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what do you think of favouritism in school?

Unprofessional but I guess in some ways natural. But all good teachers should be vigilant to try their best to leave any personal opinion of students at the door and treat all as equals.

Reply 1

wildrover

I've been a teachers favourite in 6th form and to be honest I was quite happy about it. It is only natural for people to have favourites, but teachers should really hide who they are.

Reply 2

roflcakes1

It is unfair, but only natural. Sometimes you just don't get on with a teacher, but you'll always meet people that you don't click with. I think it only becomes a problem when the teacher treats a student unfairly just because of personality differences, even if the student is hard working.

Also a lot of teachers favour the students that are good at their subject, but then it's hard to distinguish between people who are good because they're hard working (which is fair enough) and people who are naturally good at the subject (which is more seen as discriminating against students that work hard but just don't find the subject easy)

Reply 3

Mollymod

Agreed, it's really nice when it's you, and it's not bad if it isn't you, as long as they aren't actively discriminating based on who's their favourite, it's alright to me. And also, it goes both ways, as long as the favourite doesn't milk it by keeping on asking for help when they get their fair share anyway, it's all good for me, because it bugs me when they clearly understand the work anyway, but they just crave attention so much that they steal the teacher the whole lesson and they forget that they're teaching a class, not one pupil.

Reply 4

Amhorangerdgerriug

At my school, teachers' kids are by far and away the favourites and are given special treatment. It's very frustrating.

Reply 5

Ryan Needhan

One thing I used to hate was something my school would do when I was there. They took 2 or three kids who were doing well in each subject and branded them as elite and gave them awards and recognition for barely doing anything. Made everyone else feel like ****.

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Reply 6

Hero-H

In school i always felt that i didn't get the recognition when i worked hard and this was a feeling i carried all the way through to the end of year 11. It was always the teachers favourite pupils that were recognised as 'outstanding' and given awards every year at the awards assembly despite the fact that i was operating at the same standard as them or perhaps even higher. I did finally get the recognition following the release of GCSE results in August, i got the highest in my year and although my grades are pretty mediocre compared with others on TSR, i am proud of them!

I digressed slightly guys, sorry!... but i agree with posters above that say that favouritism should be kept out of classes, but i guess it's only natural! I guess it gives the pupil that is favoured an extra boost, knowing that they are doing well but it kind of demotivates others who feel that despite their best efforts their hard work isn't recognised :smile:

Reply 7

gupta-mhm-mhm-mhm

sometimes when other people do better it makes me want to do better than them so i push myself more, its sometimes a good thing plus i used to be competitive

Reply 8

Pika-Profiterole

Can we argue this is caused by labelling and the assumption made by the teachers for each student?
it is very unfair to the students who have been label as 'not helpful' or 'underachieved' within class. Sometimes, some teachers are a little gender stereotype, label boys as 'lazy' and girls as 'hard-working'

this has not just lead to self-fulfillling prophecy but it also hurts the students' feelings.

Reply 9

GR3YFOXXX

I was the opposite of a teachers pet. A lot of teachers thought I was a smart ass and talked a lot, as a result I was sometimes discriminated against. If anything it spurred me on. I loved doing well, even if sometimes it was just to spite teachers! It paid off I guess!

Reply 10

monkyvirus

At my school being a "favourite" just meant you stayed behind after class to chat about something you'd read or found out about the subject. Also you'd probably greet the teacher in the corridor if you saw them but there was never any special treatment.