The frustration-aggression theory largely implies that aggression is often a result of frustration. This theory was proposed by psychologists Dollard, Doob, Miller, Mower, and Sears in their 1939 book Frustration and Aggression.

 Frustration is the feeling of irritation and annoyance when something blocks you from achieving a goal. Frustration is a feeling that can lead to aggressive tendencies. As a teacher, just imagine putting all your energy into teaching your students from the beginning of the term. 


 Believing that the work is done only to see woeful performance from the majority of the students while marking their end-of-term examination paper! This is the frustration that many teachers face daily, weekly, monthly, termly, and even yearly. Which could lead to aggression, verbal, emotional, or physical abuse if not well managed.

 Frustration turning into aggression could cause more damage to the most needed teacher-student relationship, the self-esteem of the student, enthusiasm of teachers, and conducive learning and growth environment. In the above scenario, the goal of imparting the students with knowledge is being hindered by factors that are beyond the teacher. He/she may throw down the answer sheets in exasperation and proceed to shout at the students or even punish them. 

 Aggression is a malicious behavior or attitude towards someone or something, usually triggered by frustration. As a great educator, you can change the natural order of things by replacing aggression with compassion for the students. This creative energy will enable you to find possible ways to help the students to do better. But the thing that most teachers don’t realize is that many students are also going through a similar frustration circuit because of their inability to have a grasp of what the teacher is teaching. 

Yes, some of the many put up nasty behavior like laughing after failing. It is just a covering for their internal pain of failure. The closer that a person is to a goal that's suddenly blocked, the more frustrated he or she will become. This can be an anchor for a teacher. Whenever you notice aggressive behavior in a student, it should be a wake-up call to get closer to that student, and a little push may be what is needed for him or her to cross the threshold of failure into success. 

Some manifests of frustration-aggression among teachers and students.
 A) Teachers- Students (Abuse)
 B. Students - Teachers (Disrespect) 
C. Students - Students (Bullies) 

All forms of frustration-aggression circuits in the school setting widen the learning Gap.

 Now that we have an understanding of how frustration and aggression manifest amongst teachers and students, we can defuse the frustration-aggression circuit by applying the concept of equity rather than an equality in our classroom and also employing empathy in teaching.