Why are some teachers SO angry??!!

"Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one."

Benjamin Franklin

Within a few weeks of the start of the new school year, I was aware of some incidents where teachers got angry. One I actually witnessed. I had entered the building early one morning - a group of students were gathered on the stairs, obviously waiting for someone. As I went up the stairs, I heard a very angry voice - and discovered a teacher (who will remain nameless here ;-) ) shouting at a student (known to me), and getting very upset about it.

I went on my way, wondering what could have been so serious... I thought the student had broken something, perhaps even hurt someone, or said something bad to the teacher. Maybe even some financial misdemeanour? (...though that hasn't been considered such a serious problem at this school in the past!) Later, I saw the student and asked him what the problem had been. He had forgotten to change his shoes for slippers. Really. That was it! I confess to being amazed... First of all, did such a broken rule merit such anger? And then, what was that kind of anger doing to the teacher? Surely there are more important things in life to get angry about?

On discussing anger in some of my lessons, I discovered that teachers got angry over some interesting things:

• homework not being done
• not closing the door to the class before the teacher arrives
• students not coming to collect the cassette recorder for certain teachers - the instant punishment for this one was a test, at 7.05am!! (This happened to 2 different classes, and was after an angry outburst...)
• forgetting exercise books
• dropping papers on the floor which were being collected by another student
• because another colleague disagreed with them :-)

It seems that many teachers adopt the Al Pacino shouting style :-)

And all of this was within a few weeks of the beginning of the new school year :-) So much for the relaxing summer break...

All I ask is - is such anger justified, certainly over what can be considered 'minor offences'? And is it ever ok to be SO angry as a teacher? What will be the after-effects? Respect...or, more likely, fear? 

And if you, dear reader, have had some interesting experiences of a teacher's anger, then please feel free to express it on this thread, and of course, keep the names of the offenders out of it - unless you feel it's absolutely necessary :-)

And just in case you're thinking, 'I wonder if Mr Everill has been angry at SGO?' - well, if you have seen that, then post it here :-) I have been annoyed, yes - but not angry as I know I can be...after living and working for 6-7 years with homeless teenagers, I believe that there is very little that could happen here that would make me as angry as I got back then ;-) - certainly during my lessons. But there are some things that I feel quite angry about...and this subject is one of them - hence, this post :-)