Teachers have a job that comes with a lot of responsibility. They cover the curriculum, keep a room full of students engaged, well-behaved, and supported. And sometimes, they get stories that stick with them for years.
A Reddit thread asked teachers to share the moments that made them think, “Oh boy, that student definitely isn’t going places.” Here are some of the best ones.
The Rap Paper
One university teacher received a paper on the Treaty of Versailles that followed no known formatting system. There were no paragraphs. Assuming the student’s computer had messed it up, the teacher went to return it.
The student explained it was intentional. The format was meant to be read as a rap. He proceeded to perform it in class before class started. The teacher gave it a D+.
Staring At The Wall
Another teacher described a freshman who stared at the same spot on the wall for every class. He walked in on time, sat down, opened his folder, stared, and never took a note. At the end of class, he closed his likely-blank folder, got up, and left without a word.
The teacher sees him from time to time at the grocery store collecting carts. He feels a little bad for whoever funded his education but is pleased that he has a steady job.
Lighting The Desk On Fire
In eighth-grade physical science, a lab partner took the top off an oil burner, poured the oil over their desk, and lit it on fire. Like on purpose.
The teacher put the fire out and got suspended anyway. The lesson was never help put out a fire.
The Stapler Plane
A high school applied math class held a paper airplane design contest. The rule was simple: use anything on the table, throw the farthest down the hallway, and win.
The table had printer paper, construction paper, tape, rulers, compasses, toothpicks, duct tape, paper clips, masking tape, a stapler, and Elmer’s glue. Most students spent an hour designing complex planes.
Tim sat quietly and chatted with friends until the last thirty seconds. Then he grabbed a few things, sat back down, and waited. His “plane” was a piece of paper wrapped around the stapler.
It slammed into the door at the other end of the hall. Tim’s ridiculous creation beat everyone else and won the contest easily. The teacher hopes Tim ends up working for NASA.
Other Oddities
The thread also collected other memorable moments:
- A student ate a glue stick for five dollars because it said “non-toxic.”
- A middle-schooler attacked another student with the prongs of a three-ring binder after being dissed.
- A student genuinely believed the Great Wall of China was in Berlin.
- A fourth-grader ran full-speed into a wall, stumbled, and did it for an hour.
- A seven-year-old stripped to his underpants, skipped around the room singing the Pokemon theme, and said “Sensei, I did a good job!”
These stories are funny, but they are also human. Teachers remember students for their quirks, their failures, and occasionally their wins.
Source material: “48 Teachers Recall The Students Whose Common Sense Seemed To Take An Extended Vacation In Class,” Bored Panda.
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