http://www.depressionforums.org/forums/topic/65076-bullied-and-abused-by-a-teach\
er-from-the-ages-of-7-to-12/
Posted 15 June 2011 - 02:50 PM
My name is Sarah. I'm a college student in Minnesota. I'm in my sophomore year.
I'm majoring in legal studies and political science with a minor in women's
studies. I'm a political activist, an A student, I'm on the honor society in
college. My career goal is to be a lawyer. From kindergarten to two months of
sixth grade, I attended a horrible type of school called a Waldorf school. My
academic success is in spite of Waldorf, not because of Waldorf.
I have ADD. I've had it since I was born, but I wasn't diagnosed until I was
twelve. (I didn't get bipolar ii until I was seventeen and then I was diagnosed
at nineteen.) I've always had a very good intellectual capacity, but focusing
was difficult until I was diagnosed and the doctor put me on medicine. The fact
that I had ADD should have been picked up by Waldorf teacher, but Waldorf
schools are tantamount to a cult. At Waldorf schools you have the same teacher
from first grade until the time you graduate. There are no textbooks at this
school, electronics are not used in any way, they don't believe in modern
medicine, they deliberately delay education in small children, they treat
learning disabilities with this stupid physical therapy crap, which is basically
a placebo, there is no principal or authority and this type of education ignores
all civil and human rights laws, and does absolutely nothing when wrongdoings
happen and they don't even have a procedure in place for when they do. If it
sounds bizarre and bonkers, it's because it is.
Anyways, from first grade to the beginning of sixth grade between the years of
1988-1993, I attended a Waldorf school. Anyways my teacher was a man who I will
refer to here as Mr. M, who was and is an a****** and a teacher bully. (I
recently read an article about teacher bullying and it clear a lot of things up
that happened to me with him.) He was not a good teacher either. My mom even
said to me later on that, Mr. M was known to be so abstract that even adults had
trouble learning from him. (Also Waldorf education only works for an extremely
small percentage of people, and most of time students are years behind after
attending a Waldorf school.) Mr. M demanded perfection. If you made even a
little mistake he would give you the riot act. He had no patience what so ever.
Mr. M went out of his way to give me a hard time and bully because of my
difficulty paying attention or if I made a mistake no matter how small. I didn't
act out in anyway, I liked school and I tried hard. Even with my learning
difference I did fairly well overall, but he just acted like I was stupid and
lazy.
I remember him in first grade screaming at me in front of the whole class,
because I was having trouble understanding a math problem. I also remember in
first grade, we were doing our first painting and I forgot to wet my brush after
dunking it with another color and I accidentally mixed that blue and the yellow
making what was suppose to be a yellow, green. However, instead of giving me a
chance to correct my mistake he just told me that I couldn't paint that day. I
laid my head down on the desk feeling devastated. As I look back as an adult, I
look at him and I think to myself, `how dare he treat that little girl (me) that
way.' I was only seven years old. He could have given me a chance to fix the
mistake. I also rememeber in first grade when were doing some math groups and I
was having trouble understanding the problem, Mr. M yelled and shamed me in
front of the whole class and told me that he was sure my group was very angry at
me. I remember in third grade, I misunderstood a homework assignment and he
literally shamed me for the whole afternoon. It was a lot of things like that
during the time he was my teacher.
Even with the problems with paying attention, Mr. M could have found some way of
trying to try to help me than bully me. I don't care if he didn't know that I
had ADD or if I wasn't properly diagnosed back then. You don't treat children
that way. I mean section 504 of the rehabilitation act of 1973 was around in
1988 and ADD a known disorder back then.
Mr. M should have realized that I had ADD and so did everyone else. I suspect
that if I were a boy Mr. M would have treated me differently. Mr. M is known to
be a sexist and a bully with the girls. He would pick out different girls
besides me, who were vulnerable in someway and they would become his bully
targets. When he would bully those other girls, he would lay off me a bit. Mr. M
would let the boys get away with anything and if the girls did something they
would catch hell from him. Even with the disability issue, I remember in first
grade, there was this boy who was color blind and he went out of his way to help
him.
When I was in second grade Mr. M hung me by the legs, over a hockey rink wall.
Mr. M was helping kids over the wall and when he lifted me over to the other
side; he grabbed me by the legs and hung me over the wall upside down with my
hands on the ground, and I did not know he was going to do this. I was freaked.
I told my mom about it and she gave Mr. M a good piece of her mind. She told me
he felt bad and realized he was wrong. However, when Mr. M saw me at school, he
told me that he didn't do anything wrong and that I was being too sensitive. I
know realize that's a sign of teacher bullying.
Whenever dealing with my parents Mr. M would pretend to act all sweet and nice,
but when he was with me, he became a bully. My mom knows now that she should
have taken me out of that school a lot sooner, but now I know about teacher
bullying and how Waldorf brainwashes people, I can cut her some slack.
When I was growing up I was the kid who was teased and bullied. I wasn't into
the kind of things that other kids were into. I got along better with adults. I
loved to read and I was a geek. However, I became the target for bullying among
my classmates. I'll admit I would give them a reaction which didn't help, but
still it affected me and I still have scars from it. I think that's one of the
reasons why I decided to become a lawyer. During those years, I developed a
strong sense of justice and what was right and wrong, and I didn't like it when
people were treated unfairly.
Mr. M also would inappropriately tease me in second grade in ways were not
appropriate to tease small children. Basically, he teased me in ways that are
okay to tease adults, but not children. My parents of course told him to stop
it.
Whenever dealing with my parents Mr. M would pretend to act all sweet and nice,
but when he was with me, he became a bully. My mom knows now that she should
have taken me out of that school a lot sooner, but now I know about teacher
bullying and Waldorf ways of seducing people into the school, I can cut her some
slack.
Mr. M even libel for a sexually harassment in fourth grade. One day Mr. M was
out of the room and we were all running around, and there was this boy who was
hitting girls on the butts, including me. I told the boy to stop it but he
wouldn't. When Mr. M came back into the room, I told him that this boy was
hitting girls on the butts. However, instead of taking the boy aside and
explaining to him that that kind of behavior was not okay, in front of the whole
class, he lambasted me for being a tattletale, saying that it was just a game.
He told me not to be so fragile or sensitive otherwise no one would want to be
my friend. Eventually, I told my mother and she yelled in his face and told a
friend of hers on the school board. Why this man hasn't been fired I'll never
know.
Now I am not upset anymore with the ten year old boy, who was hitting girls on
the butts. He being an immature ten year old boy who needed an adult to sit him
down and explain why that kind of behavior is not okay. I am livid and furious
and outraged about how a grown man could sink so low as to sexually harass a ten
year old girl and allow and condone that kind of behavior. I know that when
teachers go to school to become teachers they are taught about education law and
when congress passes a new law or the Supreme Court rules on a law regarding
education teachers are made aware of it. Title IX was passed in 1972, nine years
before I was born and twenty years before the incident. The Minnesota state
statute says all schools even private much have a sexual harassment policy, and
this statute was passed in 1989. I know that Mr. M knew what sexual harassment
was and that it was against the law in the 1991-1992 school years. However,
after I was sexually harassed he turned around and violated my civil rights and
sexually harassed me and taught every single student in that classroom that
sexual harassment was okay. As a woman, a feminist, and a future lawyer it
disgusts me and boggles my mind. I've heard that a lot of times Waldorf schools
ignore civil rights laws and it's wrong.
Throughout the time Mr. M was my teacher, like I said I did fairly well
considering the fact that I had ADD and had a terrible teacher, but my focus and
concentration was difficult for me. My mom said the child expert that I saw,
thought it was because I had Otis media (tubes in my ears) as a child, but still
Mr. M would bully me and harass me about my difficulty paying attention; even
though I worked hard, and had a good intellectual capacity (which he knew). I
remember one time he pounded his fist on the desk trying to get me to pay
attention and would snap his fingers in front of my face. He would single me out
and humiliate me in front of the class for my struggles with focusing more than
once threw out the years. One time he told me that sometimes he thought I just
couldn't get it, other times he thought I just didn't care. My mom yelled in his
face for that. When I asked him for help, he was lecture me saying that I wasn't
trying and when I didn't ask for help he would lecture me saying that I should
ask him for help.
In first grade, I felt my self-esteem being affected and I felt very small as
result of his behavior towards me and it made learning harder for me. I can see
now that his bullying of me only made it harder for me to learn. Eventually in
sixth grade, my parents finally saw Mr. M for who he was and took me out of that
school. However, now I clearly see that what Mr. M did to me was to
psychologically abusive, and disability harass me and sexually harass me.
After Waldorf, I went to a Catholic school just for the education. I had to get
caught up and I did. Actually I was able to make up six years of school in one.
It was there that I was diagnosed with ADD and put on medications.
For years I suffered from low self-esteem and in junior high and high school, I
became so obsessed over perfection as a result of Mr. M and other types of
discrimination I faced at the catholic school that I attended. (I'm part Jewish
on my father's side and my mom is congregational, and I was never brought up one
way or the other, and one of the schools discriminated against me and my parents
for that.) I developed panic attacks and sheer anxiety thinking that I had to
try harder than I needed to. I did well in high school. However, I believe I
could have done even better if I hadn't been scarred from Mr. M. I was on the B
honor roll and when I graduated I won the senior social studies award for
academic excellence in social studies and outside political involvement. I was
the only person who won that award in my entire class. However, the week I
graduated high school, I realized that Mr. M was the one who was wrong and that
I was not fairly assessed by them. I was only 7 years old when Mr. M treated me
the way he did, and I knew what he was doing was wrong and but I thought I
deserved it. Now I know differently. I'm dealing with the effects now, and I
sent him a letter conforting him.
My mom runs a Waldorf inspired preschool in her home. She works for herself, and
told me her preschool was "Waldorf inspired" because she doesn't approve of
everything the school does. She's a wonderful teacher, and she follows all civil
rights law regardless of Waldorf's blessing and she's very diverse in her
preschool and she doesn't abuse or harass her student and employees in anyways.
She doesn't believe in the alternative medicine approach and she takes ideas
from all different areas and does not run her school like a cult, like other
schools do. Even she is concerned about some of the stuff that goes on in
Waldorf schools and warns her parents about that Waldorf is not for everyone.
One of the reasons why here school is a success, is because she obeys the laws
of the United States and doesn't allow abuse or harassment of any kind in her
school.
Still I recently learned that a lot of Waldorf students have stories like mine.
Since I found out about Waldorf Critics, I am deeply concerned about a lot of
the things that go on there. My mom even said the way they run their schools
without a principal and they don't screen out teachers very well is really bad.
That is something she does not practice in her school.
As far as Mr. M, is concerned he still teaches at this school and has done this
kind of thing to other students and the administration has done nothing about
it. My mom would never allow that kind of thing to happen in her school and if
one of her teacher assistants did anything like that she would fire them.
Also I was disturbed to hear that a lot of children to attend Waldorf become
delayed academically, among a lot of other things. Waldorf schools (expect for
my moms) are not flexible. They are rigid and only care about their ways. They
operate by their own set of rules. They don't live in the real world and they
are very cult-like.
Also the way the treat people with disabilities is disgraceful. Instead of
treating children with ADD and other learning problems they use the extra
lesson, which is a fake treatment and does not help children with ADD and other
types of disabilities and learning problems. When children are denied an
education and treatment for medical treatment, for medical conditions that is
child abuse, and that is what Waldorf is doing.
Every penny that my parents paid for that school was a waste. I got nothing out
of it. I'm a success because of normal education, not Waldorf. I'm all for the
arts and whatever works for a child to learn, but Waldorf schools only care
about their way, and they reject all other ways. There methods are not even
scientifically proven. It's time for things to change. There needs to be a law
against teacher bullying and Waldorf schools need to change.
