Students on first-name basis with teachers as titles become old school - Sensationalist Headlines

[quote=ABC News]Teachers are allowing students to call them by their first names as some schools move away from the use of titles and surnames. Advocates of the approach believe it fosters a more personal relationship, removes languages barriers, and puts students in a better position to take charge of their own learning and feel more confident to question adults. And they say a title does not earn respect. "Respect isn't one way; respect is earned, not assumed, in all walks of life," said Sue Charleston, head of school primary years at Woodville Gardens School in South Australia. "I feel very strongly about the notion of respect because it tends to be used as an argument of putting up this barrier of formal address. "But there isn't a link between discipline problems and calling teachers and educators by their first name in my 18 years of experience." Her students call her Sue and she believes it allows them to quickly establish a relationship with her. "I feel like I'm positioning myself as a learner alongside students, rather than this holder of all knowledge," Ms Charleston said. "This removing of a social distance I think helps me be more approachable to students, and as a leader that's really important."[/quote] Read more at [url]http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-01/students-on-first-name-basis-with-teachers-titles-become-old/9379138[/url] Back in senior school we used to call teachers by their first name, even nicknames on occasion. At university we likewise call course coordinators, lecturers, tutors and workshop leaders by their first name. Even if they were Doctors or Professors.

at my high school there were a few teachers that we would just call them by their last name without mr/ms, but that was because they were cool

Seems strange to me that a teacher would ever have any sort of title. In Denmark, every teacher from primary school to university are usually referred to by first name.

Honestly the only place where we ever called our tutors by their titles or full name was primary school, secondary and higher it'd always been either their last name or whatever they'd prefer you to call them. Hell we've got a tutor on my uni course who we call The King because his last name is King and he's a walking encyclopedia, and he loves it. :v:

I always just said Sir or Miss. Useful if you don't remember names.

I remember when I couldn't remember my french teachers name and she shouted at me in front of the class for it.

It depends on the teacher's countenance I guess. There were some teachers I was really cool with who I still wouldn't call by their first names, the older folks. With the younger teachers it was either first name or last name without a title. But then I call older folks by Mr/Mrs Lastname whether they're my teacher or not - so I guess that's just what it is.

Over here we've never had any sort of formality like this. It's always been, at least in my time, first name all the way from elementary to high school. In uni however, it's a bit varied.

in primary and secondary our teachers had us use sir/miss or title and surname, but in college our teachers had us use first names

[QUOTE=GentlemanLexi;53108066]I always just said Sir or Miss. Useful if you don't remember names.[/QUOTE] I had a sociology professor who would refuse to answer students who referred to her as "Miss". The name wasn't really important, but if you called her "Miss" at all she wouldn't respond because, as she put it, "I am a professor, and that is the important part, not that I am a woman." Several teachers I've had though, usually males interestingly enough, preferred to be just called by their first name. In fact one of them put that on his first test in his class. Just Jack, not Professor <Last Name>, not <Last Name>, not Professor Jack. Just Jack.

[QUOTE=Spetsnaz95;53108063]Seems strange to me that a teacher would ever have any sort of title. In Denmark, every teacher from primary school to university are usually referred to by first name.[/QUOTE] Heck half the teachers when I grew up had nicknames everybody used [editline]4th February 2018[/editline] (I'm swedish)

Sounds like a good thing to me

I think pretty much all of my teachers have directly said "You can call me doctor if you really want, but I prefer you just say this" with this usually being their first name or a nickname. Makes sense though, when you get to college power distance declines quite a bit. And for k-12, I think western schools are generally trying to move in that direction as well since it encourages individualism better. From what I remember reading Norway and Finland were already there for primary school and referring to teachers informally, tho someone may have to correct me.

It varies from professor to professor for me. I've only have one or two really insist on the Doctor thing, but for one of them it was literally a sign of us not having a friendship with him until the end of the semester when he said we could call him by his first name.

I'm just imagining the day that this happens in my old school and college will be the day hell freezes over and cats become best buds with dogs. :v: I suspect part of the reason my teachers existed was because they were so powerless that they felt the need to bully kids, which is why the enforcement of "Sir" and "Ma'am" was paramount. Zonesylvania and Parosh will know what I'm talking about. :v:

Didn't realize that I'd always called my teachers by their last name, thinking back now the only teacher I can remember calling by their first name was a theater arts teacher and it was her first teaching job if I remember correctly, so it might be a newer thing.

I was very friendly with my form tutor in sixth form, we chatted about games and stuff. We called him sir, it never felt like a formal title though. Over time as we got to know him it kinda morphed from a formal title to having the same tone as a nickname with a friend. The weird thing is that here at uni I have a much less personal relationship with my tutors and yet they insist I refer to them by their first names. My overall point is that the titles are pointless, so this is cool news.

[QUOTE=Doctor Zedacon;53108099]I had a sociology professor who would refuse to answer students who referred to her as "Miss". The name wasn't really important, but if you called her "Miss" at all she wouldn't respond because, as she put it, "I am a professor, and that is the important part, not that I am a woman." Several teachers I've had though, usually males interestingly enough, preferred to be just called by their first name. In fact one of them put that on his first test in his class. Just Jack, not Professor <Last Name>, not <Last Name>, not Professor Jack. Just Jack.[/QUOTE] Female professors wind up having a lot of trouble with that. Students will call male professors "professor" or "doctor" and then turn around and call female professors "miss". If you are a student, and have not been instructed otherwise, you use their formal title.

Back in high school, we usually just shortened the teacher's last name to something easier, i.e. Mr. K or something. Some were anal about it though, and had to use their actual, full last name. In college, people tended to just say "Professor (last name)", just out of respect, until the prof wanted to be called something else. If a substitute teacher had a particularly funny name, he/she would get dog-piled in dumb (but at the time, funny af) nicknames. Had a sub named Mr. Frattaroli for instance, and [I]man[/I] did I feel bad for him.

For me, primary school was always Mr | Ms [surname] but secondary was always Sir or Ms. When I went to college and Uni, we were actually told off for using Sir and Ms by lecturers (it was pretty nice. Much less formal and more friendlier) and to use their first names instead (or a preferred nickname).

In my school we called them that to tease them how's it going ~andrew~

its always been here that if they have a hard to pronounce last name, they will just say call them by their first name

[QUOTE=thejjokerr;53108213] I also appreciate students who say sir or mister. It's a good sign that they will respect their superiors in the workplace. And if a workplace is on a first name basis they'll be told that.[/QUOTE] I'd get laughed out of my office if I referred to any coworker, manager, or boss as sir, mister, ma'am, etc. Everyone goes by their first or last name, up to the CEO. I respect my "superiors" in the workplace based on what they do to earn that respect, not because they're higher than me on some corporate ladder chart.

I disagree with this, I think most teachers want to see that their students respect them enough to call them by their titles. It's about discipline, if a teacher wishes for it and the students respect them then they will address them by it as requested. Like thejjoker said it's about the students knowing who's in-charge in the classroom, it goes both ways depending on leadership style of the teacher. Nothing wrong with either way imo, I was good friends with my metal works teacher in high school to a point where we'd blatantly insult each other but I'd still refer to him as Sir or Mr LASTNAME to show that all in all I have respect for him and I haven't let the joking around go too far.

I think they've got the idea backwards, it's not that teachers you're on a first name basis with are ones you develop a connection with, but the other way around. every teacher I was ever on a first name basis with taught electives, in other words they taught something I was interested in. our shared interests in music or art brought us together, not that I called them Sharon or Ayatey.

[quote] "Respect isn't one way; respect is earned, not assumed, in all walks of life," [/quote] Such a simple concept that many teachers seem to miss. I remember our deputy principal saying "I demand respect!" during an assembly when the kids were acting up. All it did was destroy the little respect she had.

I once called a teacher (that I appreciated) by her first name, in a private conversation, as a joke. The headmistress overheard it and had me suspended.

who actually calls their teachers by their normal names the cool kids just called them all 'teach' "ey yo teach gimme some help on dis homework here"

never heard anyone call a teacher with anything but their first or last name over here. only my elementary school french teacher wanted to be called something else but she was an idiot anyway. i even call my parents by their names.

In high school i was so lazy that i ended up calling all of them, "mr.teacher" even the female ones.