The NOW COQUITLAM, PORT COQUITLAM, PORT MOODY, ANMORE AND BELCARRA
Letters Legacy of bullying remains years later
Letters
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Bullies are sometimes teachers, one former student writes. before I was called into the classroom and took my seat. My teacher never did bother to ask me why I was late, and I was too frightened to speak to her. Each morning began with anxiety. I had a problem keeping my breakfast down thinking about another intimidating day, and did not tell my parents. I was singled out for many incidents beyond my
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control, such as lack of school supplies, or the wrong ones — having a metal pencil case that made too much noise that would cause her temper to resurface. But the most memorable incident which destroyed my selfesteem was the day she chose only my composition out of the 40-plus to illustrate how not to write a composition (I would like to
mention that the curriculum was way behind where I came from, compared to my new school). She stood in front of the class and, in a very loud clear voice, began reading my story, with an exaggerated emphasis on my very short immature sentences, pausing for effect after each sentence to allow the students to take in the show. I sat through that in total shame while the students roared with laughter as she continued this way to the end. This teacher did not have a one-on-one conversation with me about any concerns she had. I was never sent to see the principal. She did not lay a hand on me. Although I did not realize it at the time, I now consider her actions as a form of psychological bullying, and I took it with silence. That year came at a great cost to me. I came as a happy, quiet child full of confidence and finished that year as an anxious person, one who struggled with low selfesteem and authority figures. As a shy, quiet child with “a slight German accent, wearing strange attire,” I could have been vulnerable and a target for bullying. However, it did not come from my fellow classmates. It came from my teacher. Although I have long since forgiven her, thinking about that school year 70 years ago still deeply affects me to this day. A. Harrison Coquitlam
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Re: “Sometimes teachers are the bullies,” letter to the editor, Friday, Nov. 2. The letter from Frank Sterle regarding “sometimes teachers are bullies” prompted me to respond, as I too was bullied by my teacher. As an eightyear-old girl ready to begin To The Editor Grade 3, I left a small German community in rural Saskatchewan and said goodbye to the one-room, one-teacher school where I felt welcome and happy. I was somewhat overwhelmed to enrol in a class of 40-plus students, but was eager to begin a new life in B.C. It was the only school in Port Coquitlam at the time, and because I lived three and one half miles from school, my father drove me each morning and I consistently arrived late, a problem beyond my ability to change. My teacher made me stand in the hall every morning. I felt excluded and unwelcome. I never did know what the first lesson of the day was because I was not allowed to partake of it until the next lesson of the day. She made me stand in the hall every morning and stay there until the first lesson of the day was over
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Friday, November 9, 2012