Sarcasm and humiliation have no place in teaching | Letter
In response to Joan Bakewell’s memory of stinging criticism from a Cambridge tutor, one anonymous reader says kindness and understanding are vital in education
Joan Bakewell’s response to negative feedback from an eminent tutor resonates strongly with me (A moment that changed me: my teacher said my work was trite rubbish – and totally destroyed me, 8 September).
As an undergraduate at a prestigious university in the mid-1950s, I also experienced the stinging sarcasm of a professor. Unlike Joan, I had neither the resilience nor the inner strength to recover. Perhaps this was partly because not only was the criticism given publicly in front of two cohorts of students, but also because, humiliatingly, it was suggested I receive tutoring from a fellow student in the year below.