School can be difficult at the best of times, but when a teacher seeks to shatter a pupil's confidence, belittle their academic aptitude and deride their capabilities the classroom no longer represents a safe space, but a place to fear and avoid.
Highlighting the effect a teacher's attitude can have on a student's emotional wellbeing, Shaniaya Hunter, who suffers from an eye complaint which sometimes keeps her out of class, shared audio which she secretly recorded on an iPad and which documents her teacher's less than professional approach to his students.
During a history class on abolitionists, Shaniaya asked her teacher a question to which he replied; "You're the dumbest girl I have ever met in my life, and I have been around for 37 years and clearly, you are the dumbest girl that I have ever met."
Not content to cast aspersion's on his pupil's intellect, the teacher in question then went on to tell Shaniaya: "You know what your purpose going to be? To have sex and have children, because you ain't gonna never be smart."
Having been criticised by members of his class for his conduct, the teacher continued: "You'll be a good housewife. Cult of domesticity, right here," he says. "See? She can't work an iPad."
Opening up about the incident which took place in Green County High School in Georgia, Shanaiya told Atlant's WSB-TV: "It really hurt me inside. I don't think it's okay. I don't think he should be here."
Upon learning that school officials refused to take action against the teacher who is still employed at the Georgia high school, attorney, Ben Windham, took the case pro bono, saying: "This man does not need to be teaching young children. It's not a grey area. End of story."
The audio has been uploaded to Soundcloud.
