What was his problem?

We all had that one teacher or coach who was randomly cruel to us for no reason. I will never forget my nefarious middle school P.E. teacher, Coach Wallace. For the first six weeks of the 2012-2013 school year, he seemed fine, but things took a turn for the worse when I ended up on the news during a school field trip. Our science class got to see real dinosaur bones near a local lake, and when a reporter interviewed me about the experience, I said, «We’re the only kids in the whole country who get to do anything like this!» To me, then and now, this was a flawless soundbite, an incredibly advanced one for a 13-year-old. To Coach Wallace, this was something to make fun of for the rest of the school year. I can still hear his voice in my head saying, «We’re the only kids in the whole country who get to run laps!» Maybe I was too sensitive, but in hindsight, I think that’s the kind of ribbing that a coach can have with a student that they’re close with. Not some random kid in PE who is too unathletic to play an actual sport.

Some teachers are plain mean to kids they don’t respect, and that’s doubly true for elective teachers. Theatre teachers are so mean to kids who can’t act. Choir teachers are cruel to kids who are bad at singing. PE teachers have a certain disdain for nerdy kids who can’t catch a ball, and I have a feeling that’s the situation in this story. The substitute gym teacher insisted that this student take off her glasses during a game, even though she’s functionally blind without them. She got injured while playing basketball, and her mom is understandably infuriated at the school.