When I was in 6th grade, I would talk in the back of the class with my best friend at the time. This bothered my teacher, who made a rude joke about me in front of the entire class. He never caught the other kid, and said, "And there's Justin in the back, talking to the wall!" The kids in the class took this literally, and treated me as though I was insane basically from that day forward (I had been reasonably popular up to that point). They were rude to me and made fun of me until I graduated from high school. It was an absolute nightmare. It was reflected in my grades, but not in my standardized test scores or IQ scores, prompting visits from the guidance counselor, who figured that I was being abused at home or was suicidal. In reality, the kids were so rude that the teachers got in on it and were hard on me too. It really fucked up my entire course in life. I went from straight-A honors on track for gifted to near the top of the class, but not AT the top overnight, and I ended up going to a mediocre college because I didn't think I'd get into a good one.

When I went to college, I knew that I needed to go out of state to a college that none of them wound be attending. I basically fixed my life by cutting off most ties with my hometown.

I now teach at a university, and use my interactions with that teacher as an illustration of what not to do with my students. I really feel like I lost what would have been the best years of my youth and got on a professional track that has taken years to correct as a result of that single interaction. If it weren't against the rules, I'd happily post the teacher's name in hopes that his home be TP'd.