Egregious acts and unethical practices have happened in schools since they first began.
Not too long ago, the news was filled with stories and commentary on Paris Hilton's YouTube documentary where she opened up about her time in the troubled teen industry.
In Canada, the Indigenous community is bringing home the lost native children that were discovered in unmarked graves in former residential schools. The same reckoning began in the U.S. in 2016.
Though we may not be seeing these extreme examples of unethical actions in public schools today, there are still grievances among our youth. We went to AskReddit to hear about the things we force our students to bear.
Redditor hugscar asked:
"What are unethical practices schools do?"
Some of these will shock you.
Zero tolerance policies.
"Bullied and harassed students having the same repercussions as their bully for defending themselves."- novato1995
"I remember when the zero tolerance policy started being applied to both/all parties, a behaviorist predicted an upswing of violence, plus an increase in violent intensity (from slaps to punches; from punches to stabbings; from stabbings to shootings)."
"If I am remembering right, that prediction is being found accurate."- liquidarc
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A lack of consequences.
"I had a bully in middle school grab and twist my thumb hard enough to snap tendon (or whatever is in your thumb. It's been a while) and nothing happened to him since he would have to sit out football if he was punished."- TheLaughingSage
"So for my school I have 2 things."
"They have a no pass list."
"You are only allowed to be out for 5 minutes at most, and no passes first or last 10 minutes of class, no exceptions."
"If you break these rules, or you're just a b*tch/troublemaker in class enough times, you get put on the no pass list for at LEAST a week, so you get 0 passes at ALL."
"It could be for that class for a week, it could be the whole day for the rest of the year.
"I'm sitting at home with a concussion and not at school right now because some kid physically assaulted me."
"She gave me a concussion, two bruises, a red star shaped mark on my head, and 3 different muscle tissue injuries."
"Her doing this has prevented me from performing in front of thousands of people this Friday."
"She has not been punished or talked to at all."
"They have said 'I think you and her just have conflicting ideas and she might have been triggered by things in class and you really don't know each other well'."
" When she came up behind me, grabbed my hair, and yanked me down to the ground by my hair."
"This is bullshit especially because she did this earlier in the year too, and if she does it one more time especially since she is still at school and has not been punished in the slightest, my parents are going to press charges."- cat_lover_21.
Chained fire escapes.
"Our assembly room/gymnasium had the fire escape doors chained shut, and the police department was aware of it."- snarlyelder.
Required textbooks.
"Requiring you to purchase textbooks brand new from the college's bookstore because that's the only way to get the access code to complete the required assignments on the publishers website."- austininlaw
Limiting access to water.
"Less severe but limiting kids access to water, I.e. you can’t have your drink bottle at the table."
"Which sucks when you live in Australia and at summer the temperature gets up to 36c and school is during all the hottest hours of the day."- TeamLarge7729
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A "told you so" moment.
"I was a decently misbehaved third grader."
"Told my teacher I had a stomach ache and I needed to go to the nurse."
"I asked a number of times."
"She thought I was just trying to get out of individual reading time."
"My appendix burst on the bus ride home."
"I was never one to ask to go to the nurse."
"Just a hyperactive kid my teacher apparently had enough of."
"Denying medical attention to an 8 year old seems unethical."
"This is not a 'boy who cried wolf' story for all those saying 'I told ya so.'"- jurassicgrif
Bathroom access.
"Not allowing kids to use the restroom."
"As someone who was diagnosed with multiple reproductive issues at an early age, I had some pretty intense periods."
"And this rule made school even worse."
"Got the nickname 'Paint Bottle' because my school was infamous for denying the bathroom."
"they were closed to all students during a set time because of 'misuse') and I literally had no help from anyone at all. Never realized it was as bad for other people too."
- RebelRebelPebble
"Not being allowed to go the toilet."
"You gotta go, you know?"- Averyjackman.
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Invasion of privacy.
"This is probably very specific to my home country but period checks."
"I'm from Malaysia and yes sadly this is a thing and I've witnessed it firsthand. Mostly to make sure girls aren't lying about their periods just to get out of prayer activities."- roticanaidraws.
We're failing our students by passing them.
"Passing students that aren't ready for the next grade because they need to pad their passing rates to keep funding."
"It's setting the kids up for failure down the road."- VoijaRisa
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Unattainable prerequisites.
"Making classes a graduation requirement then not letting kids take those classes because they’re full since everyone needs to take them."- intense_fingerguns.
Cost Cutting Measures
"More of a University thing but using students as unpaid labor, mostly grad students and 'interns'."
"Also my school used prison labor to make all the dorms and dorm furniture, said that Healthcare for student workers was 'too luxurious' (exact quote!) and canceled it, canceled all shift meals for student workers, and raised our tuition to pay for our president's massive pay increase and to redo the stupid stadium used for Olympic trials for literally no reason."
"Literally I think he's the highest paid uni president in the US by a long shot."
" I know he gets a 400,000 every single YEAR for just his housing."
"You get a cookie if you can guess what uni I went to lol."- 1kingdweebus2
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Dress codes.
"No hats or hoods."
"iI don't know if this rule is in another school but it was back then when i was in elementary, but you weren't allowed to bring fast food food."- Slow-Revolution-9617.
No facial hair policies.
"One of my old high schools had mandatory shaving."
"All guys must be clean shaven every day."
"And in the principals office was the cheapest bag of bulk single blade razors you’d ever seen."
"Sometimes they forgot to tell us where the shaving cream was."
"I started shaving in junior high so afternoon classes were 50/50 if they’d make me go shave."- GingerMarquis.
The dreaded "D" word.
"After school detention."- Savings-Ad-9402.
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You're all in trouble.
"Collective punishment."
"This is a literal war crime according to Geneva Convention, so if you hate the teacher the gave a collective punishment, you can literally sue them in the international court and if the teacher will be found guilty, they wouldn’t be able to pay fines and fees due to their salary being low and will probably be in prison."
"School uniforms are a violation of human rights too because according to UN convention on the rights of a child a child has freedom of expression."
"Many schools will say it’s a local rule for students to wear uniforms in their school, but international laws are ABOVE the local ones."- fedunya1.
Too much homework.
"Giving a heavy workload in middle school/early high school and saying that it teaches time management. "
"All it does is speedrun burnout."- MoonarLune.
Not meeting compliancy standards.
"Not accommodating for disabilities properly."
"I actually have a story for this."
"I’m not sure if it’s really a disability, but I am legally blind in my right eye."
"We were going to march in a parade in 7th grade."
"I was placed on the far left. "
"The reason why it was a problem is that I am blind in my right eye so I was not able to see people to my right without turning my head."
"We needed to face forward. It made it way harder to know where I needed to be."
"I tried talking to the band teacher about placing me on the right but he didn’t listen and kept me there despite my concerns."
"It made things a lot harder than it needed to be."- The_Fluffy_Riachu.
Children are often given little autonomy or rights when it comes to taking control of a situation.
During the pandemic, some parents are practicing giving their kids more "choices with limits" to bring about well-being for their kids.
Ultimately, the lesson here might be to believe our youth when they feel something isn't right.
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Every now and then, a friend of ours might say something, or we might overhear a complete stranger say something that makes us stop in our tracks.
More often than not, what we can't believe we just heard is something so ridiculous, we can't help but put the person who said it in their place.
Other times, however, what we just heard might have stunned us silent because of how shockingly clever it was.
Resulting in our not wanting to scold or yell at someone, but rather give them a handshake.
Redditor SubmergingOriginal was curious to hear the sharpest and wittiest things they've ever heard, from friends and strangers alike, leading them to ask:
"Enough with the dumbest; what is the wittiest thing you've ever heard someone say?"
Don't Give Me So Much Credit...
'I was on a team at work that was on a project working insane overtime."
"One night after an 80-90 hour week, we were all sitting around the table trying to finish up so we could go home."
"Around 11, my buddy's wife called, dubious about the hours he'd been keeping."
"We heard her through the line - 'are you cheating on me?'"
"Exasperated, he looked at our boss, then replied 'honey, if I was cheating on you, I would have been home by now'."- lionbatcher
Eternal Optimism...
"Asked a blind guy if he'd been blind his whole life."
"He said 'Not yet'."- Feeling_Mode_6465
Free time Isn't The Only Thing He Has On His Hands...
"My brother got a vasectomy and when the doctor was releasing him and giving him instructions (with the nurse listening in), one of the orders was to 'come back and have a follow-up appointment after you’ve ejaculated 30 times'.”
"Without missing a beat my brother asked 'what time do you open tomorrow?'”
"The nurse couldn’t keep it together after hearing that."- UtahUtopia
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Double Whammy!
"My pal uses the phrase 'he doesn’t look strong enough to carry information' and it cracks me up every time."
"Calling someone stupid and weak in one fell swoop."- JennyW93
Can't Hide Your DNA...
'Whenever I jokingly insult my mum, she says 'that must be where you get it from'."
"She cracked the code."
"I can never offend her without offending myself."- JennyW93
Self-Sufficient!
"My brother was a line cook at a New Orleans restaurant."
"My mom was in town, staying at a fancy hotel, and he stopped by after work, still wearing his kitchen whites."
"He was reading a newspaper in the lobby waiting for her to come down when the shocked lobby manager sputtered at him, 'MAY I HELP YOU!?!?'
"He answered, 'thanks, but I know how to read',” and went back to his paper."- jobrody
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A Miracle!
"My brother-in-law’s comment."
"The entire family went out for my mother’s 80th birthday and after the meal we all went to a local park, largely occupied by the elderly, to rest."
"My mother needed crutches at this point, and they were resting against her bench."
"My 10-year-old niece, who looked like every starving waif image from Dickens, grabbed the crutches and started hobbling round the park."
"All the OAPs were following her progress with looks of pity until my brother ran up behind her, and kicked away the crutches."
"There was an audible gasp from round the park and then my niece picked the crutches back up and started chasing my brother, clearly intending to hit him."
"In the confused silence my brother-in-law’s voice rang out 'Praise be! She can walk again!'"
"We still think this was the highlight of the birthday celebrations."- DdraigGwyn
Still Legal, Whichever Way You Cut It...
"I picked up my pleasantly tipsy boyfriend from a nightclub."
"We were stopped by the Police for a random breath test."
"They asked me my age, and I said, 33."
"My bf blurted out '33? You told me you were 22'."
"Police just laughed and let me go."- Aggravating-Corgi379
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A Bit Too On The Nose?
"Business law class in college years ago, talking about the issues that black Americans had before the Civil Rights."
"Amendment, trying to travel through the south with the discrimination so rampant, trying to find restaurants to serve them and decent lodgings."
"My instructor was posing a hypothetical: 'So you pull up out front of this place, you're exhausted from driving for hours, and you see the sign out front says 'Ku Klux Klan Motel'."
"'What would you expect to find there?'"
"Without missing a beat, from the back of the room came this gem: "'Extra sheets in every room?'"- NedsAtomicDB
Not Yet, Anyway...
"I was working with my friend and his dad."
"My friend (26) heard an ice cream truck near where we were working."
"He asked his dad if he could have a couple dollars."
"His dad asked, 'what for?'"
"My friend told his dad that there was an ice cream truck in the neighborhood, and that they were playing music."
"My friends dad told him "'They don't charge anything to listen to the music'."- tatersalad1234567890
Words Escape You In The Literal "Heat" Of The Moment...
"A friend of mine is a teacher and her husband is known for his wit."
"She told this story to him:"
"One day at school a kid took the hall pass and returned reeking like smoke."
"She asked the kid if he’d been smoking and he denied it over and over."
"She was about to send him to the office when she noticed smoke coming from somewhere."
"She told the kid and he realized that he didn’t put his cig out completely and it was burning in his pants pocket."
"The kid noticed and frantically tried to put it out and someone finally poured water on it."
"Her husband sat listening to this with a weird look on his face."
"She asked him what was wrong."
“'What’s wrong???'"
"'This was probably the only chance you’ll have in your life to say literally, ‘liar,liar, pants on fire’ and you missed your chance'."- Luder714
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Amazing What You Might Say A Few Drinks In...
"When I went to a renaissance faire once, I went to a beer tent and ordered a Newcastle Brown Ale (seemed the most fitting for the surroundings)."
"The beer wench, without skipping a beat, said, 'Everyone wants a Newcastle - no one wants to remodel!'"- jayhof52
Read The Room People!
"My dad wiped out when skiing down a mountain and lost a ski."
"After a few minutes of hunting for it, he gives up, slings the one remaining ski over a shoulder and starts walking down the mountain in his ski boots."
"About half-way down, another skier stops and goes 'Gee! Did you lose a ski?'"
"My dad instantly replied 'No, I was out for a walk and found one!'"- PeterJoAl
There's a reason your mother always told you to "use your words".
As clever remarks can have a much more lasting effect on people than a push or shove.
Buying a home is a daunting task, but it comes with the comfort of finally having a place to call your own after the lengthy process of purchasing.
One of the things new homeowners look forward to is renovating certain areas of their newly acquired domicile.
However, embarking on this next phase of making a home their own can come with some surprises.
For example, doing a gut reno in the basement or tearing down a non-load-bearing wall can unearth unusual relics left from the previous homeowner.
These discoveries can either be treasures, or something very unpleasant.
Curious to hear from new homeonwers, Redditor Oblivious_Dude14 asked:
"People who bought a house. What is the weirdest thing you have found left by the previous owner?"
These will spark curiosity about former occupants.
Hidden Message
"First time I took a hot shower in our new home. The steam covered the mirror, only to reveal the phrase 'HELLO, I SEE YOU' in large finger drawn writing."
"It freaked me out for a second, but made me laugh soon after that."
"It was such an inconspicuous yet obvious thing to leave for the new homeowner (me)."
– Individual-Common-89
A Special Request
"It's not really weird but I think it's kind of a nice story."
"One of the kids' rooms has a shelf going all around the top edge, and when my kid was putting stuff up there they found a letter from the previous kid. The letter welcomed them to the room etc and asked them to take special care of a rose bush in the front yard that was their special rose bush. My kid thought it was really cool to have that connection with the previous kid."
– catsaway9
Instructions
"Not really weird but they left a typed out and printed note about the house and how to take care of it. Detailing all the plant life in the backyard and how to prep for the winter. Described how to take care of the hot tub and gave random tid bits about the electrical."
"They were good people lol."
– pet_zulrah
Theses secret chambers piqued Redditors' curiosity.
Secret Dwelling
"Not my house, but the school my friend worked at."
"A pipe had leaked and ruined a wall in the building, one of the oldest schools in the city. It was a beautiful property. Anyways the pipe leaked so they pulled down the ruined wall and behind the wall found a door."
"A fully furnished apartment was there. Had a coal burning stove to heat it. Early 1900s appliances and decor. It was for the caretaker of the school."
– Used-Stress
Antique Showroom
"My ex-wife's family knocked down a wall in a 400-year-old house in Cornwall, and found a perfectly intact bedroom from the 1800s, still with all the personal effects where they had been left."
"Nobody knows why it was boarded up, or why things weren't taken out of it."
"Oh, and that house always appears in the guides for the most haunted locations in Cornwall, if you believe that kind of stuff."
– ledow
A Medieval Theme
"A basement room that was fully decked out as a 'dungeon.' Faux stone walls, a stocks (like where you lock your head and hands in ala ye olde England), candle scones on the walls, a metal-barred cage in the corner from floor to ceiling. Oh and the closet had a load of toys, some normal, some....not so typical."
– DisIsDaeWae
These Redditors got a glimpse into past lives.
Family Treasure
"Before I met her, my wife got a call from someone she worked with saying they'd just bought an old house and in the city, and in it was a steamer trunk with her family name (not a common one) carved into the woodwork on one end."
"As it turns out, it was the trunk that her great grandfather used when he came over from Germany, and it made the trip to my wife's hometown when he met her great grandmother on a visit, and subsequently moved to her city to marry her. We now have it and it's full of family portraits and albums."
– LateralThinkerer
Vintage Trickster
"My first house purchase in 2005 - bought an old farmhouse that was built in 1923. The basement was FILLED with crap - we told them they needed to clean it all out before closing, but they didn't do it. The realtor asked if we wanted to postpone closing, and we decided no - some of the stuff looked interesting enough. Maybe it will be worthwhile to go through."
"Most of it was just junk. Then, about half way through (we were working our way from one end of the basement to the other, because you could barely walk through), I went to pick up what I thought was a small box, only to quickly realize it weighed at least 75 pounds. Upon further inspection, it wasn't a box, but a wooden square, 4' wide and about 12'x12', with two thin masonite plywood covers on each side. On one edge were two bolts with wires coming off that had been cut."
"Very strange - had no idea what it was, but thought it was interesting. So I put it aside and we kept going. At the very back of the basement once we cleared everything else out, was a rickety gray cabinet, built into the house. Inside, were numerous strange small tools, vials of mercury, vials of a strange powder, and thousands - literally thousands - of dice blanks. Some actual dice, but mostly blanks without the dots. they were all in little boxes labeled 'dice blanks'. Also very strange..."
"Not too long after that, I met a guy and upon learning my address, he said 'can I come over?My best friend grew up in that house'. He came by, and proceeded to tell me stories for an hour and a half about his childhood best friends eccentric father: Someone who was a part of the 'Dixieland Mafia' in the 60s and 70s, and who made a living traveling around the US as a traveling gambler. The enormously heavy box was an electro-magnet. And the dice blanks were for him to make his own loaded dice with a little bit of metal powder under the inlaid dot, so he could set up his own table with the the electromagnet underneath, and turn it on when he wanted to persuade the dice. He told me many other stories, including that there was 'no doubt in his mind that he had killed someone'. Pretty fascinating."
– GIjokinaround
A Soldier's Story
"A diary of an American soldier in WW-II, South Pacific Theater. Found it above a door when remodeling 20+ years ago. My wife and I tried everything we could think of to find a descendant, but to no avail."
"UPDATE: I just posted photos of it with the person's ID info on r/WorldWar2."
"Last Update: Thanks to all the help from this community, and those at r/worldwar2, this diary is now in the hands of its writer's son who came to my office this morning to retrieve it. I am so thrilled to have been able to facilitate this!"
– Factsaretheonlytruth
These folks really hit the jackpot.
Forgotten Stash
"$1200 in cash above the door on the inside the closet. I found it while painting."
– whymetoo
They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To
"A glass bowl. It was kind of pretty, with horizontal blue stripes."
"We kept fruit in it. We thought about dropping it off at the local charity shop, but never got around to it."
"Then one day I was at an antique fair and I saw for sale glass bowls that looked almost identical to ours. I went home to get my bowl and brought it to be assessed."
"Turns out it was a vintage Orrefors crystal bowl. The assessor valued it at around $800."
"We no longer keep fruit in it."
– khendron
When my great aunt passed away, our family went over to her and her husband's home in Pomona, CA to clear it out in preparation to sell.
They emigrated from Japan in the late 1930s and brought with them many decorative figurines, sculptures, and wooden carvings from the homeland.
One of the pieces was a kabuki doll on a wooden base. As we were placing the item in a box, a tiny envelope that had been taped underneath the doll's base came loose.
I opened it and found what looked like instructions for something. I kick myself to this day that I didn't keep the letter and never bothered asking my parents what the note said as we were frantically trying to empty the house.
But man, my imagination ran wild. Was it a treasure map? Who knows. I still wonder to this day what the note said and tossing it aside remains one of my life's greatest regrets.
People's Wildest 'WTF Is Wrong With You?' Experiences