Teacher Bullying: Abuse of Power
“The influence of teachers extends beyond the classroom, well into the future” — F. Sionil Jose
Author: Dr. Aheli Dey
The quality of a student-teacher relationship has a significant impact on a student’s behaviour both at present and in the future. Our formative years are spent in a school surrounded by teachers who are meant to foster a positive environment conducive for learning and mental development.
Today, I would like to share my personal experiences in an elite English-medium missionary school and my professional views as a psychiatrist. My parents, having studied in Bengali-medium schools, wanted to provide me with the best platform for the future and choose an English medium school. We were dressed in neat, well-ironed white dresses for school. However, that’s not where the pure white ended. We had to wear clean white panties, which was ensured by panty checks.
I had vivid memories of standing in a line in the assembly hall and teachers asking us to lift our dresses to show our panties.
If it was anything other than white, we would be scolded and our parents sent a note regarding the transgressions. I wonder to this day why this was done, some say it was for discipline, others merely say it was a rule. But which rule allows a teacher to check a 4 year old’s panty by exposing herself, surely this counts as a violation of privacy.
These rules just changed as we grew up, we were to strictly wear white bras or camisoles covering them. Students who didn’t comply with these rules were reprimanded at assemblies and often parents notified. There were so many students who were bullied and insulted by the teachers if they were seen talking to boys (who attended the school next door) or how they dressed up outside the school. These matters were brought up at parent-teachers’ meetings and the student lashed verbally in front of the parents. They were told good girls didn’t behave like that, for something that was a regular adolescent behaviour.
Teachers always looked down upon students who did not fare well academically, more often than not bullying and insulting them in front of the classes and going as far as to say that they wouldn’t amount to anything. They would not stop at anything to ridicule students when they are meant to do the exact opposite. Any student who wanted to pursue an unconventional profession was made fun of and put down. I remember that we had a certain teacher who would inspire utter fear in our hearts if she started walking around the class. If there was anything out of place or someone pronounced a word wrong, she would verbally lash out so bad that students would be reduced to tears. There was a particular time when most of my class had failed in a maths test (even the ones who performed well academically) instead of finding out what were the issues, the entire class was ridiculed by the teachers and we were told how we were surely going to fail in ICSE exams. Teachers are supposed to motivate us to be and do better, instead they broke us down and tried to cast us into a mould best acceptable to them.
I had a lot of good times in school, mostly because of the friends I made. We gave each other the strength to live through degrading parts of school. Teachers are meant to motivate and encourage their students, to find their strengths, build their self esteem and help them overcome hurdles. However, some of the teachers that taught us did the exact opposite.
They would bully the students if they failed in any academic tasks, instead of helping them do better at that. They were very quick to write off anyone who did not fit into their academic and moralistic moulds.
I always thought that the time I spent in school was the best, however when I chose to pursue psychiatry as my career, I realised how deeply the negative behaviour and bullying of the teachers had impacted me as an individual. According to a study, teacher bullying is a form of humiliation that demeans the students in front of others. A teacher’s aggressive behavior actually harms the students. This type of bullying consists of any form of overt communication meant to psychologically damage a student who is motivated to avoid such treatment, including verbal or nonverbal attacks. Therefore, instead of helping, it negatively impacts the students’ learning ability. Student and teacher relationships are meant to be meaningful, as students look up to them to make them better.
As per a study by Stuhlman et al, almost 15% to 30% of the students are bullied by their teachers which may be of physical, verbal or emotional nature.
The teachers hurt the feelings of the students which results in resistance and lack of participation by the student. Teacher bullying is a form of abuse of power as there exists an imbalance of it between the teacher and the student.
Teachers intentionally adopt an unsuitable and unfavourable social behaviour to get the desired goals and outcomes. A research study had been done which suggested that teacher aggressive behaviour leads to fear and oppression in the students. This type of behaviour exerts immense pressure on the students’ mental condition.
Research has shown that teacher bullying leads to various problems like academic difficulties, depressive symptoms, anxiety, low self-esteem and poor communication patterns. Teachers seldom think about the mental health and psychosocial effects of their behaviour on the students.
The constant demeaning and verbal onslaughts destroy the self-esteem and motivation of the students, they start to doubt their own abilities. It takes years to mend the scars left behind by the psychological damage inflicted on them by the teachers.
The psychological issues can be divided into:
Internalizing symptoms- which includes problems directed within an individual, such as depression, anxiety, fear, self-harming behaviour, body image issues and withdrawal from social spheres.
Externalizing symptoms- which reflects behaviour that is directed outwards toward others, such as anger, aggression, and conduct problems, including a tendency to engage in risky and impulsive behaviour, alongwith use and abuse of illegal substances.
Academic issues arise in the form of reduced concentration, poor academic performance and increased disinterest.
Most of the teachers use punishment as a means to teach or eliminate behaviours they deem problematic. However, it has been proven that punishment is less effective in doing so. What should be used and taught to the teachers is positive reinforcement. This is a far more effective means to increase the desired behaviour which has positive long-lasting effects and does not psychologically damage the student. Positive reinforcement basically means to reward someone when they perform the desired behaviour, reward can simply be a term of encouragement or praising them for the good work.
If the correct methods and the long-lasting effects of both those and teacher bullying are taught to the teachers, then the coming generations of students will have better chances at growing up as a well rounded, mentally healthy individual.
Works Cited
Najam H, Kashif S (2018) Impact of Bullying on Students’ Behavioral Engagement. J Health Educ Res Dev 6: 261.
Stuhlman MW, Pianta RC (2002) Teacher’s narratives about their relationships with children: associations with behavior in classrooms. School Psychology Review 31: 148.
About the Author: Dr. Aheli Dey
Aheli is a psychiatrist by profession. She is an avid foodie, she loves traveling and can spend hours looking up at the starlit sky, oh and an absolute Potterhead. In her free time, she loves painting and binge watching psychological thrillers.
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