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The original was posted on /r/maliciouscompliance by /u/AlmiePret on 2024-07-30 08:00:44+00:00.
So this happened years ago (we're talking early 2000's) in South Africa.
I was in grade 8 and was very good at English and was always my English teachers' favorite.
My 7th grade teacher did however, pull me aside after class once and told me that I was extremely smart, but lazy and he wanted me to work on the laziness, as he knew I would do great if I just put some work into my studies.
I have Sensory Processing Disorder and can easily get distracted and also, yes, I am a lazy person... (Kind of why I am great at my job as a consultant in finding more accurate, faster ways to increase the productivity of my clients, working smarter, not harder)
Anyway, getting back to the story (see, SPD is kicking in already...)
So when I got to highschool, English was the least of my worries. I spent a lot of time on math and other subjects, as I really struggled with math and would skip easy work (things I already knew) to focus on things I didn't understand.
The kind of English we were taught in grade 8 was (to me) supposed to be taught in Grade 2... Like seriously... "I (am/is/are) going (two/to/too) school. Choose the correct words in brackets."
My teacher would make me stand up infront of the class every day for not doing my homework and proceed to tell me how stupid I am for not caring about my future by not doing my homework and blah blah blah... EVERY DAY.
Our June exams were coming up and she went on a rant again about how stupid I am and said there's no need for me to even try studying for the exam, since it will all go over my head anyway.
This is where the MC comes in: I actually started to believe it... so when June exams came, I complied and just didn't study and wrote the exam unprepared. I really just couldn't care any more and then came the winter holidays (We have summer Christmases).
When the winter holidays came to an end and my English class started again, I barely had a chance to take my seat when I heard the all too familliar "OP, stand up".
I immediately asked my classmates whether we had any homework, but they kept quiet.
My teacher held up a piece of paper and asked me angrily "How did you do this?"
"What mam?" I asked.
She held up the paper and asked "How did you get 90% on your exam paper?!"
I shrugged and said "I don't know mam, I am stupid"
She kicked me out of her class and I got a wonderful teacher who actually referred to me as either a walking dictionary or a walking encyclopedia, as I would often answer questions when kids asked what something was that we were reading about and the teacher couldn't answer, or I would proof read and fix all of my classmate's essays before I even wrote mine...
When I matriculated, I got a distinction in English and my little brother found himself in that first teacher's class. When she saw his surname, it sounded familiar to her and she asked whether he had a sibling. My brother said "yes, and she got a distinction in English when she matriculated".
The teacher told him to follow in my footsteps... Hahahaha...
But in the end, my mom was working as an admin at a fisio and that teacher was there. My mom saw the surname and confronted the teacher and she felt so terrible, she asked me for forgiveness.
There was a kid in her class that she also kept picking on and after she heard my story, she started to actually get to know the kid a bit better and found out he was only acting out, because he was being abused at home.
She changed her whole attitude because she saw the consequences of her actions and I was able to completely forgive her.
But I just had to share it here, as I think it was hilarious.