Classroom favoritism—the foul stench that engulfs Ridge classrooms. But what exactly is “favoritism”? Favoritism is the practice of giving unfair preferential treatment to one person or group at the expense of another [2]. It’s important that teachers give fair treatment to every student. Of course, in an ideal school environment, bias and prejudice are not present. In the real world, however, they are inevitable and  very difficult to change. 

At Ridge, our mission is to provide a high-quality education and ensure that all students feel comfortable. With classroom favoritism,the school environment becomes unfavorable and toxic. To prevent this negative school atmosphere, there’s not much us students can really do. However, teachers can try to provide equal attention to individual students. It is important for the student body as well as teachers can begin to recognize it if it occurs.

This is no new news. Bias amongst teachers has always been present—invisible or seen. However, there is a boundary that may be dangerous to step over. It may put students’ reputations at risk or affect other student’s learning. Often, girls, those with certain characteristics, or those who are popular amongst students in their prospective grades are favored among teachers. Sometimes there are reasons, oftentimes this group is favored over others due to popularity, race, and/or personality. Sometimes knowledge, but most times that just isn’t the case.  

Teacher’s Pet

One freshman shared is thoughts on the topic of classroom favoritism and how it may have impacted his learning in the past or even now, in high school.

“She hated just about every student except for this one girl,” the freshman says. “I kinda hated her for that.” Preferential treatment towards one student over another in the classroom can be toxic for the school environment at Ridge and can leave a negative impact on those who were neglected.

Favoritism usually hones in on those favored, but how about those students who were neglected? A socio-ecological model was created to illustrate the impact of emotional abuse and neglect on students psychologically. Results revealed that exposure to emotional abuse by teachers predicted behavioural problems in school students suggesting a negative effect of these experiences on psychological functioning [3]. 

What Can We Do to Fix This?

One way this issue can be avoided or improved would be through building relationships with individual students. Teachers should get to know their students’personalities to appreciate their individuality [1].

Overall, the major issue of classroom favoritism has always been prevalent, but as a school that strives for excellence in all areas, we should aim to create the best learning environment for all students—no prejudice or discrimination in any form, even through favoritism.

Sources:

1. Cox, Janelle. “How to Avoid Favoritism in Your Classroom – TeachHUB.” TeachHUB, 27 Dec. 2024, https://www.teachhub.com/professional-development/2024/12/how-to-avoid-favoritism-in-your-classroom/.
2. Oxford Languages. “Our Dictionaries | Oxford Languages.” Languages.oup.com, Oxford University Press, 2021, languages.oup.com/dictionaries/.
3. Nearchou, Finiki. “Resilience Following Emotional Abuse by Teachers: Insights from a Cross-Sectional Study with Greek Students – Sciencedirect.” Sciencedirect.Com, 2017, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0145213417304064.