Disclaimer: In Real Life is a platform for everyday people to share their experiences and voices. All articles are personal stories and do not necessarily echo In Real Life’s sentiments.
School teachers are the best… or they could be the last people you’d want to face at 7:30 in the morning. Regardless, no one can really argue that they play a crucial part in one’s adolescence.
We asked some Malaysians to share their best and worst encounters with their teachers that they still remember today!
1. Puan Azniza was understanding about me bringing my phone to school, so she looked after it for me
She was my teacher in Form 4 and 5. She taught us BM and Mod Maths, so we saw her a lot. Every morning after I stepped into the school, it was straight to her table in the pejabat. I’d give her my phone to safekeep until school finished, and then I’d retrieve it back for my ko-kurikulum.
It started when she caught me using it for the first time in one of her classes. She obviously gave me a lecture, but instead of ratting me out she proposed a deal: she’d hold onto my phone for me until school ended. Of course, I happily obliged, and not once did I ever get into any trouble at spot checks.
Our arrangement went on for the next two years until I graduated. She was the best!
2. I hated my accounting teacher so much that I decided to fail my accounting paper on purpose in my SPM, while scoring As for everything else
She was condescending, annoying, and bit**y. She would constantly tell me that I’m better off in the arts stream drawing, and that her class was too elite for the handful of us who never did well in her class. This caused my passive aggression to flame up in response.
Some might justify her behaviour by saying that it was probably a method she used to push her students. I didn’t give a f**k. All I knew was that she was being borderline abusive towards her students, and I used that as a motivator to do exceptionally well for everything else but accounting.
It felt great because I knew that the results of her students directly reflected her teaching performance. I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of feeling proud about whatever messed up tactic she thought could work
I ended my high school life with 8A’s and 1G. My parents couldn’t really complain, and whenever any teacher asked me what happened to that one paper, I never held back from the truth.
Take that Puan Lim!
3. I never did any of my BM homework, but Puan Siti still brought us food sometimes
She was genuinely a sweetheart and one of the kindest souls I have ever met – which always makes me feel extra terrible for playing computer games at home instead of touching my KOMSAS.
Every class, I would be called out for not finishing work, and punished with standing for about 5 minutes. 5 minutes, as a punishment for blanking on homework! That says a lot about the kind of teacher she is. When the time was up, we’d sit down and she’d give the class cookies on some days, snacks and boxed drinks on others. One time she even brought an entire cake!
She was always extra patient with me and the other delinquents. She would compare us to her kids at home, saying how similar we are. I’ve always resonated well with her, especially outside of class. Whenever I saw her in the corridors, I’d always make it a point to walk with her to wherever she was heading, whether it was to the office, or another class. We were very close, and I have the utmost respect for her.
If I could turn back time, to be very honest, I probably still wouldn’t have done any of the homework. But I’d definitely have shown way more appreciation to let her know how much she meant to me.
4. My Sejarah teacher called my parents on me, so I stuck nails into her car tyres
Okay I know this sounds bad, and it was. I was young and angry – it was the first time my parents ever received a call from a teacher about me. Naturally, I got an earful from them and had my PS2 rights revoked. I resented that teacher so much at the time.
Instead of completing my GTA missions at home, I spent my time plotting the perfect revenge. I followed her one day after school to see where she parked and what she drove. I still remember the car: it was an old Toyota Vios that looked pristine, to me.
So the very next day I took some nails out of my dad’s tool box to bring to school. I went for a ‘toilet break’ during one of my classes and then made my way to the Vios. Luckily for me the car park was not in anyone’s sight and it was relatively easy for me to get to her car.
I stuck 4 nails in 2 tyres as fast as I could and got out of there immediately. It was exhilarating. The funniest thing was on my way back to my class I ran into her. My heart sank as if she knew what I had just done but of course she didn’t – it was just the guilt. I greeted her, she nodded, and I was off to my classroom.
I never knew what followed after that. I assume that all she had to do was get the nails removed and patch her tyres at a workshop.
It definitely wasn’t the most diabolical scheme, but at least I got the satisfaction of giving her an extra chore to do.
Teachers are humans too, something that students tend to forget
The older we get the more we understand that teachers are people too, like you and me. They have their own lives. We definitely didn’t know that before, as we thought of them as some powerful upper beings that have all the authority over us.
But they’re not and teachers are just as varied as the students they teach. Some are good and some are bad, but in their own way, each made their mark on us.
Shoutout to the good teachers though! They’re the ones we’ll always remember.
For more stories like this, read: How Religious Teachers in Malaysia Brainwashed Me As A Child
and I Let My Teacher Beat Me Rather Than Let Her Embarrass My Parents About Their Low Education
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