What is the most embarrassing thing to ever happen to you when you were a kid?

[whiterose]

I was always last in being picked for PE teams. But everyone wanted to be on my team when it came to academics.

Which led to my being picked on if I ever did less than 100% on even the tiniest quiz or exercise. Once I got dogpiled on in the 6th grade because I got a 94% because the teacher put two answers that were too similar and I picked the wrong one. Teacher did end up giving me the credit, though.

Once in the 11th grade, religion class teacher had an exercise in where we would write positive qualities about another classmate. Except that teacher did not assign names- you just had to pick one girl from the class. Girl who got voted mayor back in 4th grade got the most. I ended up with none Not the only one that ended up with none, but since I was the top student in my grade level, it was more noticeable that had I been a girl somewhere in the middle. I did not challenge the teacher. I held back the tears.

Another time in 9th grade, there was some sort of field day (IIRC). Event involved passing a hoop through your body and pass to the next girl. Referee determined that our team had one too many girls. I was immediately told by other girls (including another very popular and snarky girl who got all the boys) that I had to leave. Needless to say, in the next class I was crying my eyes out- because I very much interpreted it as their stating that my body does not serve for anything (please understand I was 14 years old).

If you cannot tell by now, forgiveness is just not something that comes easily for me

[kitty-cat]

My other embarassing moment, also in gym class, was in 7th grade?  With those stupid presidential fitness challanges.  Where you had to do sit ups and pull ups and so on? My gym teacher would pair us off, then we'd do whatever, then he'd call your name and you had to yell out how many of what you did. Again, not being particularly athletic, say for sit ups, you'd hear, 35, 42, and so on, and then me with like 15 which was an effort.

Thats why I always paired up with a friend in middle and high school. We wouldn't claim we were off the charts, but enough to where we didn't have to re-do them.

[juanita]

The stories about school got me thinking.  What was wrong with some teachers!!  I went to a catholic school and in the 6 th grade our teacher( nun) thought it was a good idea to seat us according to intelligence. Example; first row, first seat , smartest. I was in the Second row, second seat.  My heart still aches when I think about the poor girl in the last row, last seat  I am now 50+ and cannot believe I still remember who sat where!

[siamesecat2965]

My other embarassing moment, also in gym class, was in 7th grade?  With those stupid presidential fitness challanges.  Where you had to do sit ups and pull ups and so on? My gym teacher would pair us off, then we'd do whatever, then he'd call your name and you had to yell out how many of what you did. Again, not being particularly athletic, say for sit ups, you'd hear, 35, 42, and so on, and then me with like 15 which was an effort.

Thats why I always paired up with a friend in middle and high school. We wouldn't claim we were off the charts, but enough to where we didn't have to re-do them.

Unfortuantley we didn't have that choice; we were paired up by the teacher.

[siamesecat2965]

The stories about school got me thinking.  What was wrong with some teachers!!  I went to a catholic school and in the 6 th grade our teacher( nun) thought it was a good idea to seat us according to intelligence. Example; first row, first seat , smartest. I was in the Second row, second seat.  My heart still aches when I think about the poor girl in the last row, last seat  I am now 50+ and cannot believe I still remember who sat where!

I agree; and it holds true for other stuff as well.  Like sports. How many kids in little league, and other sports never got to play because they weren't that athletic (notice I refrained from using the word good), and coaches only put in those kids who could win for them!  I played softball on the town league in 5th adn 6th grades and while I enjoyed it, I got stuck playing catcher too many times since I pretty much sucked at everything else.  I really enjoyed the game, but that experience pretty much soured me from ever wanting to play again.

I always wanted to play soccer, but again, the leagues in my town were so darn competitive, and I wasn't good or coordinated at all, so I just never bothered. 

I think it has gotten better, as in all kids have to play even if just for a short while, but I don't know for sure.  All I know is that mentality pretty much made me want to never have anythign to do with sports.  Which is kind of sad.

[Outdoor Girl]

I was just at my nephew's basketball tournie last weekend.  We were talking to the coach of one of the other teams.  He had 10 players, 5 of which were 'starters' that in regular season, played the lion's share of the time.  But in the tournament, everyone only got 3 games, win or lose, and only the winning team got any kind of a prize.  So he made the decision to split his starting players up into the two lines and play everyone equally.  I thought it was a great idea.

[Thipu1]

She must not have thought about the Valentine Goat.  Out of a class of 30 kids, I got four. 

This was me every year too. Why why why did we have to disclose how few we got?

Perhaps the times were kinder when I was a kid. 

We had the Valentine's box at the front of the room.  Everyone put their cards in there to be distributed by the Teacher at the end of the school day.  Because there was always a little party, Moms from the PTA were there to help out.  Every decent Mom brought brought cookies or cup cakes and a big pack of juvenile Valentines.  When the cards were distributed and the party was started, these Moms would go over to kids who didn't get many cards.

'Excuse me, So-and-So.  Some of your Valentines got stuck in the bottom of the box.  Here are cards that were sent to you'. 

It was a sham but, it did make the unpopular kids feel a bit better about the day.  There were times that I received what I'm sure were multiple cards from my mother.     

[PaintingPastelPrincess]

Mine is a PE story, too.  I've always been on the heavier side and as an added bonus, I've really not athletic.  I could manage to hold my own when we were doing sports like volleyball or badminton (kind of, if I remembered to wear my glasses to gym so I could see the birdie).  However, there was no hope for me with running.

Our track was 1/4 mile around, so on "Mile Day" we'd have to run four times around it.  The class would have to wait for the last person to finish up before going back in.  I was much slower than the rest, even when putting out my best effort.  I'd be somewhere in the middle of lap 3 when the rest of the class was done, and the teacher would still make me finish.  Being exhausted by this point, I would be going even slower than the first few laps.

The day I remember best was when one of the smart alec kids was yelling "encouragement" at me, like "Hurry up you (blanking) fat (blank)! No one wants to watch your rolls wiggle anymore!"  He was standing about 2 ft from the teacher and I was halfway down the track away.  If I could hear him, the teacher could, but he didn't do anything about it.

Luckily, my parents were the sort who believed me and they went up to the school the next day after that, told the teacher off, and fixed it so I only needed to do 3 laps instead of 4, so I'd finish up at the same time as the rest of the class.  It was still so miserable after that incident that I got a doctor's note to get out of PE the last 4 years of school.

[whiterose]

As much as I approve of ability grouping in schools, seating kids in order of intelligence is NOT a good idea. What did the teacher use to measure intelligence? GPA? IQ tests?

In my secondary school, they used grades and a placement test in order to determine ability level. It went on a subject by subject basis. It was flexible. It could change year to year.

Back on topic, once in dance camp, folk dancing teacher put us in two groups. One group for the ones who had mastered a choereography. The other one for the ones who had not and needed more help. Guess which one I was in? Needless to say, I started crying and telling her "I AM NOT DUMB!". At age 9, it was not so easy to interpret that it simply meant that some may have picked up the choreography better due to more experience or simply having done that dance before. Did not help that main teacher would single out people who were not the best dancers and scold us- and I was one of them

[Iris]

Some of these stories of teachers are really making me see RED! They are so awful! No wonder some people run away as soon as they find out I'm a teacher...

I was always picked last for teams etc etc as I am rubbish at all sports (still am). I accepted that about myself long ago, though, and I am also competitive in things I AM good at so I can understand why someone who wanted to win would not necessarily want me on their team. It hurt like heck at the time though and I think my PE teacher featuring that process in her lessons so often was bad class management.

However, when you fall into a drum full of liquid chicken manure at age 3, ride your rocking horse through a glass door at age 4 and roller skate straight of the edge of your verandah because you're too busy talking to pay attention to where you are at age 10, common embarrassments like being picked last just don't stack up 

[Sirius]

When I was about 9 years old I was carrying my teddy bear into our trailer.  There had been a tornado warning, and it was still raining hard.  Well, I dropped my bear, and she slid under the trailer, and as I leaned over to get her I slipped and hit my left arm on the edge of the sidewalk.  Got a nice greenstick fracture. 

[Nikko-chan]

I remember this quite clearly. I was in the sixth grade, and our reading teacher had favorites that she doted on, and kids she was indifferent to, and kids that she picked on constantly. Guess which one I was?

I remember being in class, reading white fang (note that I love reading and had already read ahead, and while we were in class reading, I was reading ahead of whomever was reading aloud so this was partially my fault.) and often when she called on me I had no idea where we were. She'd berate me for it and inform me where we were, and i would read, trying to hold back tears after i'd gotten yelled at.

The most embarrassing thing however happened often (every few weeks it seemed). The teacher would yank me out of the class room and into the hallway and berate me for not turning homework in. I don't recall whether or not I told her I forgot it cause I was so stressed about her class everyday or not, but that was the reason I forgot. It was a never ending cycle.

And I always (like almost every day) came home from school crying because of her, more often than not.

[violinp]

There was a pretty strict dress code at my middle school, and one of the rules was that skirts had to be knee - length or longer. However, one day I wore a skirt that was mid - thigh length, because I was in 8th grade (13-14, for those outside the U.S.), and I was such a little rebel. 

Somehow, I managed to sneak in with that skirt on. My comeuppance, however, came in science class: Two boys who bullied me put two tables together so that I'd have to climb over them to get out of class. The skirt also was not very...flexible, shall we say? Basically, every boy and girl in the class saw my unmentionables. 

That was the last of my rebelling without a cause.

[cabbagegirl28]

I fell asleep in my own band concert, while I was playing. Luckily, my band director's famous temper didn't land on me, because he knew I'd been busting my butt with school, band, and everything else. Plus, it was Christmas, so he was in a generous mood.

But the people in my section noticed and made fun of me for a long time after that.

[Hollanda]

Another one from me...

When I was younger I trained as a Nursery Nurse. In my training, I had placement days, where I was sent off to a Nursery to help look after children. On one of these placement days, I was told to take down a wall display using scissors, as they had no staple removers. I queried the safety of this, and was basically told to not question orders, but to follow them. So I stood on the table as I was told to do and began taking down the display. There was a huge staple at the top of the wall, which I could not get out. In frustration, I jammed the scissors right down into the wall and pulled back. The scissors kind of jack-knifed back on me and the point landed in my nose. I was in shock. Didn't feel a thing. I went to the ladies' to try and sort myself out. My colleague (also a trainee) followed to check I was OK and was met by a bloodbath. She ran out to get help. I was taken to Casualty at the local hospital and was told by a doctor that I was lucky not to have been blinded in my right eye. 0.2mm to the right, and it would have blinded me.

The embarrassing bit of this story? I was called Edward Scissorhands for months afterwards by my colleagues/classmates.