Does a Teacher Have More of a Negative Impact on Society Than a Drug Dealer?

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We all know that teachers have a huge impact on the lives of their students. They influence their academic performance and self-esteem and impart their values, attitudes, and behavior.

A Bad Teacher Has a More Negative Influence Upon Society Than a Drug Dealer

Unfortunately, when a teacher underperforms or, worse, treats others poorly, it can be extremely damaging to both individuals and society as a whole.

One user took to the subreddit “unpopular opinions,” saying that “A bad teacher has more negative upon society than a drug dealer.”

He Explained His Radical Viewpoint

“Sure, if we’re comparing them individually, one bad drug dealer can definitely hurt a single person much more than one bad teacher. Drug addiction is a pretty serious thing, after all.”

“But take into consideration that drug dealers sell to a very small percentage of the population, whereas teachers are going to impact much more people, teaching hundreds if not thousands of students throughout their entire careers,” the person commented.

Can We Really Compare a Teacher to a Drug Dealer?

Do you agree or disagree with this opinion? We compiled a list of the top-voted responses from other users on social media.

1. You Get What You Pay For

Unfortunately, whilst I also agree that a good teacher can make all the difference, a lot of people fail to understand that you get what you pay for,” Redditor deskbunnies commented.

Being a teacher is tough, with low to moderate pay, limited career advancement opportunities, and having to manage unappreciative students and parents all day.

1. You Get What You Pay For

To be able to attract high-quality teachers who are passionate about their work, improved incentives must be put in place, along with stricter requirements for the selection of teaching candidates, the user pointed out. Without such changes, the quality of teaching may suffer.

2. Parents Are Responsible Too

“It’s definitely more on sh***y parents or over-enabling parents when it comes to kids than it a bad teacher. Had plenty of bad teachers that I was able to learn from anyways,” another responded.

Poor parenting can indeed have a largely negative influence on a child and their development. You could argue that they have a much more significant impact on the child.

3. A Teacher Ruined His Self-Esteem

One Reddit user wrote about the damaging effects one teacher had on his self-esteem and how the event still plays out in his mind.

This user had a difficult experience in high school with his creative writing teacher. Despite having won local contests, the teacher was not willing to include any of his work in the end-of-year student project.

3. A Teacher Ruined His Self-Esteem

When asked for feedback, the teacher simply shook his head and said that he was not good enough. This experience had an immense negative impact on him, as the user reported that it killed his passion for writing, and he still struggles with what happened 15 years later.

It’s stories like these that illustrate how the influence of a bad teacher can have such a devastating effect on individuals.

4. Students Can Easily Overcome a Few Bad Teachers

“Kids have many teachers throughout their school years, and none of those teachers have the kids for more than 20% of their waking hours. Any kid with decent parents will easily overcome a few bad teachers,” fredinNH wrote.

5. We Need a Stricter Process in Place to Filter Out Bad Teachers

It is not possible to ensure that every teacher is great. However, one user called Eng_Queen pointed out that there are steps that can be taken to reduce the number of bad teachers.

These steps could include increasing standards for admission into teaching programs, requiring more classes on child development and classroom management in education degrees, and giving teachers’ professional associations or principals more power to discipline bad teachers.

5. We Need a Stricter Process in Place to Filter Out Bad Teachers

Additionally, annual performance reviews and merit-based hiring raises, and promotions could help to ensure that only the best teachers are in classrooms teaching students.

6. It’s Not The Teachers— It’s You

Some people feel that teachers are blamed too often for the shortcomings of their students when in reality, the student is ultimately responsible for their own behavior and academic performance.

This opinion can be seen in one Reddit user’s comment about how “only so much a teacher can do.” This sentiment was received well in the form of upvotes from others.