71 Awful Teachers Who Went Above And Beyond To Make Students Miserable

One of the most memorable teachers from my school days was a tall woman with flaming red hair and eyes that felt like they could see straight through to your soul. Legend had it she’d spend detention sitting at the front of the classroom having her long red nails filed and painted while the students wrote lines. There was even a rumor that a girl once wet herself in her class, though no one could say for sure whether it was out of fear or because she simply wasn’t allowed to leave.

I remember the day I found out I’d be in her class, and all the sobbing that followed. But funnily enough, I now look back on her fondly. She was firm, sure, but she was fair, and she had a way of making you want to rise to the occasion. I learned a lot in that classroom, and when she eventually left, I genuinely missed her.

I can’t say the same for a couple of the teachers I had later on. They had far less colorful reputations (and no long red nails), but they stand out in my memory for all the wrong reasons, and my grades reflected it. And I’m sure plenty of people can relate. Most of us have a story or two about a teacher who failed us in some way—and not necessarily academically.

So why do these teachers stay with us long after we’ve forgotten almost everything else about school? Researchers have actually looked into it. In a 2022 study, 157 adults were asked to describe up to three of their most significant experiences with teachers during childhood and adolescence.

Of the 423 experiences participants described, roughly a quarter involved a teacher being unjust or degrading. And those memories appeared to have a lasting association with well-being. Participants whose most significant experience fell into this category tended to have lower self-esteem as adults, suggesting that a negative experience with a teacher can stay with someone long after they’ve left the classroom.

These kinds of experiences are also more common than you might expect. In a 2025 study involving 271 college students, 43% said they had been bullied by a teacher at least once during their school years. When the researchers asked them to describe what happened, 82% of the accounts met their criteria for mistreatment. And much like the earlier research, those who had been through it were more likely to struggle with self-esteem and motivation later on.