Seriously, if she's doing badly on schoolwork, the appropriate response is not to call her a loser. The teacher is acting like a bully.
I am once again teaching English to kids, and it is once again expected that I will occasionally smack them. Truth.
If you don't do that in this country, the kids just won't listen to you (I dunno if it's good or right, but that's just how it is here). Even though I'm comfortable enough giving smart-alec kids a smack off-side the head, I would never ever call them a loser, even though they'd probably not understand me.
I am once again teaching English to kids, and it is once again expected that I will occasionally smack them. Truth.
If you don't do that in this country, the kids just won't listen to you (I dunno if it's good or right, but that's just how it is here). Even though I'm comfortable enough giving smart-alec kids a smack off-side the head, I would never ever call them a loser, even though they'd probably not understand me.
You know, I find there's a difference between corporal punishment and this. Having gone to Catholic school early in my life, the physical punishment is much different (most of the time) than the social/psychological.
Once again, one (to me) comes from a position of authority vs a position of bullying.
Not to say that teachers didn't bully with physical punishment, but that it more often came across as a more mature, authoritative kind of instruction, rather than the childish insult this seems to be.
*shrug*
There seems to be a difference between this and corporal punishment. The latter would be for disciplinary reasons that can be useful on disobedient children; the former is childish mockery that is more likely to demotivate rather then motivate such young minds (or it could motivate them to be hateful). Calling grade school students losers probably won't help the kids in paying attention to their studies (presuming they even study).
Damn it now I'm reminded of that drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket...
Ugh. Some people just shouldn't be teaching, no matter what their "professional credentials" say to the contrary. 
In a nearby private school, a teacher made a student write on the board "I did not finish the quiz because I am a ****." when the student refused to write that the rosary ended WWII.
The only reason he was at that private school was because it would look good on college applications.
In a nearby private school, a teacher made a student write on the board "I did not finish the quiz because I am a ****." when the student refused to write that the rosary ended WWII.
I don't see how of the possible answers for what ended WW2 one could make the argument for prayer beads.
You know, I find there's a difference between corporal punishment and this. Having gone to Catholic school early in my life, the physical punishment is much different (most of the time) than the social/psychological.
Once again, one (to me) comes from a position of authority vs a position of bullying.
Not to say that teachers didn't bully with physical punishment, but that it more often came across as a more mature, authoritative kind of instruction, rather than the childish insult this seems to be.
*shrug*
There is a difference, though this kind of thing can do the same thing the corporal punishment can if done to every student equally (which doesn't seem the case in this ... case). Corporal punishment unites the kids through shared pain. This isolates the kid as a 'loser'. Far, far worse. There's no unifying agent here. It's totally separating the kid from the rest of the class and the teacher, too. Physical stuff will pull the kids away from the guy with the ruler (which is kind of the intent) but pull them together through shared experience. You suffer together, you're insulted alone.