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Jonseroo · 2025-04-19T19:39:18+00:00

My wife is a teacher. She does not hit kids round the back of the head or punch them in the face. So that's good.

But she is also much more involved in kids' emotional lives in a way that reduces the amount of teaching she can do. She spends a good deal of her time sorting out clashes in and out of the classroom, with much parental interference and little help. I get the sense that parents don't want to parent, and leave it to her.

Think-Independent929 · 2025-04-19T23:27:12+00:00

Today’s teachers seem to be so much friendlier to the kids, and try to relate to them on their level.

I feel like back when I was in school there was much more of an authoritarian dynamic.

1singhnee · 2025-04-19T19:39:37+00:00

My teachers used to tell me to “apply” myself, that wasn’t “working to my potential.” They would say, “you are so smart, why are you doing so poorly in school?“ or “ it’s OK, girls are just not as good at math.”

Then I got older and found out it was ADHD.

Teachers today understand that yes, girls can have ADHD. They understand that yes, different people have different learning styles. I think they’re generally more knowledgeable about those things.

Klutzy_Magician_5335 · 2025-04-19T19:45:17+00:00

Parents are way too involved with teachers, not their kids but with teachers. They feel they are indoctrinating them, teachers don’t have time for that . With the lack of parenting, they spend more time with classroom management than ever.

KWAYkai · 2025-04-19T19:32:28+00:00

I have no idea if teachers are different now, as I’m no longer exposed to them.

No_Percentage_5083 · 2025-04-19T20:28:27+00:00

My teachers were nuns so ................. today's teachers are nice.

FrauAmarylis · 2025-04-19T19:41:06+00:00

If my 1st grade teacher thought she heard you talking, she put duct tape on your mouth. It happened to me once, and it really hurt my feelings because it wasn’t me talking.

SurfingTheMatrix808 · 2025-04-19T19:50:01+00:00

Teachers had way more authority and discipline was more old school. They still paddled when I was in school and detention and getting sent to the principals office was feared. Parents were involved but teachers were generally trusted as the authority. There was also less communication with parents unless there was a problem. And if you got a call from the school your ass was grass! There was also less inclusivity of diversity in terms of people with needs.

Today I think there's a greater focus on understanding behavior through social- emotional learning. Discipline seems non existent and students have way more voice in the classroom. We didn't have the internet (obviously), so today there's more communication via email, social media etc. Today's students have more inclusivity with 504 plans, IEPs and culturally responsive teaching are much more common.

Edited for this final thought: parents didn't go to sporting events to watch us play like they do now.

Ambitious-Piccolo-91 · 2025-04-19T19:51:19+00:00

Lazy parents that never say no to their children and hand them screens during even 5 minutes of free time have turned today's teachers into parents, unfortunately.

Ill-Excitement9009 · 2025-04-19T20:00:55+00:00

I'm a 30-year educator age 57. Unlike my teachers, I give a square root if my students learn something useful. I adjust my instruction and assessment to my students' abilities. As a student, my teachers talked to the chalkboard and washed their hands if the curriculum didn't stick.

Mysterious_Tax_5613 · 2025-04-19T20:20:35+00:00

Back in the 70's I grew up in a small town with 6 brothers, two of which were ahead of me in high school.

I remember signing up for theater classes. My teacher said to the class the first day, "This is a college bound class and for those of you who may not be going to college, now is the time to cancel your class" while looking directly at me because she decided I'm not qualified based on my two older brothers.

It just pissed me off she was comparing me to my two older brothers and I decided right then and there, game on. I'll prove to you I'm not anything like my brothers. It was hard learning Shakespeare and the origins of theater but I had a friend in class who helped me through the theory of theater.

We also had to perform in skits of our own making. I performed two skits. I received a B+ from my teacher with a note of "I had no idea how talented you are".

Case in point: Be who you are and not allow anyone to dictate your life and ambitions.

DemonaDrache · 2025-04-19T20:21:29+00:00

When I was in 4th grade in the 70s, our teacher was an older lady who was a mean bully. The class watched her push a student down stairs, breaking the child's arm yet she was allowed to continue working.

oldbutsharpusually · 2025-04-19T21:14:01+00:00

Catholic school equaled corporal punishment back in the 1950s. Parents seemed ok with it. A friendly nun was an exception. A couple hours of homework each night was expected. The nuns were hard graders too. Being humiliated in class for whispering, goofing off, not finishing assigments was normal behavior by all teachers; not just the nuns. I was so glad when I graduated.

rogun64 · 2025-04-19T19:40:17+00:00

I'm mostly guessing, but I think the biggest difference is with the parents and school administrators, rather than the teachers and students.

Past-Apartment-8455 · 2025-04-19T19:56:46+00:00

I have quite a few people in my family who are or have been teachers in the past. About half have quit because of entitled kids. If the kids get a bad grade, it must be the teachers fault, not that the kids didn't study. My niece ended up quiting after she had too many kids bring knifes to class including one actual stabbing. She taught first grade.

Back when I was teaching, I was instructed that all students need to pass, even if they didn't earn it.

When I was in school, we didn't get away with that. They would have just kicked us out.

kalelopaka · 2025-04-19T19:57:18+00:00

My teachers treated me fine, I mean I got in trouble a few times and got swatted with a paddle. But I was a good student, so I was treated well. Today’s teachers are friendly and they are more attentive to their students than they were when I was in school.

TheresJustNoMoney · 2025-04-19T22:20:22+00:00

[deleted]

Kindly-Cap-6636 · 2025-04-19T19:39:07+00:00

The main difference I see today is teachers are afraid of their students.

2025-04-19T20:05:53+00:00

I have no clue how they are teaching today. Parents backed teachers back in the day. You behaved as much as childhood allowed.

challam · 2025-04-19T20:30:21+00:00

(1940-50’s Catholic schools, NV & CA): Classes were twice as large as they are now and discipline was strict (but not harsh). There was no time for much personal interaction between students and teachers — curriculum was the highest priority and the atmosphere in classrooms reflected that goal. There were no creative teaching methods in use then, but we all seemed to learn what was required.

easzy_slow · 2025-04-19T20:34:35+00:00

I was going to be class valedictorian so I was always kind of a teachers pet. They always treated me with great respect and encouraged me to do extra work. We used to have to do oral book reports for English and my first one in the ninth grade, after I named all the major characters and gave a brief overview of each one, then started on the locations etc. was told to set down I obviously read the book. Never had to give another one. My Jr English teacher is the reason I was a national merit scholar. She encouraged me to take the test and gave me some tips on taking the test. I taught for 40 years and tried to take the best attributes of each of my teachers and apply it to my teaching. I think it worked. I am trying to say my teachers were awesome. First my teachers in the little K-8 rural school with 70 students total, and then the teachers at the closest High school with 250 students 9-12. Sadly, time marches on and only a few are left. I owe so much to them.

JCKY27 · 2025-04-19T20:52:17+00:00

I've been a teacher for 18 years now, so I'm seeing this from both angles. With some exceptions in both directions, today's teachers are much more respectful than what I had in the 80's-90s. Teachers generally don't hit their students today, and any belittlement, especially in front of other students, does not fly today. Same with collective punishment.

Muted-Nose-631 · 2025-04-19T20:57:12+00:00

I have to say our Mom passed when we were 1st, 3rd and 5th graders, every wonderful woman ( including admin and cafeteria ladies) in our school became our substitute mother while we were at school. ( There were no male teachers at that school)Looking back I am in awe and grateful to each of them. I’m sad to say I didn’t realize that until I was grown and all of those teachers, along with all of the other women were no longer at that school. I wish that I’d realized it much earlier in my life. Teachers are awesome, thank you to all of you!

plasma_pirate · 2025-04-19T20:57:48+00:00

In the 2nd grade, I got spanked in front of the class for not finishing a math paper in the allotted time. I hated math until 5th grade when my very mathy mama spent 3 hours with me teaching me how to think about a page of story problems... After that, math was a favorite of mine, and I began tutoring classmates. No teacher today would even punish for that, and spankings are illegal in school.

dizcuz · 2025-04-19T21:02:03+00:00

It depended on each teacher. I was a good student and generally well behaved child. I had some teachers who seemed to really like kids & teaching but some others who were in it for power & a paycheck.

Photon_Femme · 2025-04-19T21:09:59+00:00

The last teacher conference I had was in 2000. My son was a junior in high school. I have no clue about teachers today except what I hear secondhand. My children's friends who are teachers seem to leaving the classroom. I hear they can control classrooms because parents interfere with a lot. Too much paperwork. Too many standardized tests. They can't teach the truth in some cases. Teachers were tough when I was young. They didn't have computers and endless reports. They often sent kids to the Assistant Principal's office for discipline. They didn't bow to parents. Parents didn't expect the teachers to be their buddies. I recall that in elementary school, there was corporal punishment. Though I didn't witness much of that. I do remember how teachers had pet students who were fawned over and given special treatment. That was very evident.

optoph · 2025-04-19T21:27:06+00:00

We've all had terrible and great teachers. Very inspiring teachers that were kind, smart and understanding, but some that were just mean and unprofessional. I think there was less oversight in the 60s and 70s.

Had a grade 3 teacher that liked to make fun of students toward other students which was really low. Didn't matter what it was. One kid had a stutter and she constantly mocked him. One had broken an arm and she actually passed around his homework to the whole class and we all had to agree how poor his writing was. She would even make fun of student's lunches asking if their parent's were poor or their mothers were absent. She made fun of a student, one of my friends, for crying in class a couple weeks after his father had died accidentally. The lowest human I've ever encountered.

Every 2-4 weeks the principle would gather the whole school so we could watch him giving the strap to some poor student. The highest grade in that school was grade 4 so all under 10 years old. Was horrid. Today that principle would have been arrested. I had my turn at the strap for something I absolutely didn't do. Didn't tell my mother until a week later because 8 year old me was embarrassed. Never, ever seen her that pissed off. She actually drove directly to the principle's house on a weekend and made some pretty serious threats toward him.

Had a grade 5 teacher that would hit people so hard with a yardstick that she'd draw blood (a nun of course), a grade 6 teacher that used to throw things at students if they weren't paying attention (chalk, keys, pencils, rulers, books) and often caused students to cry in class.

One of the worst teacher I ever had was in grade 11 and 12. I asked for help several times and he declined every time, stating "class-time" was for students and "not-class-time" was for him. He offered no other alternative so eventually I just didn't care and barely passed the class.

Funny thing is that bad teacher was the one that most inspired me in my career. He taught me what not to be and what not to do.

baronesslucy · 2025-04-19T23:25:53+00:00

I remember one retired teacher who was a teacher back in the 1970's telling me about a student that came from an abusive family (came to school with bruises on the face and arms) but there was no one to report the abuse to and when she mentioned to the principal her concern about the abuse, she was told to mind her own business as this was a private family matter. Sadly the student later on committed suicide.

Back in the day teachers were rather stoic for the most part. They didn't get into helping kids who had problems at home or at school.

Now the teachers are required to report the abuse and would have reported it. Teachers are more aware of some behaviors are the result of abuse or neglect.

baronesslucy · 2025-04-20T00:40:17+00:00

In school I had some good teachers, some average teachers and a few who shouldn't have been in the teaching profession. I was a good kid, average grades, so I wasn't paddled or hit. I will say because I was not from an affluent family, the teachers didn't go out of their way to help me. A student with average grades at my school who didn't cause problems was generally ignored. This was in the 1970's.

Probably is the same way today.

2025-04-19T20:13:56+00:00

They cared. I don't remember any of them treating students like crap. Again, this was more than 30 years ago, so my memory isn't what it was. Only one teacher got on my nerves, and that was a me problem, not a him problem.

I'm sorry, Mr. Williams.

mosselyn · 2025-04-19T20:29:18+00:00

Can't speak to today's teachers since I do not have children, but I was generally treated fine by my teachers.

The best ones were the relatively strict, no-nonsense ones because they made sure we STFU and learned something. They weren't mean, they just didn't waste our time or let us waste theirs. I respected them much more than ones who couldn't control their classes properly or who let us coast.

I think there were a couple times when my mom and a teacher had A Talk, but I don't remember my parents otherwise being overly involved in what went on in class. Certainly there was no pearl clutching about "indoctrination".

WAFLcurious · 2025-04-19T20:54:01+00:00

I would hate to be a teacher today. They are constantly walking on eggshells, have constant pressure from parents, administrators and even the government. The teachers of my day were surely not perfect but I never felt like they weren’t there to teach us. And I feel like any errors in judgement on their part were forgiven rather than aggressively pursued. Not so today.

Key_Letter_5967 · 2025-04-19T21:01:12+00:00

I think the biggest difference is how teachers today have to tippy toe around students so as to not UPSET them or their parents. And they must EAT the highly inappropriate language and behavior of these little shits or lose their job.

As a freshman at a Catholic military HS in '74 I got punched from behind in the ear by a teacher leaving me about 75% deaf in my right ear. He caught me throwing a chalkboard eraser at a kid in study hall. Got knocked clean outta my chair by a teacher swinging a textbook like a Louisville Slugger for dozing with my face in my hand. We also had Benedictine monks there and one of them used to smack us on the knuckles or the top of our heads with a drumstick he carried in algebra class if we acted up or weren't listening. Hell, back in Catholic grade school coaches used to yank us around by the face mask of our football helmets when we screwed up. A 23 y.o. coach tackled a 125 lb 8th grader in a tackling drill bc kid didn't form tackle properly. Knocked kid outta the rest of practice. Not saying all this was right but corporal punishment did get our attention and we also def learned some respect for authority. Happy medium in there between then and now.

Silly-Resist8306 · 2025-04-19T21:40:41+00:00

In the 60s when I was in high school, teachers were in charge. The rules were stated and obeyed, or detention (or worse) was levied. Parents didn’t argue or if they did, it was of no consequence. Likewise, coaches brooked no nonsense. Laps, it was always laps for disobedience.

To be sure, there were constant wars over hair length (boys), clothing (mostly girls) and language, but the needle didn’t move quickly. I learned that good students got away with more than poor students. As a good student I accepted that as my right, as unjust as it might be.

kiwispouse · 2025-04-19T22:11:31+00:00

Teachers treated with me courtesy and high expectations. Nothing else was anticipated or required. Some I liked (usually the hard asses), some were meh, but "like" didn't have anything to do with anything. I would have been horrified by a teacher taking an interest in my personal life. Sure, we had teachers we joked around with in high school, but they were the exception, not the rule. And that was a good thing.

306heatheR · 2025-04-19T22:27:04+00:00

When I started kindergarten, I remember being marched down to the gymnasium to witness a strapping of someone's hands. The older boys behind us were whispering about laying a hair across your hand before getting the belt so it would cut your palm open, then the administration would be in trouble with the board because they weren't allowed to draw blood. I was horrified. I have no idea if this would have happened or if it's just Catholic grade school lore.

Ok-Truck-5526 · 2025-04-20T00:14:01+00:00

Teachers in my day were much more disciplinarian, and most parents deferred to them instead of advocating for their kid. So if you got in trouble in school, you’d likely get in worse trouble when you got home.

BKowalewski · 2025-04-20T01:03:38+00:00

Was a school kid in the 50s and 60s. Got the strap for no reason, got suspended for walking down the hall arm in arm with a friend. In an all girl's school. Got yelled at, thrown out of the class, accused of selling drugs to friends....not true!. I knew nothing about drugs at the time. I hated school . My teenage years were the worst years of my life. All because I didn't conform..... had my drawings confiscated, I noticed my grandkids don't have any of those problems. I still have occasional nightmares about my school years at 73. I now realise how abusive school was.

Striking_Debate_8790 · 2025-04-20T02:23:09+00:00

I had nuns in the 60’s. Goes without saying you didn’t act up in class or you got in trouble at school and then again when you got home.
More respect for people back then.

masterP168 · 2025-04-20T05:32:34+00:00

I'm from a small town on Vancouver Island. in the 60's and 70's teachers didn't hide their racism at all

I remember one teacher used to encourage us to fight in the school yard. he would come to my family's restaurant all the time

not all were like that. I had a really good English teacher

ImCrossingYouInStyle · 2025-04-20T06:22:59+00:00

In elementary school, the teachers were old, grumpy, and authoritarian, although there were a few exceptions. In junior high, the teachers were often friendly and more relaxed, and would joke around; some were eccentric. By high school, some seemed to enjoy a friendship-like relationship with the students; they often treated us as partners in our education. We also went to a few parties with a couple of the teachers, and dating a teacher was not unheard of.

IndicationCurrent869 · 2025-04-20T06:26:49+00:00

They use to physically punish and humiliate us.

2025-04-20T08:40:51+00:00

My teachers taught, I think the real difference is that children in the 80’s and 90’s were taught to respect. Teachers were people who held authority and they were allowed to actually teach and engage students. Now days it’s seems as though teachers don’t get to teach, they are too being disrespected, assaulted and having to tip toe around political crap .

imgomez · 2025-04-20T14:35:12+00:00

Teachers demanded respect and obedience. They showed little to no interest in anyone’s feelings or individual differences in how they learned. Conformity was valued over creativity. Bullying went largely unaddressed until it was too distracting, at which point both the bully and their victim were in trouble.

seiowacyfan · 2025-04-20T14:45:32+00:00

The parents and the schools have changed, and we only have ourselves to blame. My generation was the last to see kids get paddled, teachers strike a student for misbehaving, and said to ourselves. "that is not going to happen to my kids." So we passed laws to stop it, and in doing so, turned what was a difficult situation, into an impossible one. Kids today fear nothing, because they understand, the teacher can do nothing but have them removed from class, and in many cases that student is right in the room the next day. It used to be the teachers, administrators and parents were all on the same page, now it has become the students and parents vs. the teachers with a lot of times the administration staying out of it. I taught for 35 years, glad to be finished and retired, the sorry thing about out it, its really just a few kids, that disrupt the classroom for everyone, but now the better kids, the ones that know better start to screw around also. Looking back to when I was in school, it occurred to me, that all the teachers got physical with the same 5 to 10 students, the rest of us were left alone. They set the example of what would happen to use, and forced us to obey, that just does not occur today.

TheresJustNoMoney · 2025-04-20T20:01:15+00:00

I was taken to the lavatory many times to have my ass beat with a paddle. Teachers acted as parents and knocked you back in line when they needed to

No-Carry4971 · 2025-04-21T05:59:46+00:00

They all held paddles and used it regularly. It was really just child abuse and the world is much better today.

Prestigious_Fig7338 · 2025-04-21T14:22:48+00:00

My teacher sprayed me with the fire extinguisher during my last year of high school when I wasn't listening to his physics class lesson but was instead reading an English class novel (Jane Austen). I told him it was because he was repeating content, I learned it already yesterday when he went through it, and thus today I was bored in his class. It's weird but there was sort of mutual respect after that, because I had honestly told him I was bored at the pace of the class, and he had explained there were 15 other students and he had to move at the average student's pace. He let me branch off and study Einstein's theory of relativity alone as an elective after that.

I read old school reports sometimes as part of my job, and teachers of old pulled no punches. "James should never study French again in the future, he has no aptitude for it" was the entirety of one memorable teacher's comment from the 1960s or so.

ladeedah1988 · 2025-04-21T16:59:31+00:00

Teachers in the US, on the whole, are less professional. I said on the whole. There are still wonderful teachers that don't get the credit they deserve.

EDSgenealogy · 2025-04-22T06:32:27+00:00

Getting our hands smacked with the ruler was brutal, I thought. But we did sit up straight and pay attention.

Locking up a rowdy and probably ADHD boy in the coat closet also seemed demeaning.

Aquagreen689 · 2025-04-22T17:18:03+00:00

Oh so different, Catholic Elementary School late 60s-70s. About 50% nuns who seemed to thrive on shame & punishment. Kids who cursed had to sit in front of class with shredded soap in mouth, rulers were used to smack knuckles of kids who either took something that wasn’t theirs or who hit or poked another kid, even jokingly. Big wooden paddle was attached to back of some classroom doors as a looming threat. Some would announce every kids’ test grades & mock those who didn’t do well. The lay teachers were much nicer & more tolerant which was ironic since the nuns constantly preached kindness.

JWR-Giraffe-5268 · 2025-04-22T19:44:35+00:00

My problem was following my brother and sister in school. My brother was a terrible student who had major behavioral issues. My sister was a straight A student who always was everyone's favorite. Getting compared to them was disastrous for me. If the teacher was new and didn't know my siblings, I excelled. I'm sure teachers are still like that to a point. It's kind of like how in Harry Potter, the Weasely's were treated.

finns-momm · 2025-04-23T16:28:03+00:00

Teachers were *authority figures* back then. You might even have been afraid of them. You knew if a teacher sent home a note or called your parents, you would be in trouble. Today it seems to be the exact opposite.

aburena2 · 2025-04-19T20:15:45+00:00

I went Catholic school my whole life. I grew up with a disdain, might even say hate, for priest and nuns. Lay teachers, no problem.

Caffeinated-Princess · 2025-04-19T20:22:03+00:00

When I was a kid, corporal punishment was allowed at my school. If you were a brat the teachers would not tolerate it. They sent you to the principal, who would beat your ass. Usually your parents beat your ass when you got home, too. There were actual consequences to being unruly. Most of us behaved ourselves.

Nowadays, kids have no discipline and teachers aren't allowed to punish them. I find that the teachers all seem defeated and hate their jobs.

Commercial-Rush755 · 2025-04-19T20:38:37+00:00

When we got in trouble at school (60’s, 70’s, and 80’s) our parents would NEVER go blame the teacher. It was our issue and it was dealt with in the home. What I see today is so frightening.

Emergency-Goat-4249 · 2025-04-19T20:16:14+00:00

I was spanked in 2rd grade for not following a directive.

2025-04-19T20:41:35+00:00

All my public elementary school teachers in the 1950s were decrepit old stinky dinosaurs who couldn’t remember our names, even though they compelled us to sit alphabetically. That one teacher taught EVERY subject.

Not now, teachers have become specialists: one of my sons, a former PE instructor is now a middle school principal, the other an elementary special education English teacher.

Both my granddaughters are elementary teachers, one PE, Health and Nutrition and the other is a speech therapist.

I looks like several specialists have now replaced that one teacher I suffered under.

StatisticianCalm4448 · 2025-04-19T23:39:53+00:00

Terrible. Catholic school only child. The teachers picked in the mid that didn't have back up

Adventurous-Image875 · 2025-04-20T00:12:43+00:00

We were singled out for everything. Embarrassment was a learning tool.

UnhappyPotential1159 · 2025-04-22T19:20:51+00:00

When I was in school I was miss" last name" and my teachers were mr or Mrs or whatever I took it as a respect thing. I am still surprised by it when one of my kids teachers calls me the shortened form of my first name and insisted I call him Kevin it felt super weird

Same-Pomegranate2840 · 2025-04-25T21:29:38+00:00

Junior HS was packed with all the reject pedophiles, drunks and racists. LAUSD sent them our way as retaliation for the 1968 ELA walkouts.

BIG YES BOMB!!!!!

Saturday, April 19, 2025

How did your teachers treat you when you were students? What do you notice that's different about teachers today and how do you feel about them?

How did your teachers treat you when you were students? What do you notice that's different about teachers today and how do you feel about them?

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