History Main / MisplacedKindergartenTeacher

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

!!Examples

* {{Inverted|Trope}} 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.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* [[http://www.venisproductions.com/angelmoxie/archives/0/0/009.html Mrs. Merriweather]] from ''Webcomic/AngelMoxie'', who teaches her "boys and girls" the multiplications tables in Algebra I. This seems to be born out of her love of cutesy, kitchzy, things. Which is ironic, given that [[spoiler:she's actually an evil demon, and no, the love of cutesy stuff isn't just part of her {{Masquerade}}]].

[[folder:Web Original]]

--->"Here are your tests. I don't think I've ever written so many "A's". You're the smartest--and ''biggest''--first graders I've ever had."

%%* There's one in ''Anime/DinosaurKing'', crossing into ChristmasCake and CloudCuckooLander at the same time. (Administrivia/ZeroContextExamples; neither of those tropes tell us why the character fits ''this''.)

* 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.

* 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.

* Justified in the ''VideoGame/Persona5'' fanfic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/28494930 When The Masks Come Off]]'': After [[EvilTeacher Suguru Kamoshida's]] [[HeelFaceBrainwashing change of heart]] and subsequent arrest, [[VideoGame/Persona3 Rio Iwasaki]] is brought in to replace him. In their first PE class with her, Ann Takamaki and Chiyo Kusakabe note that Iwasaki seems like she's trying a bit too hard to be approachable and seems more suited as an elementary school teacher but they understand why that is as this is Iwasaki's first teaching job and its being Kamoshida's replacement no less.

* {{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.

%%* 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 UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar being prime examples). (Admimistrivia/ZeroContextExample; the example only details the ways in which he ''doesn't'' fit the example.)

* 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)

* The title character of the one-act play ''Miss Bleep''[[note]]or maybe ''Mis Bleep[[/note]] 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.

* The sweet-voiced pirate re-education teacher in ''VideoGame/EscapeFromMonkeyIsland''. Impeccably voiced by Edie [=McClurg=], and perhaps the scariest character in the game.
* 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.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'', Milla sees her students as little children and treats them accordingly. If you use Clairvoyance on her, you can see Raz through her eyes as a very small child. It turns out that [[spoiler: she once worked at an OrphanageOfLove which was accidentally burned down, and her psychic abilities caused her to hear the thoughts of all the children as they burned to death. She was traumatized as a result. The part of her mind that contains these memories is well-hidden, and she gently tells Raz not to go there.]] Granted, her students ''are'' all pre-adolescent, but their mental maturity varies wildly because they're all psychics and [[DysfunctionJunction excessively strange]].

* Played with in ''VisualNovel/DoubleHomework''. Ms. Walsh talks down to all her students, and utterly fails to teach without Johanna’s intervention, but she specializes in teaching special ed, not kindergarten.

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' has Marzipan be this in the Strong Bad E-mail [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail160.html coloring]], though it's not surprising considering how her students are [[DumbMuscle Strong Mad]], [[TheDitz Homestar]], and [[CloudCuckoolander Homsar]]. Although when Strong Bad asks, she casually admits her "class" is really a cult.
* ''WesternAnimation/MakingFiends'' usually has teacher spineless Mr. Milk, but one day he is sick, and is replaced by Mrs. Minty, who is one of these. Vendetta cannot handle her condescending ways, and eventually forces a not yet recovered Milk to teach the class.

* [[http://www.venisproductions.com/angelmoxie/archives/0/0/009.html Mrs. Merriweather]] from ''Webcomic/AngelMoxie'', this seems to be born out of her love of cutesy, kitchzy, things. Which is ironic, given that [[spoiler:she's actually an evil demon, and no, the love of cutesy stuff isn't just part of her {{Masquerade}}]].
* Mrs Snockenflaubin of ''Webcomic/{{Loserz}}'', in [[http://the-qlc.com/loserz/go/21 this strip]]. (Usually she's more on the TrueArt trip.)
* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' Tsukiko acts like this to her undead minions. From her (crazy) perspective they're only a few days old and need looking after. Consequently the elite squad of wights is organized like they're on a school trip, [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0513.html complete with whistles and a buddy system]].

* [[https://notalwaysright.com/addressing-the-big-safety-elephant-in-the-room/36144/ This story]] on Website/NotAlwaysRight has a Vice-Principal severely misjudge the age range of the student body. Though depending on how you look at it, it actually worked, in a way.

* 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).

** In "Arthur's Substitute Teacher Trouble", the class has Mr. Ratburn's sister as a substitute teacher, who insists on teaching lessons including but not limited to "yellow and blue make green" and "cat is spelled C-A-T." At first the class revels in how easy the lessons are, but by the end of the episode they become bored and irritated by her lessons and attitude, realizing how much better off they were with Mr. Ratburn even if his lessons are harder.

* Ms. Doe, the scoutmaster for the Squirrel Scouts in ''WesternAnimation/CampLazlo''.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' episode "Lucky Strike," Mr. [=DeMartino=]'s replacement is so senile that she actually believes the senior class ''are'' little kids, and treats them as such.
-->"Here are your tests. I don't think I've ever written so many "A's". You're the smartest--and ''biggest''--first graders I've ever had."
** Mr. O'Neill has shades of this as well. To his credit, he does acknowledge that he's teaching young adults here, but he's such a HippieTeacher that he spends all his time worrying about their self-esteem and walking on eggshells around them.
** Mr. [=DeMartino=] is a sort of odd version--he's a SternTeacher with a HairTriggerTemper, but "Is It Fall Yet?" shows that [[OneOfTheKids he connects with younger children]] far better than he does with most teens, mostly because of the way that he [[NoIndoorVoice VERY LOUDLY]] voices their own frustrations.

* 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]].

* "Miss Go" ([[TheDragon Shego]] temporarily [[MirrorMoralityMachine turned good]]) acts like this in one ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' episode.
* 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.

* Ms. Grotke in ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' has the voice, but is otherwise more of a HippieTeacher.
** ...and the reason she has the voice is because Allyce Beasley ''did'' talk to kindergartners in her capacity as the continuity announcer for Disney Channel's Playhouse Disney block.

* 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]].
* Arcee in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', but it's not her fault [[spoiler: - the Decepticons screwed with her programming while looking for information, causing her to think she really ''was'' teaching the Cybertron equivalent of kindergarten again.]]

* Ton-Chan (yes) from ''Manga/AirGear''.
* Takako Shimizu from ''Manga/{{Chobits}}'' wanted to teach young children but her husband convinced her to become a CramSchool teacher so they would have more time together. [[spoiler:And then left her for his [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots persocom]].]] She's popular with her students as she still teaches them the correct tutorial and they think it's cute. It helps that she's hot.
* There's one in ''VideoGame/DinosaurKing'', crossing into ChristmasCake and CloudCuckooLander at the same time.
* ''Anime/{{FLCL}}'' has a borderline example. A teacher who's more infantile than her students, she treats them like babies (they are in fact in 6th grade). Case in point: she can't use chopsticks. A ''grown Japanese woman'' who ''can't use chopsticks.''
* Mihoshi in ''Anime/MagicalProjectS'' is the fourth grade teacher for Sasami's class, but doesn't seem like she could even ''pass'' fourth grade herself. Also, the teacher at the prep school acts like this, even getting commented on by one of the students ("does she think we're in kindergarten or something?").

* Patty from ''ComicStrip/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable'' actually is a kindergarten teacher. However, she has difficulties turning the attitude off and ends up treating her gaming group like a bunch of preschoolers, including a 'Time Out Corner' with '5 points to ponder'. Sometimes they deserve it.

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Calvin's teacher Miss Wormwood is an inversion. The only subject she teaches that's appropriate for first graders is basic math like addition and subtraction. Among the rest of her curriculum: UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution, Polish history, the UsefulNotes/ByzantineEmpire, Newton's laws of motion and word problems that require multiplication and algebra to solve. She has also assigned her students to collect fifty insects and label them with their English and Latin names in two weeks. She issues a similar assignment later on, requiring fifty leaves all from different trees.

* In ''Fanfic/LeaveForMendeleiev'', Ms. Bustier is such a HorribleJudgeOfCharacter that she accepts Chloé's claims that she misses Marinette and just can't focus without her at face value, attempting to badger Marinette into transferring back... or agree to 'mentor' her long-term bully.
* {{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.

* [[CloudCuckoolander Amy Squirrel]], the goody-goody HeroAntagonist in ''Film/BadTeacher''.
* It's the lead in Literature, but Creator/ImeldaStaunton's performance as Dolores Umbridge in the ''Film/HarryPotter'' films deserves mention simply because it's such horror.
* 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.]]

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', [[Characters/HarryPotter Dolores Umbridge]] initially introduces herself to the school by treating the students rather condescendingly and maintaining a sugary sweet demeanor. This soon becomes more sinister as she reveals herself to be a SadistTeacher (she gives Harry detention by making him [[WritingLines write lines]] in his own blood that cut into his skin), and she becomes even worse when she [[TyrantTakesTheHelm takes over the school]].
-->"Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say! And to see such happy little faces looking back at me!"\\

* Eliza Jane Wilder in the ''[[Literature/LittleHouseOnthePrairie Little House]]'' books teaches this way when she takes over as teacher of Laura's school, talking down to her students and saying things like "Birds in their little nests agree." It makes almost all of her students uncomfortable, and Laura observes to herself that - aside from proving that she knows nothing about birds if she really believes that's true -- Miss Wilder will stand no chance whatsoever of being able to maintain discipline in the classroom that way once the older boys come to school after the harvest. Her prediction proves only too accurate. 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 how to recite long verses and songs from the Bible) a very small verse.
* The Goldfish Robot in ''Mars Evacuees'' by Sophia [=McDougall=]. The other teacher robots on Mars also speak this way, but generally they are talking to younger students. The Goldfish teaches 12-year-olds. It is also a SadistTeacher and BadassTeacher.
* The ''Mr. Majeika'' series features one book in which a children's author Penelope Primrose appears (author of 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.

* ''Literature/TheUnteachables:'' After being promoted from kindergarten to middle school, Emma Fountain still tends to reward good behavior from her students with bunny tail stickers.

* In the successor show ''Series/AngryBoys'', we have juvenile prison guard Gran, a zigzagged version of the trope. She is aware of what her charges have done and isn't afraid to be hard on them. On the other hand, she knits them superhero pyjamas.
* 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...
* 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.
* Inverted in the ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'' episode "Megan's New Teacher": Josh is assigned to teach Megan's science class as part of the "Tomorrow's Teachers Today" program. Despite the class being for 5th graders, Josh assigns his students college-level material believing that they are somehow capable of learning highly advanced science concepts. Predictably everyone begins failing the class, and when Drake's substitute drummer (who is in Megan's class) is barred by his parents from playing for his failing grades, [[EnemyMine Drake and Megan]] team up to sabotage Josh's next lesson in front of the class's regular teacher to get him fired.
* 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''.
* 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.

* ''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.
* ''Series/{{Newhart}}'': Dick takes a typing class. It turns out the instructor is his old sixth-grade teacher, who was a [[SadistTeacher tyrant]]. After initial anxiety, Dick realizes that he has nothing to fear. Things should be different now that the class is all adults, right? Wrong. What follows is a replay of elementary school, complete with the [[TheStoolPigeon whining, snitching suckup classmate]] who reports every petty misdeed to the teacher, and the teacher making the class put their heads down on their desks as punishment for being unruly.
* 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.

** The supremely incompetent university lecturers -- 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).

* 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.
* In ''Fanfic/LeaveForMendeleiev'', Ms. Bustier is such a HorribleJudgeOfCharacter that she accepts Chloe's claims that she misses Marinette and just can't focus without her at face value, attempting to badger Marinette into transferring back... or agree to 'mentor' her long-term bully.

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Calvin's teacher Miss Wormwood is an inversion. The only subject she teaches that's appropriate for first graders is basic math like addition and subtraction. Among the rest of her curriculum: UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution, Polish history, the UsefulNotes/ByzantineEmpire, Newton's laws of motion and word problems that require multiplication and algebra to solve. She has also assigned her students to collect fifty insects and label them with their English and Latin names -in two weeks. She issues a similar assignment later on, requiring fifty leaves all from different trees.

* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': Guidance counselor Mr. Frond has therapy dolls in his office and is mostly shallow to everyone from fourth grade and up. Considering Wagstaff School where he teaches is K-8, Frond would be a better fit for ''[[ExaggeratedTrope preschoolers]]''.

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Calvin's teacher Miss Wormwood is an inversion. The only subject she teaches that's appropriate for first graders is basic math like addition and subtraction. Among the rest of her curriculum: UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution, Polish history, the UsefulNotes/ByzantineEmpire, the laws of gravity and word problems that require multiplication and algebra to solve. She has also assigned her students to collect fifty insects and label them with their English and Latin names -in two weeks. She issues a similar assignment later on, requiring fifty leaves all from different trees.

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Calvin's teacher Miss Wormwood is an inversion. The only subject she teaches that's appropriate for first graders is basic math like addition and subtraction. Among the rest of her curriculum: UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution, Polish history, the UsefulNotes/ByzantineEmpire, the laws of gravity and word problems that require multiplication and algebra to solve. She has also assigned her students to collect fifty insects and label them with their English and Latin names. She issues the same assignment later on, requiring fifty leaves all from different trees.

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Calvin's teacher Miss Wormwood is an inversion. The only subject she teaches that's appropriate for first graders is basic math like addition and subtraction. Among the rest of her curriculum: UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution, Polish history, the UsefulNotes/ByzantineEmpire and word problems that require multiplication and algebra to solve. She has also assigned her students to collect fifty insects and label them with their English and Latin names. She issues the same assignment later on, requiring fifty leaves all from different trees.

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' has Marzipan be this in the Strong Bad E-mail [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail160.html coloring]]. Though considering her students are [[DumbMuscle Strong Mad]], [[TheDitz Homestar]], and [[CloudCuckoolander Homsar]]...
** Although when Strong Bad asks, she casually admits it's really a cult.

* 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.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', [[Characters/HarryPotter Dolores Umbridge]] combines this with SadistTeacher, becoming even worse when she [[TyrantTakesTheHelm takes the helm]]. Harry's detention with her involved WritingLines in his own blood:

** In the episode "Arthur's Substitute Teacher Trouble", the class had Mr. Ratburn's sister as a substitute teacher, who insisted on teaching lessons including but not limited to "yellow and blue make green" and "cat is spelled C-A-T." By the end of the episode, the class realized how much better off they were with Mr. Ratburn.

* The title character of ''Ms. Bleep'' 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.

** The third-grade teacher in the classroom next door -- all they ever do in that class is sit around and sing songs.

* 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.

[[folder:Film]]

--> '''Umbridge:''' ''“Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say! And to see such happy little faces looking back at me!”''\\

* The Cheerful Fairy in ''Literature/{{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.
** She also claims that she never touches alcohol; the wizards dryly remark that they find it's something to be cheerful about.
** While Death's granddaughter Susan has largely inverted this trope, treating her kindergarten students as if they were inconveniently small adults, she ''has'' developed the habit of bowdlerizing her own vocabulary ('Does a bear poo in the woods?') even in front of grown-ups.
* Eliza Jane Wilder in the ''[[Literature/LittleHouseOnthePrairie Little House]]'' books teaches this way when she takes over as teacher of Laura's school, talking down to her students and saying things like "Birds in their little nests agree." It makes almost all of her students uncomfortable, and Laura observes to herself that - aside from proving that she knows nothing about birds if she really believes that's true - Miss Wilder will stand no chance whatsoever of being able to maintain discipline in the classroom that way once the older boys come to school after the harvest. Her prediction proves only too accurate.
** 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 how to recite long verses and songs from the Bible) a very small verse.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* 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.

* ''Series/TedLasso''

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]

* ''WesternAnimation/MakingFiends'' usually has teacher spineless Mr. Milk, but one day he was sick, and was replaced by Mrs. Minty, who was one of these. Vendetta could not handle her condescending ways, and eventually forced a not yet recovered Milk to teach the class.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* Technically inverted in the ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'' episode "Held Back". Beavis and Butt-head are [[HeldBackInSchool ninth graders demoted to kindergarten]] ("These chicks are flat!"), but the kindergarten teacher still treats them in the same manner as she does with her other students.

* ''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 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, unless it means, you know, less homework and stuff like that.

* [[https://notalwaysright.com/addressing-the-big-safety-elephant-in-the-room/36144/ This story]] on Website/NotAlwaysRight has a Vice-Principal severely misjudge the age range of the student body. [[FromACertainPointOfView Though depending on how you look at it,]] it actually worked, in a way.