It sounds great; I wish I could track it down. I’m going to see a writer friend on Sat. I’ll ask him about it.
On the general topic. In fourth grade my witch teacher decided to divide the class into two halves, smart and stupid. She put me on the stupid side. Years later I was given the results of my IQ test: just over the threshold of genius. Even that didn’t completely overcome the negative impression that ghastly teacher’s bright idea left me with.
“Even that didn’t completely overcome the negative impression that ghastly teacher’s bright idea left me with.”
A teacher did that with my kid. trying to hammer home the idea of personal failure and guilt. Standardized tests showed a near freefall during the year under her abuse. We pulled the kid out of course, and the scores are better than ever. I used her as an example of tyranny, of dictatorships in action, how if they can sap the confidence of the individual, there is no need for guards as the victims will not even attempt to improve their lot.
There are many small tyrants out there, and many forms of abuse. Those predators will go where the prey may be found.
This was in a private, religious school BTW.