Teachers do a lot for their students. In addition to academics, many find themselves also being a listening ear for their kids. Regardless of their age, students spend a great deal of time at school and their teachers help to guide them through many different life stages.
An inevitable life stage we all go through is heartbreak. No matter what age you are, it can take a toll on your mental and emotional well-being. A TikTok teacher named Braxton Comer, shared the story of one of his student’s struggles after his girlfriend dumped him.
Instead of supporting the teen through the difficult time or providing resources to help him cope with his intense feelings, he treated his emotions flippantly and Comer faced the consequences of his decision.
This teacher was fired after making a student take a test in the midst of a breakup.
“Big news — this is a life-changing moment for me,” Comer shared in a video from December 23. “I didn’t think this would happen,” he started, “well, I thought it might happen eventually … and it finally happened today.”
In his TikTok, he revealed that he’d been fired by his school. Making his way to the impromptu meeting with school leaders, he was oblivious to what he’d been called in to talk about. When they told him that he’d been “let go” from the school, he couldn’t help but take to social media to share the story.
In his video, he didn’t seem to believe he’d done anything wrong. School leaders said his treatment of his emotionally struggling student was the “deciding factor” amidst several other interactions they’d noticed in his four years at the school.
When the student approached him telling him that he hadn’t studied because he’d been ‘struggling emotionally’ Comer said, ‘womp womp.’
He said that on the day of a test in his classroom, the student came up to his desk and said that he “couldn’t take the test that day” because his girlfriend had broken up with him earlier in the week and he’d been “really struggling emotionally.”
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The student went on to say that he’d been so preoccupied with his heartbreak and dealing with the sadness that he hadn’t been focused on school and ultimately, did not study for the test. “He said that he knew that he would fail the test,” Comer said. However, the student’s honesty didn’t win him any favors in the eyes of this teacher.
“I said ‘womp womp’ to him and then he started crying … like literally, he broke down.”
Not only did Comer not give him space to grieve or even a day to recuperate, but he mocked him. “I asked him why he was crying. You’ve only been dating for two weeks.”
Teenagers are more likely to feel heightened emotional responses, are more easily swayed by emotion, and find it more difficult to cope with their large feelings compared to their adult counterparts.
For this student, that was likely the case. His overwhelming emotions, lack of studying, and heartbreaking interaction with his teacher ultimately got the best of him and the teacher admitted that he ended up failing the test.
Teachers should support their students’ mental health whenever possible.
When the school heard about the interaction they immediately fired Comer. While some commenters found the action to be too severe, many pointed out that his response as an adult role model was not appropriate.
Sadly this is the case for many students, one TikToker, Tesla, shared a video of a teacher calling a student out in front of the entire class and labeled it “emotional abuse.”
Teachers have a lot on their plates. That’s a fact.
However, empathy and compassion need to have a place in the classroom alongside textbooks and tests.
When teachers disregard students’ emotional struggles or belittle them, it does not create a safe and trusting environment for learning. If Comer didn’t know how to handle this interaction with his student he should have deferred to the guidance counselor.
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