They were presenting themselves as better than ours; not merely our teacher, but our superior, our better. Not as someone who would instruct and help us. And yes, it was the first day, the first attempt to make a first impression, and that impression was: I am more important than you, and I demand that you all to acknowledge it every day.
A teacher is not higher in rank than a student? Why, let's just have students teach each other then :)
I'm obviously not familiar with your situation; I definitely agree with you if the teacher was intentionally being pretentious. But if he/she was just correcting students and asking them to call him/her "doctor" on the first day, I think you are overdoing it.
A teacher has the right to determine who they teach and who they evict from their teachings. But, in a school setting where the student isn't given the same liberty and freedom to choose who teaches them or to not "be under" a certain teacher, the teacher would be wise to operate in a non demanding mode. The teacher in such a situation has more [involuntary] power and control over the student. It would be prudent not to abuse that authority by demanding respect from someone who would rather not be there.
They were presenting themselves as better than ours; not merely our teacher, but our superior, our better. Not as someone who would instruct and help us. And yes, it was the first day, the first attempt to make a first impression, and that impression was: I am more important than you, and I demand that you all to acknowledge it every day.
It was incredibly pompous and tone-deaf.