Has a teacher ridiculed you for asking too many questions?

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I read a few random articles on "teacher bullying" of ASD/HFA students in schools, which is, quite indignantly, just beyond the pale
It's beyond a simpler case of the teacher turning a blind eye to others bullying a student with special needs.

The passage below from one such article illustrates a flippant attitude demonstrated by one teacher towards an autistic student. Heck I remember back in the late 80s in grades 9-10 I asked a teacher a clarifying question on some expectation of an assignment or whatever, and could detect some derisive snickers from others, and subtle contempt from the teacher - even though us Aspie folk are not naturally attuned to subtle emotions and state of mind in general, we (or at least I) seem to be more attuned to it when it's an affront towards us

Then I recall getting the "what's wrong with you" comments, or "it's like you're really smart, but you're not all there at the same time" from peers, based on my asking these "obvious" questions.

Note that said questions aren't so much about the substance, but about the process...that is, I understood certain concepts, terms, and logic / reasoning, but would tend to "misfire" when trying to arrive at a coherent vision of the process that was expected at me. I think it was due to the "parts to whole" problem of Aspergers as well as the executive dysfunction (which is what makes it principally a social learning disability, but impacts in this area as well).

As you might have predicted, this discouraged me from raising clarifying questions on assignment expectations & process in later grades, however legitimate they may have been - so my parent-teacher interviews were fraught with the same "Jayo always seems to misinterpret the purpose of assignments" (and oh, by the way, he doesn't have any friends in the class)
So then I asked the teacher separately after class, but used this sparingly as I didn't want to be too annoying... b/c hey, teachers are human too, and if you're on their sh*t list then they might intentionally give you bad grades regardless just out of spite like, just enough to show conscientiousness, but not so much that I was "special". As I adapted this approach in Grade 12 it certainly paid off and thus was a big foray into "masking"

If any of you have read "The Work Survival Guide for Aspergers" by Barbara Bissonnette, she openly acknowledges that reluctance to ask "obvious" questions at work is likely a by-product of bullying in one's formative years. I can totally relate to that given my history!!

Oh here's that passage I was referring to...

Michelle said her teenage son was also bullied by a teacher.

"When my son is not sure what is expected from him in an academic task, he tends to ask a lot of questions.

"And so the teacher shamed him in front of the rest of the class and used phrases like, 'oh well, you should be able to figure this out yourself'.

"And then when he tried to ask another question, he was actually sent out of the class and excluded for the rest of the lesson."

Michelle's son is now home schooled.

I had experiences like that in school. Teachers treated me like I was purposely wasting their time, and would encourage other kids to pick on me for not knowing what to do. This was part of the reason I was behind in most subjects, since I learned to just not ask anything and to just sort of give up on trying to understand things I needed more help with.

I'm glad I went to online school for high school though, because I noticed the teachers didn't act like that as a lot of the kids there had learning or behavioural issues, so they were very patient and helpful.

Yes, that all sounds very familiar - right down to the thing of it being about the "procedural" side of things. And not just teachers, either - in the workplace, dealing with officials in tax/benefit offices, healthcare appointments, making arrangements for social occasions, etc. But, for sure, most ironic at school, because it is specifically a place for learning things!

Not really.


Mostly I was ridiculed by teachers for being too out of place, possibly for unable to understand the situation and lack of interest.


I always have this memory -- a time where I seriously have near barely any language comprehension.
Where my verbal references isn't as whole, or as coherent until at my teenage years.

A time where I could mostly grasp context with tones, volumes and pitches -- how words actually sounds like, but without the whole translation into verbalized context into actual words used into communication...


So... Yeah, how am I able to even ask question with that kind of mode of communication?

I would've have a lot of questions then, I might've have even more questions had I've able to understand what was going on then.

But it would be more complex than what my verbal abilities would allowed then.

I'm just too busy trying to figure words contexts to ask questions about what was being said and written.

Gained Number Post Count (1).
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Lose more time here - Updates at least once a week.

Grrr Mrs. Pease, my first-year Algebra teacher would rather have given me a ten-minute lecture in front of the class (instead of taking ten seconds to answer my question) on why I should have been able to understand it, but there must be something wrong with me because I was the only one who felt it necessary to ask questions in her class when anyone with even half a brain... (et cetera), and then (after I felt too embarrassed to ask any more questions) she would berate me for doing poorly on the tests and homework, and how could it be possible that someone who was supposed to be as smart as me could not comprehend the simplicity of third-order quadratic equations when even her dog could to them in his sleep... (et cetera).

I hated that woman until the day she died.

Maybe I still do.

yes i was once told i was disrespectful by a teacher for asking for too many questions.

I attended kindergarten in a small town and the teacher just loved on me from day one. Then we moved and I started first grade in a new school. Because of the move, I began classes two weeks late. Even if I hadn't been 'different', in the two weeks that I missed, the social hierarchy had already been set and I was on the outside. Then there was my teacher. Up until that time, the only experience I had with teachers was Miss Nancy from Romper Room (television show) and my kindergarten teacher - both of which were wonderful. I was not prepared for a sadistic teacher to set the tone for the next six years. She was intentionally cruel toward me and encouraged the other children to be so as well.

My experience was so surreal that for years I thought I must have misremembered it because there was no way a teacher could be so horrible to a young child. Then, she sought me out after I became an adult. She was an alcoholic and had joined a 12-step program. Part of her recovery included making amends to people she had caused harm to. She owned everything I remembered and made what I believe, was a sincere apology along with demonstrating sincere remorse.

Oh yes. I've had 1 teacher tell me that I should never ask why they ask me questions I find invasive, because they're a teacher and therefore are allowed. Like... no. That's not how it works.
Luckily they are an exception to the rule - most of the teachers at my school are great!

The only thing I can remember is being told by a high school teacher to stop making “unnecessary” comments. I would tend to want to answer in class, because everybody would just wait for someone to step in and raise their hand or so.

For that and for many many many many many other reasons. I had a lot of teachers, and all of them except 4 were either stupid, horrible, bad or directly hated me. I passed my exam on English B2 at age 15 or 16, yet at high school I could only get a 6 out of 10 "because you can't be evaluated like your classmates". Maybe mentioning that back in school the b**** of a teacher I had told me I was never ever going to understand English at all is in order. I'm sure she was right, in fact I'm sure you aren't reading this, you are just making it up, as I can't write in English (and yes that was irony with a very very stinky bit of anger). I went to a math contest for 4 years in a row, the last 2 I classified as one of the 40 best (the would not tell an order but do an extra competition) of the entire state / province (or whatever you call it were you live), while I FAILED math those 2 years. I left math entirely for the next year and yes, it was the teacher's fault.
At age 10 or so I was told by my teacher the best I was gonna do in life is being a garbage collector.
At university I got involved in the Formula Student Team and was responsible for most of the programming and a bit of electronics, every time I had some sort of problem I couldn't solve, and given that I paid a freaking fortune for the classes I would ask to the teachers just to be either sent away, told to stop playing with cars and to study the class theory crap thing or just wouldn't know were to go. None of them proved to know or master their field of expertise and I find that very INSULTING. And no, I didn't finish my degree, at the end I lost all motivation and I truly hate anything that has to do with the educational system.

Rambling over, next horror story please.

I was ridiculed for calling out too many answers

Mrs. Clarke, my 7th-grade English teacher, would openly criticize me whenever I gave an incorrect answer, and then ridicule me for not raising my hand at all.  Several times, she called me by my older brother's name, and got really offended when I corrected her.  We had a 'conference' with the principal where she said I was just like my brother, and then she started accusing me of crimes and offenses I had never committed.

The principal realized that she really hated my brother and was taking her hatred out on me.  Then she left and the principal and I rearranged my class schedule so that she would never teach me again.  I started a new class the following Monday.

Mrs. Clarke was so incensed she stomped into my new classroom and ordered me back into her class.  When I refused, she stormed down to the Principal's office.  When they came back, she apologized.  She also resigned at the end of the term.

I never did find out exactly what my brother did to instill such hate.  When ever I ask, he just smiles, shakes his head, and changes the subject.