Do Teachers Have Favorites?

Some students believe that their teachers like some kids more than others.

Stoller Middle School
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     In movies we always see some students being tortured by teachers while other kids get away with a bunch of mistakes but don’t get punished, scolded, yelled at, or treated badly. Have you ever noticed that the ones who get away with things are usually cute looking, sweet acting, and innocent pretending kids with evil intentions while the ones who get in trouble are normal, teenage kids who made a small accident? Many people don’t notice that on TV, but when it actually happens to them, it makes an impact that may not always be fair in some kids’ points of view.

     I’ve heard people around the school all year complaining about which teachers are nice, which are mean, which teachers will let you get away with accident, and the teachers who will give you a referral for the slightest mishap that most of the time you didn’t even make. We all have the class clown, the troublemakers who would do anything in their power to make a teacher mad, the teacher’s pet, the quiet kids, the sarcastic “I’ll do what I want, and I will do it now!” kids, the athletic, the popular, the nerds, and maybe two regular down to Earth children . If you put all of those together, which kids get in trouble? The fun loving, outspoken, regular human being, mistake making kids, right? And the rest of the children are safe whether they are the ones whose fault it really is to the people who are just normally quiet and shy are safe and sound. It just isn’t always fair.

     After thinking about this issue for a while, I decided to ask some eighth grade students who have some experience here at Stoller with teachers to get their insight on this situation. Mikayla E. from red 8 said, “Yes.” when I had asked her if she thought that some teachers treated some students better than others. Karen D. from blue 8 and Hunter W. from blue 8 also replied by stating yes to that question as well. Everyone I had interviewed said no when I asked them if they thought that this was fair, because after all, it isn’t. My last question for everyone was, “Why do you think that some teachers do this?”. I got a different response from everyone, which I didn’t find surprising. Mikayla from Red hall blatantly stated “Because, they {the teachers} think that some students are smarter than others.”. Karen exclaimed,” They like some students personalities better, and we just can’t help it.”. One person who would like to remain anonymous made this statement, “Some of the teachers in this school base their opinions of the students on physical appearance. Some of the teachers I have been with treat the prettier, nicer looking, smart kids better than the ones who aren’t as fit, good looking, or some of those who need help. The student had also stated that he feels like some teachers actually may be biased towards other students because of one student’s race or ethnicity.” I personally have not seen this happen at Stoller Middle School, but there still may be cases taking place . Hunter from Blue said, “Because teachers may find some students annoying and loud while others might be helpful to them, quiet, and to them, normal.” Off of this, I was wondering, what really is normal? Since everyone is different, how can “normal” exist in the first place?

     But, in the long scheme of things, I can sort of see where they’re coming from. Some kids just talk for what seems like forever when others are talking, because I myself have been in a similar experience like that. This may become annoying because the students trying to learn may find it difficult to pay attention and the teacher wouldn’t feel like they are being respected.

     In conclusion, my opinion is that it still isn’t fair for teachers to treat some students differently than others whatever the reason may be. Students deserve equal rights like the citizens of our country. If a teacher should ever accuse a student of something and wants to punish them with a referral, In School Suspension, behavior document, lunch detention, etc., they should dig deeper into the investigation to see who the real culprit is. Or if it’s something simple like a student talking to his or her friend during class when the teacher is teaching, the teacher should just start off with a warning. I believe teachers shouldn’t have favorite students, because in the long scheme of things, they may turn out to be wrong about the other students. But, who am I to tell teachers to change their opinions? In the end, it’s up to them.

By: Rachel Hill