Teacher Shares The ‘Blatantly Outrageous’ Lies Her Students Told About Her This Year — ‘Is This Just What Kids Do Now?’
The constant fibs are affecting her mental health.
wavebreakmedia / Shutterstock From unsustainably low salaries to disrespectful students and unhelpful admin, it's no secret that teaching nowadays is a challenge.
However, one teacher admitted that she was still caught off guard by the actions of her students — specifically the lies they had been telling their parents about her.
She shared the 'blatantly outrageous' lies her students told about her this year.
"Throughout my career, there has always been a kid here and there who would lie or stretch the truth to avoid getting in trouble," she wrote in her Reddit post. "Occasionally, the parent would side with the kid on something ridiculous, but most of the time, a phone call would clear things up."
This year, however, has been a whole other beast, with students telling nonstop lies.
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"Instead of communicating with me, parents would go over my head to admin," she explained. "Talking to parents didn't seem to resolve the issue, as even if we ended the meeting on a positive note, their kid would escalate to a new story or claim that I wasn't doing the things I said I would during the meeting."
Her students claimed that she didn't allow them to ask questions during class, she didn't let students go to the nurse, she didn't let them go to the bathroom, she made them late for lunchtime every day, she made them stay silent all the time, and she accused them of being "dumb," among other things.
"These are just the most outrageous, blatant lies," she wrote. "It got to the point where I wasn't even comfortable having phone conversations or meetings without admin present because I didn't trust parents or kids to tell the truth about communication."
"Admin knows that these kids lie, and their parents go with it," she continued. "They have the attitude of 'this is just a crazy group, but their kids will be gone eventually, don't worry about it.'"
However, the teacher has struggled to 'not worry about it,' and the lies are affecting her mental health.
"I thought I'd miss my job while on maternity leave, but I have so much anxiety about going back next year," she shared. "I don't know if this is just the current work environment or if this is what kids do now. I don't know if it was just my group this year or if next year won't be any better."
"I truly don't know if my mental health can take another year of relentlessly loving kids while their parents inexplicably hate me," she concluded.
According to a 2022 RAND Corporation survey, 59% of teachers reported experiencing burnout, which is nearly twice as much as other working adults. A 2024 Devlin Peck survey also found that 28% of teachers reported experiencing symptoms of depression, which is almost double other professions.
There are a staggering number of teachers who have a desire to leave the public education field altogether.
In a 2022 poll by the National Education Association, 55% of teachers responded that they plan to quit their current education roles earlier than they originally intended. Just one year earlier, in August 2021, only 37% of teachers reported this same feeling.
These teachers are feeling extreme levels of burnout, mental fatigue, and exhaustion. Like the Reddit poster, they're exasperated by how they are treated in the classrooms by parents, students, and school administrators.
While it's not abnormal for students to lie about their teachers, there must also be a level of understanding that the things they say hold little to no merit. It's no wonder that this teacher has doubts about returning for the following school year after constantly having to defend her actions and character from baseless lies and accusations.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.