Teacher's Unusual Method to Stop Student from Helping Classmate Sparks Online Debate

A disturbing social media video has been circulating, showing a teacher staring down a student in her class for seemingly disobeying her. The unusual tactic used by the older woman left many social media users torn between who to support in the incident.

On January 7, 2024, a TikTok account shared a video with a laughing face emoticon and the words "Teacher buggin'" over it. In the clip, the teacher was recorded as she stood next to a student who appeared to be talking to a classmate next to her.

The student was seen squatting next to one who had a laptop open in front of them. The person recording wasn't visible in the video. The student who was next to her friend appeared to be giving instructions to her classmate who scrolled on the laptop.

The words that appeared on the screen confirmed that the female student was just helping her friend. But the teacher loomed over the young girl before giving her what was described as "the death stare." The student then looked up at the teacher and said:

"I'm sorry that I was helping my friend with her work."

What happened then was that the student and teacher just stared at each other as the adult chose not to say anything. On the screen, it was questioned if the pair were having a staring contest before the student got up and stated:

"I can tell you're trying to intimidate me."

At that point, the rest of the class was paying attention as the student apologized for trying to assist her friend. Still, the teacher didn't respond but continued staring at the student. The girl even asked the teacher if she was going to send her to the principal's office, to no response.

"This girl is more of an adult than the 'teacher!'"

The student even asked the teacher to say what she wanted to say instead of continuing to stare at her. In the clip, the person who recorded it thought the student handled the matter well. The young girl told the older woman that staring at each other wasn't a good way of communicating and it didn't achieve anything.

The video cut out with the pair still looking at each other. The clip had TikTokers in a debate with people sharing differing opinions, while others sided with the teacher. One person who watched the video commented:

"The student acts more like a teacher than the teacher does lol."

Another viewer wrote, "Teacher has issues." "I think yall need a new teacher this ones broken, (sic)" replied another TikToker. "That teacher needs to gooooooo," felt someone else.

A TikTok user who wasn't sure which side to support suggested, "Context is needed. Teacher definitely (sic) told her to sit down multiple times." Another person personalized the situation, saying, "I am so happy my child does not act in this way, if they disrespected a teacher in this matter there would a (sic) big problem at home."

"I'm telling you right now, that teacher told her to go back to her seat like five times before this happened," believed another viewer. A person who sympathized with the teacher wrote, "I still feel bad for that teacher who's getting no respect in her own classroom. I bet she wanted to say something but she knew she was being filmed."

"There is more to this story. Guarantee this teacher has told her to stop a thousand times already," replied a TikToker. "The entitled 'student' was the annoying part, here. The teacher is powerless in their own classroom," noted someone else.

"Teacher obviously (sic) fed up with this student, she probably asked them to work independently," shared a social media user. Another person added, "The way the student is acting is how I would recreate past situations in my mind in which I had a backbone."

"This girl is more of an adult than the 'teacher!'" believed another viewer. Someone else had a different outlook on the matter, stating, "Helping your classmates with their work is only allowed if the teacher allows it...this student does not know the word 'no.'"

"Everyone else is in their seats. I assume she was asked to go sit in hers and didn't listen. Just an assumption based on context," thought another TikTok user. Without proper context, it wasn't clear how the student and teacher ended up in that situation. The person recording didn't make things better, as he appeared to be goading his fellow classmate to stand her ground.

If that story had you engaged, click here to read about a teacher who constantly mocked a student for not getting good grades but the young boy got her back by recording her insults and got justice.