Awkward Moments When People Realized That Their Teachers Weren't Very Bright

You'd think maybe they'd know more things before teaching developing minds?

Kylin

• Published in Funny
• February 23, 2022

Parents and students alike enter schooling and learning with a basic level of trust that the teachers the students will encounter will be knowledgeable in what they’re teaching, since that’s the whole point of their chosen profession. That’s not to say that teachers must know EVERYTHING, even in their own subject, because everything we know is constantly evolving and there’s always something new to learn.

However, one would expect teachers at the very least to know more than those they’re teaching. Otherwise, what’s the point of holding that position?

Thanks to a thread started by a Redditor, A_Purple-Penguins, “What is the moment when you realized, 'My teacher is an idiot'?” Folks from all over shared stories about their teachers not knowing some basic things that make everyone question why they’re a teacher in the first place.

From not knowing that Mandarin is a language, dolphins are mammals, or that lava exists, these stories will make you shake your head and worry for our future generation’s education. It’s not clear how these teachers missed some of the basic foundations of knowledge, to begin with, or how they ended up in charge of other people’s education, but it is definitely scary that they are.

Keep scrolling to read the 30 top responses from a shockingly large thread of idiotic teacher horror stories.

When they thought Panama was part of Canada

My eighth grade social studies teacher thought Panama was a part of Canada. Why? Because in the geography textbook we were using, Panama and Canada were colored in with the same shade of pink.

TheBoomExpress

When they failed to perform basic multiplication

She kept saying that 12x 3 was 48 and corrected a student when they said it was 4 and not 3

LuciLu72

When they didn't know the difference between and country and a continent while teaching geography

Had my high school geography teacher insist that Antarctica is a country.

I lost points on the test because of it…

49blower

When they didn't know what "dissolving" meant

Not my teacher, but my daughter's teacher.

In Science class, they were discussing the scenario of a Skittle dropped into water. Pointing out the red cloud coming from the candy, he asked the class what was happening to the coating in that context.

Student said, "It's dissolving."

He argued, "No, it's going away."

asstyrant

When they think many people failing their class is no reflection on their ability to teach

He would brag about how many people fail his class

Big-Calligrapher-532

When they didn't accept a correct answer over a vague answer

My English teacher asked when Woodrow Wilson was president , we were reading scarlet ibis and it mentioned him, so I raise my hand. I replied both his election dates, 1912 and 1916 if I’m not mistaken . She tells me no. I assumed I got the dates wrong and it was actually 1914 and 1918 or something. Then some girl raises her hand and answers “Nine teen hundreds” and she says yes.

kermitscommune

When they didn't know Mandarin was a language, not just a tiny orange

Teacher asked what is the language spoken most in the world. I replied Mandarin, he said that's an orange and the correct answer is Spanish.

jdb888

When they blamed Hawaii for WWII

"WWII was started when Hawaii bombed California" -My 9th grade english teacher

super_smash_apple

When they thought alligators WEREN'T carnivores

I had a teacher who told us alligators never attack people because they are vegetarians.

mariam67

When they didn't know the pronunciation of an English word while teaching English

When my ENGLISH teacher (I’m from Italy so we have English as a second language) said “lettoochay” instead of lettuce. She was also one of the worst teachers and ended up getting replaced.

Kriumpus

When they didn't know jellyfish don't have brains

I remember the time my 4th grade teacher tried educating us on what makes an animal. One of the criterion she came up with was all animals have brains.

I asked, “What about jellyfish? They don’t have brains.”

To which she replied, “Well then they aren’t alive, are they?”

cakeman936

When they didn't know how to spell February

In 2nd grade when she spelled February wrong (as "Febuary") on the board and I went up to her desk to inform her and she explained to me how she was right and I was wrong. This was the beginning of my realization that most people are stupid.

january_stars

When they repeated the exact same lesson over again

I had a teacher who gave a lecture he had already given, word for word. He asked a question which I answered correctly. He asked how I got the answer and I said "I wrote it down the last time you gave this lecture"

funky_grandma

When they didn't understand how projection works

"My biology teacher in high school asked me a question regarding something she was talking about, the answer of which was projected onto the whiteboard with an overhead projector. I looked at the whiteboard, and she placed her left hand over the part that had the answer so as to conceal it. I told her that the text was still projected onto her hand and that I could see it. She was visibly upset, and then she proceeded to place her right hand on top of her left hand. I bursted out with laughter, she kicked me out and called my parents."

ok-ox

When the substitute picked on the kid quietly reading instead of the other kids going wild

I had a substitute ask me to stop reading and "pay attention" while the rest of the class ran roughshod over them--jumping on chairs, throwing things, talking over them. But no, I was the problem for pulling out a book from my bag and reading quietly, waiting for the teacher to regain control of the class.

nickelcap

When they claimed lava wasn't real

"2nd grade teacher had our class naming the hottest things we could think of. A few kids already said the most obvious, like "sun" and "fire" so the third thing I could think of off the top of my head was "lava". Turns out lava isn't real, then the teacher had the whole class laugh at me for it. Made me feel stupid as hell for years until I learned that lava is real, and my teacher was a dick."

Morpheus11011

When they didn't think other pets existed besides cats and dogs

German teacher marked my "My Family and Pets" essay a D because I had "mis-spelt" a word repeatedly... no miss, that's the German word for ferrets... bumped up to an A

She just assumed I had messed up instead of the possibility that I owned a pet other than "Hund" and "Katze"

L_Bilbo

When they decided to call a first time student an "amateur"

When she wrote “amateur code” on my first project in C++ class. No shit it’s amateur it was my first program lol.

Heronmarkedflail

When they ignored bullying

When I was being bullied almost every day and cried to her for help. She shrugged it off and ignored me.

So i settled it myself with violence by punching the bully square in the eye. He left me alone ever since.

"Violence is never the answer" they said :go to a teacher" they said.

HA

roan33

When they didn't know dolphins were mammals

She thought dolphins were fish.

No amount of arguing by third grade me was enough to convince her otherwise.

"They live in the ocean, they're fish."

AssociationJumpy

When they shared incorrect medical information even though they had no medical training

My wife and I were in a birthing prep class...we're both in the medical field, but didn't advertise it to the teacher. She was actively advising parents not to have their babies vaccinated against Hep B as newborns because she thought you get Hep B exclusively from eating contaminated foods, and couldn't see why newborns would need such a thing.

It's one thing to be wrong, and it's another to be wrong and advising a room full of first-time parents with your ignorance.

ABunchofGhosts

When they insinuated fish is only served fried

We were asked to name healthy foods. I said fish. He responded 'maybe if you don't eat all the batter'.

randomnumber46

When they didn't know what a trachea was

Teacher doing basic 10 year old anatomy: “can anyone tell me what this is?”

Me, whose family’s fav show was House: “the trachea?”

Teacher: “no, this is called the wind pipe”

LordCosmagog

When they didn't know what words were

I had a teacher argue with me that "sate" isn't a word. I had to pull out a dictionary to prove them wrong.

Later on I had to do the same thing with die being the singular of dice.

shaidyn

When they denied the existence of pink trees

I was around 5 or 6 years old and drawing pink trees. They were supposed to magnolias: obviously I was too young to remember the name but I did know them from the annual blossom viewing my family did each year, and my neighbours had one in their front garden as well. My teacher looked past and said, "there's no such thing as pink trees." I tried to explain that there are, "even my neighbours have one", etc. but she cut me off and told me to stop lying. I'm still kind of mad about that lol

korenbloemen

When they failed to follow proper safety protocol

After a substitute chemistry teacher heated a test tube over a Bunsen burner:

While securing it in a test tube holder, he absent-mindedly handed the red hot test tube to a student standing nearest to his demonstration.

The boy, trusting that "it must be okay," got his hand badly burned and, of course, the glass test tube shattered on the floor.

Back2Bach

When they were more paranoid and crazy than outright idiotic

My geography teacher when he explained that self checkouts had something to do with the mark of the beast and the end times. I don't remember all the details.

Fournote

When they refused to believe their student didn't plagiarize an essay when they were a skilled writer

Gave me an F for plagiarism, I didn’t steal anything and she refused to show me her proof because this was high school and I wrote at a “University level” her words… she stated she didn’t need to show me the proof when I requested it.

Limited_U

When they didn't have quite the grasp on mathematics as they thought

My Algebra teacher had us take 10% off a number to find 90%, then to undo it she said take 10% of the 90% and add it back in. That is not how math works. I called her on it and she told me I was mistaken in front of the whole class. After class she admitted I was right but didn't want to confuse everyone else. Lady, doing simple math wrong is what confused everyone else.

HonoraryCanadian

When they thought the capital of California was Los Angeles

I was in grade school. Maybe 3rd or 4th grade. The teacher asked what was the capitol of the state of California. I said Sacramento. Teacher said I was wrong. It’s Los Angeles. Edit to add that the teacher said it was Los Angeles. 🤨

Melbourne2Paris

Holy moly, some of those stories are literally unbelievable. While some legit encounters with a teacher who didn't know WTF they were doing, the ones where it was obvious the teacher was letting their own ego get in the way of truly educating their students were infuriating.

Have you ever experienced a moment where you realized your teacher maybe wasn’t as smart as they should’ve been for their specific position? We definitely want to hear about it, so let us know in the comment section below and share this with your friends!

Kylin