The Psychology of The Teacher's sarcasm of their Students: Its Causes and Disastrous Consequences

For the professor or teacher to succeed in communicating what they want to share with their students, they must build a good relationship with them.

It is preferable if this relationship is based on friendliness so that the teacher assumes the role of the father or the big brother, taking into account the correct role of the father who does not mock his children, ridicule them, or abuse them. This relationship can move the rising generations to the right path to build a promising future.

What is the definition of a teacher's sarcasm of their students?

Psychology experts define the teacher's mockery of their students as an act that stems from the teacher's domination, their desire to humiliate their students and heal them and reduce their value and dignity in front of the rest of their colleagues.

Sarcasm is one of the methods inconsistent with the principles of the teaching and educational process, and contradictory to the teacher's personality, which must be characterized by sobriety and wisdom.

What is the main reason behind the teacher's sarcasm of their students?

Psychology experts say that the main reason behind the teacher's sarcasm with their students is their inability to control the class and their lack of competence in managing their relationship with their students and the students' relationship with each other.

Therefore, they resort to methods of sarcasm, ridicule, and bullying to instill fear in the hearts of their students as a means of controlling them.

How can the teacher's sarcasm with their students be due to the teacher's lack of self-confidence?

The teacher's sarcasm of their students may be due to the teacher's lack of self-confidence. Therefore, they compensate for this deficiency by arrogating their students and highlighting themselves as a person of high value and prestigious status by underestimating and belittling them.

What is the role of the community environment in the teacher's sarcasm of their students?

Psychology experts have noticed that the community environment or the general atmosphere plays a role in the teacher's sarcastic personality. The more society is subjected to authoritarianism, repression, violence, and oppression, the more sarcastic the teacher's personality is with their students.

This is because the oppressed person resorts to unloading the power of oppression that they are exposed to on those who are less than them.

What is the teacher's childhood role in how they deal with their students?

Some psychology experts stress that most of the teachers who bully their students spent an abnormal childhood that eventually led to the formation of a disturbed or abnormal personality that is not suitable for a sensitive profession such as teaching.

Also, what makes matters worse is the state of reverence that surrounds the teacher in many societies, overlooking all the defects and deficiencies that may exist in their personality and their psychological and emotional being.

Do social and economic conditions affect how the teacher deals with their students?

Social and economic conditions play a negative role in the teacher's dealings with their students, especially in conditions of poverty and need that prevail in some societies in poor countries, makeing it imperative for the teacher to work in another profession besides teaching to secure the requirements of their lives and the lives of their children. This makes education a lower priority compared to its basic needs.

What is the impact of community democracy on the way the teacher deals with their students?

The strong mock the weak, and the elders bully the younger ones abound in societies that lack the minimum conditions of democracy and a culture of dialogue.

Behaviors that boast strength and intelligence become a substitute for the language of dialogue and accepting the opinion of the other, whether it is from people of lesser age or stature.

What is the role of the teacher's ignorance of the characteristics of childhood in the way they deal with their students?

A child cannot be treated like we treat an adult or older one because the child is a very special case. Each stage of childhood and development has advantages over the following stages.

On the other hand, it has its way of dealing. The teacher’s lack of knowledge of these matters will inevitably lead to wrong dealings with students and building an improper relationship between the teacher and their students.

Also, the institutes and universities that graduate these teachers who do not deserve to be in the position of generational builders bear the responsibility for this mistake.

What is the most famous story about the teacher's sarcasm of their students?

Perhaps the most famous true stories about the teacher's sarcasm of their students is the bullying of the American broadcaster "Steve Harvey" when he was a student in the elementary school. The class teacher asked them to write a few lines about their dreams in the future and the profession they wish to pursue in their lives.

When the teacher read Harvey's dream of being a famous broadcaster, she giggled out loud and started mocking him, as "Harvey" was suffering from stuttering in some words and exits of letters.

So Steve Harvey returned to his home frustrated. He told his father what happened with him at school, so the father read what his son wrote in the paper, then gave it back to him and asked him to put it in his drawer and to read it every day in the morning before leaving for school, and passed days and years. Steve Harvey became one of the most famous broadcasters in the world.

It's funny how "Steve Harvey" gives his teacher one gift every Christmas, a modern TV to watch his programs, which have become very popular.

How can a teacher's sarcasm of their students be useful?

The university professor reprimands one of his students for his curriculum shortcomings and lack of interest in the explanation. He says to him: You are an idiot, and you will remain so all your life, and if you become a professor and obtain a doctorate, you will remain stupid and a fool.

Then the student initiated by saying: What you said is true, Professor. I am a fool out of the ordinary way, and I have reached the highest levels in my stupidity, so what should I do? I do not have any solution.

Here, the professor is silent, and features of confusion and confusion appear on him. This is what psychology experts have called sarcasm and contradictory communication, as the professor here harassed the student by mocking him. The professor resorted to amplification to criticize a certain behavior, and sarcasm is a way to express enmity implicit, humorously or comically in an offensive but soft manner.

We notice that the student's response to his teacher was positive, despite the hurtful and insulting speech against him. This teacher's method aims to modify his behavior by exaggerating and attacking him. However, this method should not be used in the early educational stages because it greatly harms the student's personality when they are children. Using it with undergraduate students may be useful in some cases.

What are the correct alternative methods for the teacher's sarcasm with their students?

1. Do not talk about the student’s shortcomings in front of their classmates

If the teacher wants to talk about a student's bad behavior or academic failure, they must speak with the student in complete confidentiality and not in front of them their colleagues.

Since talking about the student's faults in front of his colleagues may devalue them, and they may be the subject of ridicule from their friends. This exacerbates the problem and does not solve it.

2. Use the feedback technique

The teacher should use what is called the feedback technique; That is, they return to the student to ask them about what they understand from the remarks addressed to them and to make sure that what they want to say reach the heart and mind of the student properly, and to confirm that the advice aims to overcome and correct mistakes. This is what maintains the friendly relationship between the teacher and the student.

3. Pay attention to body language while talking to the student

The teacher must pay fair attention to the body language while talking with the student, especially when they feel that their student has started to take a defensive position or has begun to tend to withdraw, which is a sign that the teacher must understand and change their tone and body language based on it.

How can public sarcasm of a student destroy their future character?

There is a wrong behavior that is repeated in many schools and educational institutions, especially in developing countries or the so-called third world countries, which is writing the name of the student who has been punished on the bulletin board or defaming their name. This behavior is wrong from an educational point of view, and pushes the student to a different reaction, which is to show off this punishment to defend themselves and save their face.

This may leave the student with very bad behavior, which is repeatedly violating regulations and laws. So there is a law in child psychology that says that the child becomes what we describe them as and what we say about them. This helps them become a successful person in their lives. If they are portrayed as a failure and promotes this failure, then this encourages them to fail. Therefore, you should avoid writing the student's name publicly.

In conclusion

We must mention a very important thing, which is that in this article, we never intend to offend the position of the teacher or diminish their value, but we shed light on points that must be taken care of and reviewed.

Also, we emphasize that the teacher's relationship with their students is a relationship of love, affection, and mutual respect. Thus, any negligence on the part of any party destroys this relationship, producing generations hostile to the laws and legislation of society, and causing us to suffer crises, the price of which will be very high.