Every school year, parents arm themselves with a shopping list of everything their child needs to succeed: uniforms, school shoes, textbooks and a mountain of stationery. But none of these essentials count for much when the person in charge of the classroom is less Miss Honey and more Miss Trunchbull.

Don’t get me wrong, most teachers deserve far more credit than they get, and I applaud anyone willing to take on the task of shaping young minds (and keeping the troublemakers in line). But as with any profession, there are bound to be a few bad apples—and the people below were unlucky enough to be taught by them.

#1 When You Need A 90% Or Above To Pass The Class But Your Teacher Is A Jerk

#2 Teacher Doesn’t Hide His Use Of AI

#3 Ta Forgets To Remove The Part Of The Email Where The Prof Mocks My Question Before Responding

One of the most memorable teachers from my school days was a tall woman with flaming red hair and eyes that felt like they could see straight through to your soul. Legend had it she’d spend detention sitting at the front of the classroom having her long red nails filed and painted while the students wrote lines. There was even a rumor that a girl once wet herself in her class, though no one could say for sure whether it was out of fear or because she simply wasn’t allowed to leave.

#4 Professor Fails Student Assignment On Australia Because It Is Not A Country

#5 Asked My Teacher Why I Got 1/2 Off This Question. It Was Because I Put An “Extra” Space

#6 My Kid's Teacher "Correcting" Her Work To Capitalize Words In The Middle Of A Sentence

I remember the day I found out I’d be in her class, and all the sobbing that followed. But funnily enough, I now look back on her fondly. She was firm, sure, but she was fair, and she had a way of making you want to rise to the occasion. I learned a lot in that classroom, and when she eventually left, I genuinely missed her.

#7 Student Gets A Zero On An Assignment For Turning It In Unstapled

#8 Professor Rebukes Students Who Did Not Come Into A Classroom For An Online Course

#9 I Didn’t Know People Actually Covered Clocks In Schools

I can’t say the same for a couple of the teachers I had later on. They had far less colorful reputations (and no long red nails), but they stand out in my memory for all the wrong reasons, and my grades reflected it. And I’m sure plenty of people can relate. Most of us have a story or two about a teacher who failed us in some way—and not necessarily academically.

#10 This Math Teacher's Reason To Cut Marks

#11 My Teacher Decided To Do This Today

#12 My French Teacher Gave Us New 'French Names' About Two Weeks Ago (More Than Halfway Through The School Year) And Takes Off Points From Your Exams And Daily Participation If You Dont Refer To Yourself By Your French Name And Others By Their French Name. Like. ???????????

So why do these teachers stay with us long after we’ve forgotten almost everything else about school? Researchers have actually looked into it. In a 2022 study, 157 adults were asked to describe up to three of their most significant experiences with teachers during childhood and adolescence.

#13 My Little Brother’s Science Teacher Is Telling Them The Moon Landing Was Faked

#14 My Teacher Lost My Final That Took A Week To Do And Gave Me A Zero, Claiming I Never Turned It In

#15 Message I Got From My Daughter’s Teacher. Third Grade

Of the 423 experiences participants described, roughly a quarter involved a teacher being unjust or degrading. And those memories appeared to have a lasting association with well-being. Participants whose most significant experience fell into this category tended to have lower self-esteem as adults, suggesting that a negative experience with a teacher can stay with someone long after they’ve left the classroom.

#16 My Kid's Science Teacher Assigned An 82 Question Packet To Be Done Over Spring Break

#17 My Daughter's Message From Her English Teacher

#18 My 7th Grader’s English Language Teacher Constantly Spells Things Wrong

These kinds of experiences are also more common than you might expect. In a 2025 study involving 271 college students, 43% said they had been bullied by a teacher at least once during their school years. When the researchers asked them to describe what happened, 82% of the accounts met their criteria for mistreatment. And much like the earlier research, those who had been through it were more likely to struggle with self-esteem and motivation later on.

#19 My 5th Grader's Health Teacher Told Their Class The "Blood Is Blue" Myth As Fact, And Wouldn't Listen When Some Kids Tried To Correct Her

#20 My Professor Sent Out A Message To All Her Students And Forgot To Remove The Chatgpt Intro Prompt At The Beginning

#21 This Email From My Professor

So where’s the line between a strict teacher and a bad one? Psychiatrist Stuart Twemlow and researcher Peter Fonagy, whose early research helped bring attention to teacher bullying, defined it as a teacher “using power to punish, manipulate, or disparage a student” beyond what reasonable disciplinary procedures would call for. Not every bad experience is that extreme, though. Sometimes it’s a careless mistake, an unfair call, or a teacher who simply wasn’t paying attention. But for the student on the receiving end, that can sting just as much.

#22 My Professor Is A Terrible Human Being

#23 My Professor Required This $180 “Custom Edition” Textbook For Intro To Java. I Already Know The Language And Have Apps On The App Store. I Basically Paid $180 For A One Time Code To Submit My Homework

#24 We Are No Longer Allowed To Yawn In My College Course, With Points Off Our Grade As Punishment

Of course, none of this happens in a vacuum. UNESCO estimates the world needs around 50 million more teachers by 2030, with 58% of those needed to replace educators leaving the profession. The organization also reports that teachers work around 60 hours a week on average, including preparation, marking, and administrative tasks. That’s a lot to juggle, and while it doesn't excuse mistreating students, it does help explain some of the pressures educators face.

#25 This Teachers Explanation

#26 Apparently Submitting Assignments Before The Due Date Is Considered “Late”

#27 My Chem Teacher Sucks

If anything, these infuriating teacher fails make the great teachers stand out even more. In that same 2022 study, the most common memories of all were positive ones, like a teacher who went out of their way to support a student. It’s a reminder that the person at the front of the classroom can shape how we see ourselves for years, for better or for worse.

#28 A 93 Is An A And My Professor Did Not Round Up. The Grades Are Already Final. This Means I Am No Longer Magna Cum Laude As This Was My Last Semester

#29 Professor Wants 2 Week Notice To Me Being Sick

#30 Had To Do A Survey For Math, Made It As Simple As Humanly Possible, According To Our Pal The English Professor, Hostel Isn’t A Word

Some of these teachers were genuinely awful, while others were probably just having a very bad day (or year). Either way, the folks on this list definitely got the short end of the stick. Did you ever have a Miss Trunchbull of your own, or were you lucky enough to land a Miss Honey? Share your story in the comments!

#31 The Lines A Fellow Teacher Gave A Student (7m) To Write 20 Times As A Consequence

#32 This Little Note From My Kids Second Grade Teacher… That Is “Squirrel” To The Literate

#33 My Teacher Keeps Ignoring My Messages

#34 My 3rd Grade Kids Were Given This Ridiculous Project

#35 My University Canceled Class Today Due To The Weather (Freezing Rainstorm Causing Thick Layers Of Ice All Over Campus) But My Professor Still Wants Us To Go To Our Lab

#36 So This Teacher Put Eyes Up All Over Her Class To Make Us Feel Like We're Being Watched

#37 My Teacher Takes Questions From The Textbook Online And Butchers Them With Her Broken English

#38 Lost My Perfect Score Because I Wrote The Date Wrong

#39 Teacher Says This Goat Is A Ram

#40 My Assignment Was Reported To Thr Examination Committee For A "High Percentage Of AI". I Did Not Use Any AI For My Assignment

#41 My Teacher Told Me "Looser" Isn't A Word Infront Of The Entire Class

#42 This Question Is Worth 4% Of The Whole Exam

#43 This Flashcard In My School This Morning -_-

#44 My Daughter’s Teachers Corrections On Her Journal. (She Has Two Moms)

#45 My Daughter’s Teacher, The “Literary Specialist” Used The Wrong Form Of You’re In Their Email To Me

#46 Teacher Docks Points If You Dont Email When You're Absent, No Matter The Circumstances

#47 This Teacher Won't Let The Kid Renew Her Visa To Stay In The Country

#48 English Teacher Misspelled Psychology After Calling Out Students For Spelling It Wrong

#49 This Teacher’s Excel Skills

#50 My Daughter’s Teacher Can’t Spell

#51 My Political Science Professor's Handwriting

#52 My Professor Projects Power Points On The Ceiling

#53 Cable Management In My Classroom, Then My Professors Wonder Why The Computer Doesn't Work

#54 How My Professor Writes On The Board

#55 Professor Pulled Up Chatgpt To Explain The Book Sitting In Front Of Him. This Is A 300 Level Course

#56 My Professor Doesn’t Clear His Board, Instead He Finds A Random Clear Area

#57 Teacher Misspells Pilot 2 Different Ways On Lesson Example

#58 Alzheimer's Epidemiology In My Professor's Notes

#59 My College Lift Is Exclusively Only For Professors And Staffs

#60 A Question My Professor Asked For Homework. (This Is University)

#61 Our Professor's Presentation

#62 I Found An Assignment From 2nd Grade I Still Don’t Know What My Teacher Was On

#63 Teachers Like This Suck

#64 My Teacher Still Refuses To Give 100%

#65 Teacher Gave Me A 4-Page Worksheet, Said It's The Answer For One Question In The Exam

#66 My Teacher Made A 40 Question Test, And Every Single Answer Was A. I Don't Think He Had Any Idea

#67 Some Professors Just Want To Watch The World Burn

#68 Taking A Criminal Justice Class In The South. Professors' Examples Of Deviant Behavior

#69 The Desktop Of The Professor Who Teaches The Class Before Mine

#70 The Feedback I Got On My Essay Questions

#71 How My College Professor Writes His Emails

71 Awful Teachers Who Went Above And Beyond To Make Students Miserable