'Call female teachers SIR', demand feminist academics

I called teachers by their first name. I find having to address them as sir, miss or professor condescending. You actually feel respected if you are on a first name basis. School isn't the military.

1>3>4>2 » Wed May 14, 2014 12:32 pm wrote:I don't think I've ever called anybody sir or mam in my life. Its not the Victorian times.

My students have always called me sir or sensei, don't think I've ever been called by my first name in a school.

Don't think I'd mind either way though, but below Uni level it was always sir/miss to my teachers.

Sensei?! Class.

Yea, I was Kebin-Sensei because the no one in Japan can pronounce a V.

That's Japan, of course they are formal over there. I dare you to work in a company over there and call your boss by his first name.

99% of woman wouldn't like to be called a sir. You only use Ma'am and Sir in formal letters, to flatter someone, to show respect, or if you are being stern.

1cmanny1 » Wed May 14, 2014 11:20 pm wrote:I dare you to work in a company over there and call your boss by his first name.

Done.

Skarjo » Wed May 14, 2014 2:20 pm wrote:My students have always called me sir or sensei

That's some Mr Miyagi gooseberry fool right there. I'd have them painting fences, sanding decks and waxing cars.

...

I told them to point at the watermelon.

My students call me Mr. Ryan Teacher. :lol:

Or they call me sunsengnim (the Korean word for teacher).

Honestly though, I don't see any harm in having different titles for males and females. Unless it's like, Sir and banana split or something. Feminists pick the strangest of battles. What's it going to do? Nothing. Men and Women have the same titles in Korea, and it's easily one of the most sexist countries I've ever been to.

sunsengnim

Sounds like a new pokemon. The title that was always tricky for me was Ms, I think it's a great concept but whenever I read the word the sound my head makes is "Miss"; it's like quay or An-hilli-ation (annihilation) but a much more frequent occurrence :dread:

It often just gets shortened down to saem (basically sounds like they are calling me Sam :lol:

)

One of the first schools I taught in was in Tower Hamlets. All the staff there were called by their first name by the pupils, from the head teacher to the caretakers. The idea was, I recall, to break down any barriers between the families and the school (it was a 'socially deprived, high crime area', according to some report or other). Similarly, we were all instructed by the head not to wear suits or formal clothing (I have never done so anyway, but many found this strange; for my part, I've always, at any school, worked in dressed for urban combat...anyway, I remember the head explaining this to me as 'it's so the children and families don't associate us with the negative people in their lives. For these children, if they see someone in suits it usually means someone or some thing's being taken away from them'.

I'm not really sure how much he really felt thy was true or otherwise, but I do know that dressing in jeans or combats and t-shirts or whatever, or being called by our first name, had no negative impact on the behaviour of the kids or their respect for us at all. I've believed through my whole career that stuff happens if you're good at your job anyway.

A lot of people, though, find the idea of teachers dressing 'casually' quite challenging.

I'm talking about Primary Schools, just for the record.

Pontius Pilate » Thu May 15, 2014 6:56 am wrote:Honestly though, I don't see any harm in having different titles for males and females. Unless it's like, Sir and banana split or something. Feminists pick the strangest of battles. What's it going to do? Nothing. Men and Women have the same titles in Korea, and it's easily one of the most sexist countries I've ever been to.

I think this a bit disingenuous - there's nothing wrong with having different titles, but they would have to be comparable, which they aren't really currently. Also, picking battles is an odd concept. Why can't you pick all the battles? And "what's it going to do" would be "make the title of male and female teachers comparable." That wouldn't do anything for you but it would for women.

Not sure that I think first names are the best way to go necessarily but I think Miss is quite diminutive and so could be easily replaced. Doesn't seem that radical.

Red » Thu May 15, 2014 11:03 am wrote:
Pontius Pilate » Thu May 15, 2014 6:56 am wrote:Honestly though, I don't see any harm in having different titles for males and females. Unless it's like, Sir and banana split or something. Feminists pick the strangest of battles. What's it going to do? Nothing. Men and Women have the same titles in Korea, and it's easily one of the most sexist countries I've ever been to.

I think this a bit disingenuous - there's nothing wrong with having different titles, but they would have to be comparable, which they aren't really currently. Also, picking battles is an odd concept. Why can't you pick all the battles? And "what's it going to do" would be "make the title of male and female teachers comparable." That wouldn't do anything for you but it would for women.

Not sure that I think first names are the best way to go necessarily but I think Miss is quite diminutive and so could be easily replaced. Doesn't seem that radical.

We already have a word for that, Ma'am. I was always led to believe it was the female equivalent of Sir.
It's just more a case of teachers asking students to use that title instead of Ms/Miss/Mrs.

Yeah. Or just call them all Teacher regardless of sex, or whatever.

Calling a teacher 'Teacher' would get you beaten up where I come from. :lol:

wrote:Yeah. Or just call them all Teacher regardless of sex, or whatever.

This all sounds utterly stupid to me. She should just ask to be referred to as "Prof" if she's got that much of a chip on her shoulder about what they call her.

In my experience female consultant surgeons are not any less respected than their male counterparts despite being called "Miss" rather than "Mr."

Two whole pages and not a single Ferris Beuller joke? What the strawberry float is wrong with you guys?

So basically another extreme feminist seeing an insult where there is none, simply because she wants to see an insult?

'Call female teachers SIR', demand feminist academics

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