4.01 Pathos in Journalistic Writing

"What is wrong with you? Are you crazy?!", the homeroom teacher yells in front of everyone in the class causing everyone to stare.
"I was just playing in the rain", Ashley replies.
"We don't 'play in the rain' at this school. It's not allowed. Get back to work", Mrs. Harleigh spits as she begins to walk away.
"But it was lunchtime! I can play in the rain during lunchtime, can't I? We have lunch outside anyway. I just took a few steps outside of the shade", Ashley argued back. All of her classmates just stared at them. Her two friends Harmony and Layla looked like they wanted to back her up but were too scared of Mrs. Harleigh to say anything. In the corner of her eye, Ashley noticed Harmony mouthing the word "sorry" and she looked the teacher back in the eye.
"Oh yes. I forgot I'm speaking to the kid who came from the psych ward. You have a mental disorder or something, right? That's probably why you're like this", her teacher says looking her back in the eye and smiling slightly.
No one else was supposed to know that... that was private information.
Ashley runs out of the classroom crying silently, giving the teacher a real reason to write her up.

Bullying in our country is a quandary that is starting to get national attention. But when people think of bullying, they think of plain student-on-student bullying. No one would ever guess that educators abuse the students too. This type of bullying, maybe not physical, has just as much impact to a student's emotional state, behavior, and reputation. It's worse when it comes from a teacher because there isn't a big chance that the student's parents would take their side (until they saw evidence). When a student arrives at school each day, the educators are in charge; it doesn't matter whether they are right or wrong. Teacher bullying has a lack of data compared to student vs. student, but that's mostly because it is hard to address and correct. It's also hard to distinguish a boundary between being disciplinary and being verbally abusive. What's worse is that in this situation, the child is vulnerable and can't fight back. If the child were to fight back, the school would put it on record and bring it up in it's defense. It's imperative that our nation takes every type of bullying into account when fighting it.

Sources:

• Kelmon, Jessica. "When the Teacher Is the Bully." GreatSchools. Web. 5 Jan. 2015.
• Personal experience.