Thread by @charles_gaba

I had an incident which wasn't nearly as bad as this, but in the 4th grade, I was in the "gold reading group." We had started reading a new book when my family left the state for a week's vacation (I think it was for my cousin's Bat Mitzvah or something). 1/

https://twitter.com/yolandebouka/status/1451278765913526273

Since I was gonna miss a week of school, the teacher gave me the full week's worth of assignments/etc, including reading the next couple of chapters of the book.

I enjoyed the book so much I read the whole thing while on vacation.

When I got back the following Monday... 2/

...my teacher found out I had read the *entire* book, and instead of praising me, KICKED ME OUT OF THE "GOLD" GROUP (and into the "Bronze" group) for reading ahead.

Apparently she'd planned on discussing foreshadowing that week to see if we could guess what would happen next. 3/

I mean, she could have simply asked me to keep my mouth shut or sit out the "gold group" session for the next couple of days to avoid spoiling the lesson, but nope...she kicked me out entirely.

Because I, a then 10-yr old boy, ENJOYED READING FOR ITS OWN SAKE.

What kind of a teacher punishes one of their students for WANTING TO READ? That's absolutely batshit.

Fortunately, I kept my passion for reading as I grew older but that's exactly the sort of thing which can turn a kid off from it for life. Sheesh.

The other ugly elementary school memory I have was when I was in the 1st or 2nd grade and a substitute teacher TAPED MY HAND in order to force me to write with my right hand (I'm left-handed).

When my mom found out she went ballistic. This was in around 1978 or so.