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Do we discriminate by calling teachers sir and miss?

I was reading today that an expert says that calling male teachers sir and female teachers miss is sexist because sir is considered more respectful than 'miss' does anyone agree?

(edited 9 years ago)

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Reply 1

Drewski

Magister (L), maistre (F), = Master. A man having control or authority. Teacher. One who has received an academic degree originally conveying authority to teach.

Maistre +esse, female. Maistresse, Mistress, Miss = Female Master. Feminine title of courtesy.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, T.F.Hoad

Reply 2

ChaoticButterfly

We shouldn't be calling them 'sir' at all!

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I'm fond of the first name approach.

Reply 3

lyrical_lie

I read this today too. I really don't know why we are worrying about these things. People don't call their teachers Miss out of disrespect or to say they are not as good as men. It's just moaning about nothing. If anything I would cringe to call a teacher their first name, even at uni with the young phd students I wouldn't do it I would just call them "excuse me."

Reply 4

nicatre

No.

The author of that article was just over-thinking things (like a lot of people do).

Reply 5

The Socktor

Original post by ChaoticButterfly

We shouldn't be calling them 'sir' at all!

600px-Anarchy-symbol.svg.png

I'm fond of the first name approach.

Yeah, but you don't always know their first name. I guess there's still "comrade" but well... I don't know if a stranger would understand that. :colondollar:

Reply 6

Lasershark

In my school we called female teachers ma'am, which is equally as respectful as sir.

Reply 7

MidnightDream

To be honest I just call my male teachers Mr but the author is overthinking it a tad to much

Reply 8

ChaoticButterfly

Original post by The Socktor

Yeah, but you don't always know their first name. I guess there's still "comrade" but well... I don't know if a stranger would understand that. :colondollar:

There's this convention among humans where they tell people they meat on a daily basis their first name.

I'm on first name terms with all my lecturers etc at uni. The world has not collapsed.

I call no one doctor. :cool:

I sued to call my high schools teachers Mr *insert surname*, calling them sir made me feel grovely. Like they were above me. I was probably quite weird :tongue:

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 9

SpikeyTeeth

Original post by housecaptain

I was reading today that an expert says that calling male teachers sir and female teachers miss is sexist because sir is considered more respectful than 'miss' does anyone agree?

This expert you refer to, what exactly is he an expert in? And does the fact that we apparently have apparent experts telling us that we should sing baah baah rainbow like brain damaged half dead people necessarily make it so?

Reply 10

Samuel1988

Original post by ChaoticButterfly

I sued to call my high schools teachers Mr *insert surname*, calling them sir made me feel grovely. Like they were above me. I was probably quite weird :tongue:

You actually went to court over something that trivial???

Reply 11

Manitude

My female high school teachers pretty much always insisted on being called "Miss", so I don't think they had a problem with it.

It's a sign of respect. Having said that, I referred to most of my university lectures by their first name rather than "Dr/Professor Smith" etc and that worked well. I've found that having an informal learning environment is good as it makes students feel comfortable asking questions and learning the material more thoroughly. Admittedly high school may be different as there's always a few people who just don't want to be there and would abuse the informality of lessons.

Reply 12

ChaoticButterfly

Original post by Samuel1988

You actually went to court over something that trivial???

Yes

Reply 13

ChaoticButterfly

Original post by Manitude

Admittedly high school may be different as there's always a few people who just don't want to be there and would abuse the informality of lessons.

They tend to act as dickheads regardless of whether they call the teacher sir/miss.

Or whether they have their shirt tucked in. :rolleyes:

Reply 14

Samuel1988

You had me there for a minute... Damn revision clouding my judgement! haha

Reply 15

AstroNandos

Original post by housecaptain

I was reading today that an expert says that calling male teachers sir and female teachers miss is sexist because sir is considered more respectful than 'miss' does anyone agree?

I refer to my female teachers as ma'am, not miss, and my male ones as sir.

Reply 16

Manitude

Original post by ChaoticButterfly

They tend to act as dickheads regardless of whether they call the teacher sir/miss.

Or whether they have their shirt tucked in. :rolleyes:

I've noticed these kinds of people acting differently around teachers they know the given names of, though. I remember someone once called a particularly scary maths teacher "Giles" within his earshot. He went ape**** on that kid for doing so. Even as a sixth former I knew not to push the boundaries with him, even though most of the time he was sound around us.

Reply 17

IqraHaq

Um... Who cares? I don't think there's any sense of sexism

Reply 18

Snagprophet

I've never seen, during my time at school, a time where a cocky student would disrespect a female teacher where they wouldn't with a male teacher.

It's just a gender difference name. I mean, women have vaginas too. Is that sexist?