Peggy Sue and her brother Clyde were in Mrs. Twiddle’s fourth grade class with me. Neither did well in school, but Clyde seemed to struggle more, already having been held back one year. I knew their family lived in an unfinished, unpainted house on my bus route , so I inferred they were poor.
While the other fourth grade girls wore the usual little girl shoes with socks, Peggy Sue went sockless in black flats of the type worn by teenagers and women.
For some reason, Mrs. Twiddle took issue with Peggy Sue’s shoes and lack of socks. Every morning, when checking attendance, the teacher lectured Peggy Sue about not wearing socks. I dreaded the lectures for Peggy Sue’s sake. A kinder person would have assumed the child simply had no socks and possibly discreetly supplied her with a few pair. The Twiddles owned a store and could have spared them. Instead, Mrs. Twiddle tormented her.
I’ve never forgotten Mrs. Twiddle’s cruelty. I’m sure Peggy Sue hasn’t.
Nutsrok 
Mrs Twiddle sounds like a twit an uncaring twit
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She was snooty and mean
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When I was growing up teachers and elders were tough on children, the age of bygone meanness never really goes away. It’s sad as those harsh comments carry on within a child’s inner thoughts for a lifetime.
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They cause shame that hangs around for a lifetime.
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The teacher who called me a smiling ghost killed my smile, even when he later apologized. I developed a habit of pulling my hair or nose to avoid smiling. My smile truly returned when I was born again. I realized it when a gospel singer one time walked up to me to say thank you for smiling after a live show at church.
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That was so mean!
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Some humans are made to be teachers,
Some teachers should be made to be human-itarian.
Hugs
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This one was just mean
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Yeah, sometimes we have very unkind teachers like the one who called me a smiling ghost in primary school. But we do have the good ones who do stop and think.
The other day I listened to a Bible teaching by the late Dr Charles Stanley in which he referred to a teacher who said something good that he never forgot.
Thank you for sharing.
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Luckily, most of mine were except!
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Is smiling ghost a common insult? Why would he say that to a child?
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It’s not common. I wonder if anyone has ever seen a ghost. Probably that is why he later apologized. He was just a reckless fellow. I noticed that when I came if age because his life went off the rails.
I wonder why he picked on. Probably he was a sadist. I remember there was an older boy before that teacher came into our school who used to smile a lot like me and everybody seemed to like him. And they even named him smiling boy. Both teachers and pupils liked him and when he was referred to as smiling boy, he even smiled the more.
Anyway, some people carry along a lot of baggage from their past. Who knows what his problem was?
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I never heard smiling as a criticism before. He sounds messed up, but that doesn’t help you.
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