad their passing rates to keep funding. It's setting the kids up for failure down the road.
Treating special needs kids subhumanly because they can’t speak up for themselves…then belittling/reprimanding the staff who do advocate for them.
Giving preference to kids that parents donate money and fratranise with teachers/ headmasters.
I've seen this time and time again...the systems is way to broken.
Our assembly room/gymnaisum had the fire escape doors chained shut, and the police department was aware of it.
C9Juice says:
7 am classes
S_thyrsoidea replied:
7am classes in complete disregard for what the science says about adolescent development and sleep schedule, and the effect of early classes on academic success.
My school: you should sleep at least 9 hours a night Also my school: you must wake up at 6 in the morning
Making hair part of the uniform and dictating what hair styles and colours students are allowed to have. Also letting girls wear short skirts in summer but not letting boys wear shorts. I've seen quite a few schools in the news where the boys have had to protest and wear skirts in the summer because they weren't allowed shorts.
"Also letting girls wear short skirts in summer" while at the same time cry out loud in case of shoulder free top or barely visible bra strap, I presume.
Present opinions as facts.
I had a Social Studies asshole teacher/coach who told the class that if a girl is getting raped, she should relax and enjoy it. I got up and walked out. I spoke up, and nothing was done, since he was a coach. I was 14. The good old 70's.
Not care about students's mental health
Yup. I was really depressed at school and it was widely known. There was exactly one teacher who talked to me and tried to help. Everyone else just ignored me, obviously wasting away. I OD’d at school (like an idiot, I’d read that death would occur after 10-12 hours, so I did it at lunchtime thinking that 12 hours later I’d be in bed -, not realising symptoms would kick in a lot sooner than that) and literally started sliding off my desk during maths a few hours later. The teacher ignored it, until the guy sitting next to me suggested he should take me to the nurse because I didn’t look well…
Convincing kids that a 4-year institution after graduation is the best choice for everyone.
I think Boomers were the last generation to not be required by society to have a college degree in order to get a job!
Keeping bad teachers in their positions. Not the same as a good teacher with poorly performing students with bad home life etc.
People talk about students being able to grade and review teachers as a joke but it would actually be a great idea (especially if it can be done anonymously)
Humiliating and/or calling out students in front of the whole class
also saying things like "you'll never pass my class/get into Harvard/get into college" to the entire class for some reason always with a stupid, arrogant smirk on their face... The first two are true stories, the first from my Honors Algebra II teacher to a class of 15/16-year-olds and the second from my HONORS SCHOOL to a class of 14/15-year-olds which was supposed to prepare me for that exact thing!! What makes the second even worse is that the person who said it was... wait for it... THE SCHOOL COUNSELOR!!!
School counselors are actually just stuck up baboons who expect bullies to obey you by telling them to stop. WTF?
Only having one bathroom for open in a high school. There are 1000’s of kids.
The pledge of allegiance, confiscating kid's phones, withholding graduation ceremonies because they've labelled kids troublemakers, zero tolerance policies, ignoring and covering up bullying
Ripping off a Kids insulin pump and yanking out the IV line because you are too stupid to see it isn’t a phone
Professors selling their own books for their class
For us it's textbooks that have "amendments" every year. Like, why should I trust you if you keep making mistakes. lol
Over the top dresscode making girls feel like s**t because of it
Dress codes that are really different for boys and girls make no sense
Making kids sell magazines or whatever. Should be 100% illegal and I dunno what kind of parents stand for that bulls**t.
Diagnosing kids who aren't interested in the curriculum with ADHD. Still don't understand how I get diagnosed with ADHD in elementary school just for it to magically disappear halfway through middle school, for it then to reappear freshman year of high school just to disappear again sophomore year.
And then kids who actually have ADHD get told they're faking it. Misdiagnosis doesn't benefit anyone.
Not letting kids take part in a test because their parents havent paid.
Put make up exams during lunch. I’m running on no food for the past 21 hours because I had to skip lunch to do a makeup exam. Thank god the school day is almost over
Side note, I exercise a lot so I generally eat a lot so this s**t is really annoying
Selling 2x the number of parking passes than spots actually exist for, then imposing steep parking fines.
Yeah, that sucks.I guess they have to discourage students driving on campus somehow.
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How about NASTY lunches? I know some kids who only eat school lunch (it's free here) and eat hardly any of it bc it is sooo bad and then end up hungry the rest of the day.
The funding of schools should be a massive priority, and it should be a massive vote winner for politicians. It isn't and it doesn't, and it completely baffles me. Why would you not pump a sponge like brain with everything you can. Maybe that kid becomes an engineer who solves a massive problem, a scientist who cures the common cold. I just don't know why you wouldn't throw everything at educating kids. School should be free, school lunches should be free, teachers shouldn't have to buy supplies (and they should get paid well), school trips should be free, there should be no fundraisers.... The US defense budget is $715 billion... There's about 50m kids in school. That's $14,300 per student. Imagine what they could do with that.
Maybe if kids were educated they wouldn't make the same mistakes the adults keep making as they actually learned history adequately.
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I had a teacher who would verbally abuse kids. One time he showed us an animated porn thingy. Everyone told the teachers, no one believed us. Until some kids got video proof and he was finally fired.
Being a nerd in school, I didn't friends up until seventh grade so I was really quiet and stumbled over words. The biggest bullies always end up being teachers, I only had a handful that took my anxiety issues seriously and eased me into talking in front of the class. The other teachers would punish kids with issues like me and it's absolutely NOT right. A child, even a teen, should not be punished because they're nervous, scared, have impairments, etc. It makes me wonder if any of those teachers were ever kids and not some kind of robot.
My kid is in kindergarten and we're already dealing with a class bully. I spoke to the teacher and apparently this girl pesters multiple classmates: hitting, scratching, biting, etc. One time she tried to kiss my son. We're in a freaking pandemic! Teach your kid to keep their slobber to themselves. And the response? Every parent got a message from the teacher reminding us that the kids need to keep their hands to themselves. But we all know the reason behind that message. Makes me wonder about the girl's home life.
“One bad apple ruins the whole bunch”/ collective punishment. My elementary school did this and I bet they were hoping we would forget. It was not just no recess it was you must walk these laps for recess/exercise punishment. I brought it up back then but no one will take a 9 year old seriously. They legit said that it was so “The good kids would pressure the bad ones to be better.” Like … that’s called bullying and isn’t that your job? Tbh my high school does this too with our lunches.
Almost all of these examples seem to occur only in the States. I work at a school and we don't have to deal with most of these problems.
They wonder why the obesity rates are so high. And give you 30 minutes for lunch; including the time it takes to walk to the cafeteria and to your next class, and the time taken to stand in line to get your food. Teaching kids to wolf down their meal as quickly as possible will get you overweight adults.
A bunch of these are just reality. Like you need to be prepared for reality.
If you're at a private, paid, or a religious school then some of these things are expected. And no one's forcing you to go.
How about NASTY lunches? I know some kids who only eat school lunch (it's free here) and eat hardly any of it bc it is sooo bad and then end up hungry the rest of the day.
The funding of schools should be a massive priority, and it should be a massive vote winner for politicians. It isn't and it doesn't, and it completely baffles me. Why would you not pump a sponge like brain with everything you can. Maybe that kid becomes an engineer who solves a massive problem, a scientist who cures the common cold. I just don't know why you wouldn't throw everything at educating kids. School should be free, school lunches should be free, teachers shouldn't have to buy supplies (and they should get paid well), school trips should be free, there should be no fundraisers.... The US defense budget is $715 billion... There's about 50m kids in school. That's $14,300 per student. Imagine what they could do with that.
Maybe if kids were educated they wouldn't make the same mistakes the adults keep making as they actually learned history adequately.
Load More Replies... I had a teacher who would verbally abuse kids. One time he showed us an animated porn thingy. Everyone told the teachers, no one believed us. Until some kids got video proof and he was finally fired.
Being a nerd in school, I didn't friends up until seventh grade so I was really quiet and stumbled over words. The biggest bullies always end up being teachers, I only had a handful that took my anxiety issues seriously and eased me into talking in front of the class. The other teachers would punish kids with issues like me and it's absolutely NOT right. A child, even a teen, should not be punished because they're nervous, scared, have impairments, etc. It makes me wonder if any of those teachers were ever kids and not some kind of robot.
My kid is in kindergarten and we're already dealing with a class bully. I spoke to the teacher and apparently this girl pesters multiple classmates: hitting, scratching, biting, etc. One time she tried to kiss my son. We're in a freaking pandemic! Teach your kid to keep their slobber to themselves. And the response? Every parent got a message from the teacher reminding us that the kids need to keep their hands to themselves. But we all know the reason behind that message. Makes me wonder about the girl's home life.
“One bad apple ruins the whole bunch”/ collective punishment. My elementary school did this and I bet they were hoping we would forget. It was not just no recess it was you must walk these laps for recess/exercise punishment. I brought it up back then but no one will take a 9 year old seriously. They legit said that it was so “The good kids would pressure the bad ones to be better.” Like … that’s called bullying and isn’t that your job? Tbh my high school does this too with our lunches.
Almost all of these examples seem to occur only in the States. I work at a school and we don't have to deal with most of these problems.
They wonder why the obesity rates are so high. And give you 30 minutes for lunch; including the time it takes to walk to the cafeteria and to your next class, and the time taken to stand in line to get your food. Teaching kids to wolf down their meal as quickly as possible will get you overweight adults.
A bunch of these are just reality. Like you need to be prepared for reality.
If you're at a private, paid, or a religious school then some of these things are expected. And no one's forcing you to go.
