this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2025
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Greentext

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This is a place to share greentexts and witness the confounding life of Anon. If you're new to the Greentext community, think of it as a sort of zoo with Anon as the main attraction.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Similar story of my own: Had a middle school computer teacher who told us to use "File -> Open URL" on Internet Explorer/Netscape (can't remember which) which opened a prompt window with a text field to enter in a URL. And I pointed out that you can just use the address bar and do the same thing and she angrily told me that I had to do it the proper way. While I thought she wasn't looking, I used the address bar anyway. She apparently had been trying to spy if I disobeyed, caught me, and told me that I failed the assignment (I did not even know I was being graded).

Another different computer teacher at my high school I had seemed to more or less admit she had no idea what she was doing (she originally taught a different subject, she seemed legitimately nervous/insecure about possibly losing her job) though she tried by just reading the text book to us verbatim for a few days. Eventually, she gave up and the students just taught each other computer stuff in her class, then when they ran out of things to teach each other they just played Age of Empires all class and the she let us.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 hours ago

Let that be a lesson. Truth comes from authority, not the evidence of your senses.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Similarly I got accused of plagiarism in ninth grade on a 3 page essay, because I used big words.

This was before the days of the internet. I suppose I could have used something like Encarta, but I don’t even remember if you could copy and paste into ClarisWorks from it, and it was about a fictional book we’d read anyway.

My brother got accused by the same teacher 3 years later. He had an even better vocabulary than me and went on to study theoretical physics.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 hours ago

I had so many experiences like that. I was a voracious reader as a kid. I was reading books in English (my second language) about topics such as aeronautics and space exploration. I was reading far, far above the level of any classmates. And that lead persisted all through college.

Every time a new teacher would give us an essay assignment, I’d get called out to stay after class once they graded it. And they’d casually accuse me of plagiarism.

My usual response? Quiz me, right the fuck now, on any paragraph you want from that 20 page paper. And ask me the definition of any word you’re unfamiliar with. That shut them up right quick.

A large vocabulary is its own reward, but not so much when those who’re supposed to teach you are lacking in that department.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

You've got some weird teachers. My teachers were all pretty keen to nurture curiosity. When we'd just learned about combustion and how fire needs oxygen, I asked my teacher after the lesson about the sun and how it could be burning without oxygen, and she just explained nuclear fusion and what the sun actually was, and that the words "burning ball of gas" is a bit of a misnomer because that's not what's happening.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Reading these comments is bad for my health (╥﹏╥) What are the reasons for them to act this way? Seems sometimes they're just ignorant, other times definitely power tripping.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 hours ago

I def had some weird experiences like this in school too, though not as extreme. I had a teacher once give me a zero on an exam because I used greater than and less than symbols to describe two lines intersecting. She thought I did them all backwards. Normally I'd be too shy to push back but zero on an exam was pretty extreme so I went to discuss one on one and she basically called me dumb saying I don't know how the symbols worked (this was like 9th grade, I def did and was pretty alarmed she didn't). Finally she said fine, she'll go ask a math teacher to come explain to me in front of the class if I'm so smart. She left, was gone for like ten minutes, and came back super upset. Slams the paper on my desk in front of everyone and says something like 'fine I guess you want an A now?'. Was traumatizing. But was actually a huge teaching moment for me in that I stopped seeing teachers as things/concepts, and started seeing them as people. Same as me/my classmates/some random on the street. No one has this shit figured out. I also realized I never wanted the experience she just had, and learned to always hedge my opinions. It looks like, I think, it seems to me, etc. Has saved me from looking stupid but also encouraged those that I teach to question my dumb shit. But yeah. Teachers are just people, have you met people?

Side note my math teacher was extra nice to me that afternoon - I also learned that the teachers don't necessarily like each other either. Apparently I had helped score points for the 'not batshit insane' crew

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

Why are you going to be learning negative numbers while you are 8? Edit: Reading the comments I see that your schools are pretty shit compared to my public school was way better (even when the building was on the verge of collapsing for like the whole time I was there)

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

I switched from a French immersion to an English school in grade 3, so pretty much coasted French class until one day we were doing some exercise where we would say our names. Friends name is Green and he read it out as Verde. The teacher was ecstatic, praising him for a job well done. Of course I knew this was incorrect that you don't translate proper names and kept trying to correct them. I argued so vehemently that I got suspended for the day. Still hate French to this day.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 hours ago

It's a weird coincidence how ofter this happens with kids and French teachers. I know at least 3 other people who have been through similar stuff and it happened to me too and we've all been to different schools

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 hours ago

Haha wow, learning Spanish now so it must be taking over

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 hours ago

Same here, elementary school. Teacher: "When water boils, it produces a lot of steam." Me: "One liter of water produces 1700 liters of steam under normal pressure conditions." Teacher: "Write down: When water boils, it produces a lot of steam.".

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

This thread should be called "how kids get traumatized by school teachers causing them to hate school"

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 hours ago

Anon gets traumatized by teachers

[–] [email protected] -4 points 12 hours ago

Still with the lame pokemon. Shit was lame then and is lame now.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

At the written maths finals in my country there's first a timebox where the teacher goes through all tasks to make sure that everyone understands what is asked. During that portion the headmaster is present and students are allowed to ask questions. After that the headmaster leaves and nobody is allowed to talk any more.

So the teacher shows us this one task, and it's a 3D geometry task. I look through it and notice that there's one angle missing. There's an infinite number of correct solutions with the given requirements. So I raise my hand and ask about that.

My teacher looks straight past me at the back wall of the classroom, completely stone faced and says "I am sure that the requirements are complete. They cannot be incomplete." I hold my tongue.

As soon as the headmaster leaves, my teacher all but runs up to my desk and asks me what he missed.

Turns out, I was right and he just put a random number on the chalkboard to be used as the missed requirement.

If he had admitted in front of the headmaster that the requirements were incomplete, then the whole maths finals would have to be postponed and redone.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 hours ago

The headmaster was testing the teacher, not the students.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 12 hours ago

Wisdom is knowing when to say "fuck it" to save yourself the pain.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Maaaaaan, I've been holding this in for almost 3 decades and it's time to vent lol..

When I was in middle-school we were doing a quiz on space and the Earth and I recall the question: how long is a year?

I'd remember reading in my "Magic School Bus" book that a year is closer to ~365.25 (that's where we get the extra day in the leap years) and the class and teacher mocked me for not putting 365. I'm still salty about it!

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Julian = 365.25 days

Gregorian = 365.2425 so you also loose a day every century but this is cancelled every 400 years.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 hours ago

Units are weird. I just say one orbit

[–] [email protected] 15 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

My parents got called to school more than once because i was "disruptive" and kept doing things like wandering around class talking to people or not turning up after breaks. I was bored. My parents said, if I've done the work and it's all correct can't they give me something else to do? So they made me answer the same set of questions again once I finished them.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 hours ago

thats how you promote and nurture aspiring gifted kids

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