Parent Shared Heartbreaking Story Where A Teacher Allegedly Apologised Repeatedly For A Small Mistake

By
Krystal Tay
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Whether you admit it or not, teachers hold a special place in our hearts.

Working hours are long – even longer for those who go the extra mile of holding additional classes with students who need it.

Apart from handling naughty students, teachers have to deal with added pressure from principals and parents. They don’t get appreciated as often too – probably only on Teacher’s Day.

Image: Giphy

For that reason, it is not easy walking down this career path. For those passionate enough though, it is all worth it in the end.

But sometimes, we need a reminder of their hardship, and this is one of them.

Teacher tremendously apologetic over minor mistake

A parent recently shared her startling encounter with her son’s teacher on Facebook.

In the post, she revealed that the teacher of her 7-year-old called to inform her of a small mistake she made regarding his report card.

All was well until the teacher kept apologizing profusely. With reference to the post, she repeatedly said, “I am so sorry, I really really very sorry.” possibly more than 8 times during their conversation which lasted for 5 minutes.

Lest you can’t read it, here’s what is written:

Something disturbing happened today.

I received a phone call from my younger son’s subject teacher. As my son can be quite cunning, witty and cheeky, I was honestly expecting a complaint with an open mind.

What I got instead was an apology. And it wasn’t just a simple apology. It was
“I am so sorry, I really really very sorry.”
And this phrase was repeated so many times (more than 7, or maybe 8 times or perhaps more) in our 5 minutes conversation.

The teacher made a mistake in her administration recording and it causes a SMALL error in my son’s subject grade. (He is in p1.)

The thing is:
1) the teacher made the mistake.
2) the teacher admitted the mistake.
3) the teacher rectified the mistake.
4) the teacher issued a new record to overwrite the mistake.
5) the teacher personally called parents to inform, apologise and explain the situation.

And yet, she said, “I understand if you are upset. I understand what happened shouldnt have happened. As a parent myself, I know what appears on the slip is important. I know that end product matters. It is okay if you are angry.”

And this just caught me off guard. I told her.

“Teacher, you are only human. You admitted your mistake. It is okay. You rectified it right? The previous slip will be voided right? i will acknowledge the new one ya? So basically, not much changes right?”

And her voice shook, and I couldn’t tell, if those were tears of relief or tears of sadness or tears of fears, but my tears fell because this isn’t how I want my son’s teacher to feel.

I told her, “teacher, I accepted your apology. And you rectified it. Mistakes make us work harder. It is okay.”

After some SOP questions and answers, she was ready to put down. So I said, “I hope the parents don’t give you a hard time.”
And she said “I hope they are as nice as you.”

From here, I knew she had a hard time. I couldn’t help but cry after the phonecall.

I feel sad that as a teacher, her emotions were broken by that mistake. Teaching is thankless job, but it is one of the most beautiful job in this world.. No teacher should need to feel the way my son’s teacher did. Yes, teachers should avoid making mistakes but that doesn’t mean they cant make mistakes.

So dear parents, I truly hope that if ever, your child’s teacher call apologising for a mistake, don’t let him or her “beg” for forgiveness. Stop the teacher with an acknowledgement and thank him/
her for having the integrity to honour and admit his/ her mistake. That should be the same value we instil in our children as well.

Let’s share and create awareness. Teachers with good emotional and mental health create a better learning experience and environment for our children.

Teachers are human too

The post has since garnered well over 1.2K shares, and a few of them actually cried after reading the post.

So, if you’re a helicopter parent, maybe it’s time to change your mindset and remember that teachers are humans (and parents), too.

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Krystal Tay
Email: [email protected]