History Main / MisplacedKindergartenTeacher

* ''Series/TedLasso'' is stuck in the mindset of a college football coach, emphasising helping his players grow as people rather than win games.

* Nikki Roxx often comes off as condescending when she's trying to be nice to (comparative)rookies and or foreigners. Part of this comes from her [[HeroicWannabe thinking herself bigger than she really is]] (though [[BewareTheSillyones her resume]] makes this perception understandable)

Of course, this is TruthInTelevision, especially with foreign language teachers.

[[folder:Fan Fic]]

* Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/LegendOfKorra'' fanfiction ''FanFic/{{Strings}}'' as Tarrlok is over-qualified to be an elementary school teacher and trying to teach his students the advanced stuff, which goes over their heads.

* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'': Greg's mother is gleefully oblivious to Greg's unhappiness to any inconvenience she causes him, from inviting Fregley over to play hide n' seek, to making him participate in the school play of ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', to joining in Greg's "Magick and Monsters" game and [[CompletelyMissingThePoint completely ignoring the "kill and level up" nature of the game.]] Justified, because she used to be a preschool teacher.

Compare HippieTeacher, with whom this sometimes overlaps. Contrast SternTeacher and SadistTeacher. Averted entirely by the CoolTeacher.

* Not a teacher, but Teri Hatcher's character in ''Film/SpyKids1'', Ms. Gradenko, initially talks to Carmen and Juni with a vibe of this. [[spoiler:She turns out to be TheMole.]]

* Ton-Chan (yes) from ''Manga/AirGear''.
* There's one in ''VideoGame/DinosaurKing'', crossing into ChristmasCake and CloudCuckooLander at the same time.

* In many ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' salt fics, Ms. Bustier switches from being the resident CoolTeacher to one of these, thanks to the fact that her teaching methods in the show (which boil down to "prevent as much conflict as possible and inspire students to avoid conflict") have helped [[AlphaBitch Chloe]] and [[TheSociopath Lila]] [[KarmaHoudini get away scot-free with their crimes]] and have led to innocent students getting unfairly punished.

* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'': Greg's mother is gleefully oblivious to Greg's unhappiness to any inconvenience she causes him, from inviting Fregley over to play hide n' seek, to making him participate in the school play of ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', to joining in Greg's "Magick and Monsters" game and [[CompletelyMissingThePoint completely ignoring the "kill and level up" nature of the game.]] Justified, because she used to be a preschool teacher.

* The ''Mr Majeika'' series features one book in which a children's author Penelope Primrose appears (author of [[TastesLikeDiabetes cutesy books about a rabbit called Little Bluebell]]). She refers to the ten-year-old protagonists as "little tots", speaks in baby talk and insists she doesn't take any "grown-up drinks" like tea. She's scared off when she sniffs a bouquet of flowers with stinging nettles hidden in them.
* ''Literature/MsWiz'' mentions that minor character Mrs Hicks talks to her teddies in class. It's admittedly not said what age her class is, but it's used to show that she's a strange one.
* Miss Caroline from ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird'' manages to be this even though she ''is'' teaching very young kids. The problem is that most of them are the children of farmers and have done manual labor pretty much since they could walk, so they're not really interested in the story of Mrs. Cat and her kittens. She gets a nasty shock when she meets one of the [[CorruptHick Ewells]], a family who traditionally show up for the first day of school to satisfy the truant officer and hardly set foot in town the rest of the year. She tries to apply basic school rules to the kid and ends up getting "slut" screamed at her.

* The supremely incompetent university lecturers from ''Series/{{Skins}}'' - the punishment for running away from the guided tour, falling in the pool, smashing up a lab or smoking cannabis is the same: an "I'm very disappointed in you. Now come along for some squash and biscuits" speech. It's especially grating when the female one says "Oh, all right, you can shag me" in the exact same tone of voice.
** Josie, Chris's career adviser and later an English teacher, is possibly worse. Shakespeare should never be taught to college students with hand puppetry.
* Mr. G, Chris Lilley's character, made most known by ''Series/SummerHeightsHigh''. A drama teacher, naturally. The topics of his teachings, however, are... rather less than the expected cutesy (the mentioned show's play about a schoolgirl dying of an ecstacy overdose, and another show's musical about the Vietnam war being prime examples).

* One ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m-1lLrj218 sketch]] featured Alec Baldwin as an enthusiastic French teacher who forced his students to always answer in a very bouncy, lilting manner, much to their annoyance (if you've ever taken a public school French class, you know ''exactly'' how this sounds). The skit ended with him vacationing in Paris and trying to make a gang of Parisian street toughs start talking in the same way. Needless to say, they kick the crap out him.
* Another non-teacher example: Ricki Lake sure did sound like this when explaining the rules to all the game shows featured on ''Game$how Marathon''.

* And another non-teacher example: Ms. Herbig from ''Series/DeadLikeMe'', the manager of the Happy Time temp agency. She has a habit of talking to her employees as though they're children, and she seems to think children are happy little automatons that don't really think, because when her employees don't pretend for her benefit, she gets ''snippy''. She actually tells people "as in her big brown eyes" as a mnemonic to remember her name.
* Jazz from Season 9 of ''Series/TheApprentice'' was this... on a business reality show. Treating business 'professionals' like five year olds and talking like a hopelessly outdated teacher did not endear her to either her 'team' nor Lord Sugar, and she got fired after the first week when her team lost the task. Saying 'Aw man!' to Lord Sugar didn't help either...
* Landlady Miriam Fry from ''Series/AgentCarter'' treats her tenants like they were school girls in a dormitory rather than adults living on their own, the way she strictly controls the schedules of the girls in her boarding house and forbids men higher than the first floor.

* Inverted with Ms. Applegate from ''VideoGame/{{Kindergarten}}''; she actually does teach kindergarten but she's also a [[SadistTeacher sadistic]] ChildHater who constantly [[WouldHurtAChild endangers the lives of her students.]] She shouldn't be teaching at ''any'' grade level, let alone kindergarten.

* Zigzagged on ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. Cheerilee is the only teacher we ever see, though it's implied there are more. The show likes to abuse VagueAge as much as possible, but it's implied her students are of puberty age. She talks like a kindergarten teacher to them, but explains setting concepts (like history and biology) more akin to a middle school teacher, and on the blackboard she often has [[GeniusBonus advanced planetary physics equations]].
** Given the moderately anachronistic old-timey feel of Equestria, this may be a nod to the old one room schoolhouses where one teacher taught all ages and all subjects at different levels.
* In ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', Deputy Director Bullock seems to run the C.I.A. as though it was a preschool, in one instance even sending Stan to the corner for a time out and not allowing him to have milk (although seeing as each and every one of his agents is a total ManChild, you could argue he isn't misplaced at all).
* Hilariously inverted in the ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E21ThePTADisbands The PTA Disbands]]." When an agreement can't be reached in the teachers' strike, Professor Frink is assigned to work as a Kindergarten teacher [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5QbrRRMg20 and tries using a corn popper to teach them physics]].

-->'''[[TheProtagonist Timmy]]:''' ''[upon being thrown into a ball pit by them while wearing one of the suits and left to sink]'' Am I having fun yet?

** Appears earlier in ''On The Banks Of Plum Creek'' where Laura and Mary attend their first Sunday School class (after years of Biblical instruction at home and of family worship at home). Laura likes the teacher Mrs. Tower, but she does exclaim a lot and introduced the class with a story of Baby Moses in the bulrushes ([[DeadpanSnarker Laura remarks]] [[SilentSnarker to herself that]] [[LittleMissSnarker even Baby Carrie knew that story]]) and she gives Laura (who knew to recite long verses and songs from the Bible) a very small verse.

-->-- '''[[SadistTeacher Dolores]] [[BitchInSheepsClothing Umbridge]]''', ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix''. To a crowd of teens and pre-teens, aged 11 to 18.

** She also claims that she never touches alcohol-the wizards drily remark that they find it's something to be cheerful about.

* The supremely incompetent university lecturers from ''Series/{{Skins}}'' - the punishment for running away from the guided tour, falling in the pool, smashing up a lab or smoking cannabis is the same: a "I'm very disappointed in you. Now come along for some squash and biscuits" speech. It's especially grating when the female one says "Oh, all right, you can shag me" in the exact same tone of voice.

* John, who runs the OrphanageOfFear errant teens go to in the [[AWorldHalfFull semi-dystopia]] of ''Series/{{K9}}'', talks like a kindergarten teacher even when he's extorting ten million credits from the Department.
* ''Series/LegendHeroes'': A kindergarten teacher treats everyone like the children she works with. She acts cutesy and teeth rottingly sweet even around the man who has a crush on her. He is too smitten with her to notice. Unfortunately, she also tried this on the resident stoic KnightTemplar, who came to investigate her possible relation to the current Legend Hero thief. He was not amused.

* Jazz from Season 9 of Series/TheApprentice was this... on a business reality show. Treating business 'professionals' like five year olds and talking like a hopelessly outdated teacher did not endear her to either her 'team' nor Lord Sugar, and she got fired after the first week when her team lost the task. Saying 'Aw man!' to Lord Sugar didn't help either...
* Landlady Miriam Fry from ''Series/AgentCarter'' treats her tenants like they were school girls in a dormitory rather than adults living on their own, the way she strictly controls the schedules of the girls in her boarding house and forbids men higher than the first floor..

* Wrestling/MichelleMcCool briefly had a teacher gimmick that bafflingly combined this with a sexy teacher who made cutesy innuendos. Unsurprisingly it's a major OldShame for her (she actually was a teacher prior to wrestling and was terrified of her former co-workers seeing it).

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'''s school counselor Mr. Shellacky straddles this trope and HippieTeacher, often suggesting hugs, and talks about his computers, or the current problems Doug has in a sing-song voice and giving pet names. He also often uses babyish phrases like "Mr. Computer had a little tummy-ache."
* Peppy Happy Gary and Betty from ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' run an institution called ''Flappy Bob's Learnatorium''. It's meant for kids of all ages, but they seem to either not realize or care - everyone's a five year old in their mind, even the ten year old protagonist or [[StarfishAliens that octopus kid who just dropped through the roof]]. They also take safety regulations to levels [[ExaggeratedTrope that would be outright ludicrous even for ACTUAL kindergartners]]. Their regulations are so restrictive, that they wind up inadvertently sucking all the fun out of the activity. For example, their favorite "safety" tactic is to stuff their charges into safety suits that are heavily padded to the point that you can't even ''move'' in them. [[ComicallyMissingthePoint The suits are always intended for activities where you have to move]].

* Somewhat inverted in ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls''. Ms. Keane, an actual Kindergarten teacher, usually acts like a normal teacher for that grade. However she sometimes teaches overly advanced subjects to her five year olds.

* Both subverted and inverted (at various times) by Mr. Garrison of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''. Although Garrison uses a puppet in his third-grade class, he doesn't treat his students like kindergarteners otherwise (he tends more toward "verbally abusive"). Later on, when he's demoted to kindergarten teacher, he does things like show them how to put a condom on. Someone else. With your mouth.

* Hilariously inverted in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode, ''[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E21ThePTADisbands The PTA Disbands]]''. When an agreement can't be reached in the teacher's strike, Professor Frink is assigned to work as a Kindergarten teacher [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5QbrRRMg20 and tries using a corn popper to teach them physics]].

[[/folder]]

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* Played with in ''[[VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry Higurashi no Naku Koro ni / When They Cry]]'', since the mixed class '''does''' have some early grade-schoolers; but Chie-sensei rarely changes her tone when speaking to her middle- or high-school students.

* Usami/Monomi of ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'' claims to be the class teacher, and is an excessively cute, "squeezably-soft" MagicalGirl stuffed animal. The class in question consists of high-school students that are 17 at the youngest. None of them are impressed throughout the entire game.

* Usami/Monomi of ''VisualNovel/SuperDanganronpa2'' claims to be the class teacher, and is an excessively cute, "squeezably-soft" MagicalGirl stuffed animal. The class in question consists of high-school students that are 17 at the youngest. None of them are impressed throughout the entire game.

* Hilariously inverted in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode, ''[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E21ThePTADisbands The PTA Disbands]]''. When an agreement can't be reached in the teacher's strike, Professor Frink (a scientist) is assigned to work as a Kindergarten-teacher, during which he tries explaining ''physics'' to them.

* The Cheerful Fairy in ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}'' has shades of this. She addresses elderly wizards as though they were five-year-olds, trying to get them involved in friendship-building and morale-boosting activities. Oh yes, and she cried when they told her to cut it out. She was like Barney with butterfly wings.

* The title character of ''MsBleep'' has a very good excuse for this--she's a robot, and she treats everyone as a student as part of her programming. She's also malfunctioning quite badly--for instance, she won't let her "students" leave at the end of the day, giving them a paralyzing shock every time they attempt to escape. They've apparently been surviving on milk and cookies for a ''long'' time.

* One ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch featured Alec Baldwin as an enthusiastic French teacher who forced his students to always answer in a very bouncy, lilting manner, much to their annoyance (if you've ever taken a public school French class, you know ''exactly'' how this sounds). The skit ended with him vacationing in Paris and trying to make a gang of Parisian street toughs start talking in the same way. Needless to say, they kick the crap out him.

* While Lily from ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' is a kindergarten teacher, in the brief period when she had other jobs she showed a tendency to try and deal with workplace conflicts in the same manner and with the same reasoning as she had with the little children (well, if they are going to act like children...). One episode had her working as an assistant in Ted's office and end up taking away the boss' "toy," a signed baseball, because he was being a JerkAss. It is worth noting that this approach works rather well for dealing with her [[ManChild husband]], Marshall. However, Lily's approach to actually being a kindergarten teacher tends to be a bit more adult then expected. There was the one incident with the severed toy horse's head next to the sleeping unruly kid.

* Nikki Roxx often comes off as condescending when she's trying to be nice to (comparative)rookies and or foreigners. Part of this comes from her [[HeroicWannabe thinking herself bigger than she really is]] (though [[BewareTheSillyones her resume]] makes this perception understandable)[[/folder]]

-->"Am I having fun yet?"
-->-- '''[[TheProtagonist Timmy]]''', upon being thrown into a ball pit by them while wearing one of the suits and left to sink

* In many ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug salt fics'', Ms. Bustier switches from being the resident CoolTeacher to one of these, thanks to the fact that her teaching methods in the show (which boil down to "prevent as much conflict as possible and inspire students to avoid conflict") have helped [[AlphaBitch Chloe]] and [[TheSociopath Lila]] [[KarmaHoudini get away scot-free with their crimes]] and have led to innocent students getting unfairly punished.

[[folder:FanFic]]

* In many WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug salt fics, Ms.Bustier as seen as this because she is overly permissive with Chloe and encourage the good students to TurnTheOtherCheek instead of punishing Chloe and others such as Lila herself. This is because she wants to maintain 'harmony'.

* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'': Mrs. Heffley is gleefully oblivious to Greg's unhappiness to any inconvenience she causes him, from inviting Fregley over to play hide n' seek, to making him participate in the school play of ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', to joining in Greg's "Magick and Monsters" game and [[CompletelyMissingThePoint completely ignoring the "kill and level up" nature of the game.]] Justified, because she used to be a preschool teacher.

* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'': Greg's mother is gleefully oblivious to Greg's unhappiness to any inconvenience she causes him, from inviting Fregley over to play hide n' seek, to making him participate in the school play of ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', to joining in Greg's "Magick and Monsters" game and [[CompletelyMissingThePoint completely ignoring the "kill and level up" nature of the game.]] Justified, because she used to be a preschool teacher.

* In ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'', Greg's mother is gleefully oblivious to Greg's unhappiness to any inconvenience she causes him, from inviting Fregley over to play hide n' seek, to making him participate in the school play of ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', to joining in Greg's "Magick and Monsters" game and [[CompletelyMissingThePoint completely ignoring the "kill and level up" nature of the game.]] Justified, because she used to be a preschool teacher.