We all want to think that schools are somewhere we can send our kids without having to worry about their health and safety – mental or physical – but in reality, we should realize that there is corruption and dishonesty in every profession.
These 17 people have been shocked at the unethical practices they’ve seen in schools of all levels, and after reading through them, my jaw is getting a workout too.
17. I’m sure this happens all the time.
Giving preference to kids that parents donate money and fraternise with teachers/ headmasters.
The person that bullied me was the child of the school board governor. The headteacher decided to sit both of us kids down to talk it out and she burst into crocodile tears and told them I was the one hurting her.
Guess which one of us got believed and which one got yelled at? Yep, it pays to have important parents…
16. This is so messed up.
Not letting kids go to the toilet when they need to.
I distinctly remember one kid in my German class bursting into tears because he couldn’t hold it in any longer. He asked at least 3 times.
My parents always told me that if I absolutely cannot hold it any longer and a teacher is still telling me ‘no’ to just walk to the bathroom and go, then text my parents what happened, so if I got in trouble they could back me up.
You can get a bladder infection for holding it too long, and it’s just ridiculous to not let a student go to the restroom.
15. I’m sorry, what?
This is probably very specific to my home country but period checks.
Yes… that kind of period.
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.
14. What are they supposed to do?
Closing every single bathroom because of one fight in a bathroom.
We have 28 bathrooms in our school, all of them closed
Were also a school who made international news for throwing out kids school lunches for being too much in debt to the school
13. What’s the alternative?
The victim of a physical fight who defends themselves is also punished. F**k that. If you are attacked, fight back.
12. They’re being told straight-up lies.
So for about a year, I worked for a federal student loan servicer. People would call in, and I’d try to help them find a way to manage their student loans. I don’t want to really unravel the student loan thing, but there are financial aid offices out there that are straight up lying to their potential students.
If I had one person tell me that they were told they wouldn’t have to pay back their loans if they graduated, I’d chalk it up to that person being an idiot.
When I had 10 people tell me they were told that, I think there’s someone misinforming them.
All these students attended “Bible Colleges” in Tennessee and Arkansas.
11. Talk about backward.
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!
10. I’m pretty sure that’s illegal.
Our assembly room/gymnasium had the fire escape doors chained shut, and the police department was aware of it.
When we do inspections of any building with exit doors chained shut, we immediately cut the chains off with bolt cutters and take them with us THEN notify the fire marshal.
9. If there’s a real fire, why are we in line at all?
I’m the case of there being a fire, I think it’s stupid we have to go in alphabetical order. So Adam is happy and healthy, but Zach just turned into ash.
In my opinion, they should all just get in a line no matter what.
8. Water is for everyone.
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.
When I was in elementary school you could only have water at lunch if you had a lactose allergy. Other then that you were forced to only drink milk.
7. There’s no real way to win.
If a bully starts a fight and you defend yourself, you get suspended for fighting.
If a bully starts a fight with you and you do nothing to defend yourself, you get suspended for fighting.
If you run from a bully to avoid a fight, you still risk being suspending for fighting.
This is why I beat the poop out of a bully when I was in 8th grade. I figured that if I was going to be suspended for the actions of someone whom I could not control, I may as well earn it myself.
6. A catch-22.
This is at a university level.
Say you are a grad student who just secured an opportunity to travel internationally with university funding for your research.
You put in a travel request with a suggested travel and lodging budget that gets approved within your funding.
You, the grad student, still have to front the money, no matter how much it is. And reimbursement can take 3 weeks – 3 months depending on how much pressure the finance office is under, who operates on a first in first out basis.
So, you secured this wonderful grant for thousands of dollars, making no/little money as a grad student, maybe you are even a fully funded student paying no tuition. You still may be too poor to actually conduct the research you were brought there to do.
5. No good deed goes unpunished.
Firing lunchroom staff for serving food to poor students whose families can’t afford to pay.
4. Bullying is such a complicated issue.
Bullied students are told to leave because it’s easier to kick out a quiet victim than a loud bully.
My best friend’s daughter was told to “maybe wear clothes that make her less of a target for bullies.”
My friend was very poor and her kid often wore used, older, and not very trendy clothing. I went out of my way to give her clothes and she loved it and was the most appreciative person. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop and she ended up having to switch schools.
3. These boil my blood.
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.
Even better: Let the professor write the book for the course. They change one stupid thing each year so they know if you get an older edition. Plus they’re getting paid to teach the course and “write” the book each year.
2. Why is this a thing?
Only having one bathroom for open in a high school. There are 1000’s of kids.
This was the deal for us for a little bit last semester. We had the whole “devious lick” shit going around and it eventually got to the point that the only restroom that was open was the one near the auditorium.
The walk from the classroom to that particular restroom could be 2-3 minutes, depending on where the class is, and they were always crowded, yet teachers would still expect us to only take a little bit
1. Zero tolerance anything.
Zero tolerance policies.
Oh that kid hit you for no reason? both suspended zero tolerance!
I remember when the zero tolerance policy started being applied to both/all parties, a behaviorist predicted an upswing of violence, plus an increase in violent intensity (from slaps to punches; from punches to stabbings; from stabbings to shootings).
If I am remembering right, that prediction is being found accurate.
Wow, I mean, just another lesson one keeping your eyes open and protecting your family because sometimes you’re the only one who is.
Have you seen things like this in a school? Something worse? Hit us with the truth in the comments!
