I have a few stories....let's see...8th grade....my teacher (an ex-nun) starting calling our names one by one and telling certain people to stand up. Then, when a few of us were standing, she went up and down rows telling us all what was wrong with us. Ryan couldn't be trusted. Estelle was boy crazy. Val was annoying. Shannon was fat. Me....she told me that I wouldn't have an easy time in high school beacuse I wasn't as pretty and thin as one of my classmates who was Junior Miss Massachusetts.
Ten years later, I finished my therapy for my eating disorder and went back there for their Christmas Fair. I walked in and this teacher was there. She walked up to me and said, "So....what are we doing with our life now?" I told her that I graduated from Boston University with a full scholarship, just graduated from law school, passed the Bar and I'm working at one of the largest law firms in Boston. I live in a huge, custom-built house and have an amazing husband who is equally as successful. Then I told her that what she said to me stayed with me for a very long time. Her words caused me to starve myself, contemplate suicide and doubt my abilities and worth as a person. She tried to make excuses. She said that she was only doing what she thought was best for us. I told her there is no excuse for standing a few people up in a classroom of their peers and putting them down. There is no excuse.
My entire time at that school was a nightmare. My mother's friend's kids go there now. This same teacher once told her 8th grade class that if your mother and father aren't married, your mother is a you-know-what (a word that begins with a w and ends with an e and has an hor in the middle). She told her 8th grade class that if their parents' bedroom door is closed, don't go in because they are having sex. She told her 8th grade class of both boys and girls about having a period.
After going back and confronting her, I've been able to let it go. I've actually been able to go back periodically to volunteer time and I've donated money to the school. I want this lady fired, no doubt, and I truly believe I'm not the only person she's psychologically damaged, but my education there was top-notch. It's a private school in an inner city and it provides an wonderful alternative to the not-so-great public schools in that city. I want to make sure other kids have that opportunity despite that woman.
So, that's my Catholic School Horror Story.