SavingsTalk.com

detox

It's a respect issue, of which you obviously have none for your teacher.

It's years of tradition as well as the fact that she is quite a bit older than you and should be treated with respect. You using her first name can be considered insubordination and you could get in trouble with your school. Also, you're not paying taxes, your parents are.

I used to be a teacher. I always tell kids the best thing to do when you don't like a teacher is be perfect. If you do your work, don't talk to your friends, and get to class on time they will have nothing negative to say to you and you won't have to repeat the class.

Edit: I answered your question, you would get in trouble with your principal for disrespect. Plus, that's not the way to win your argument or demonstrate anything. The only right you have right now is to go to school and graduate.

TaxGuy

blend in with everybody else when around everybody else. do what you want if nobody else is around but you and her. what do all the other kids call her? do like them when around then and blend in. if they call her miss, then you call her miss. the more important issue is that you advance and move along through the grade levels at the same speed as everyone else.

Apsdydrr

Yes, you do. Why? Because you're an eighth grader and she's your teacher. It doesn't matter if you don't like her. She gets called "Miss." She doesn't even need to know you don't like her. She probably doesn't CARE if you don't like her.

Grow up.

Eriilopmasa

what are you doing child u hate ur own race how dare u u should respect becoz she teaches u thats it

200pips

You don't know or like her well enough to call her by her first name, it is not always a matter of respect to do so but the process of elimation.

V.Putin

It's respect for the position, not the specific person.
This is really such a tiny little issue, I hope you are able to quickly get prepared in the next couple of years to face REAL problems that adults have to deal with.

chicago_bull

Sorry, but the reference to Hitler is ludicrous. If you can't be bothered showing respect in your dealings with elders (not that you alway respect them, but you should show it) you will have a long, hard, and miserable life. Start calling teachers by their first names without permission, and you will get a disciplinary warning. Keep it up, and you will be suspended, justifiably so. You are there to learn, and you aren't going to learn much by keeping up personal barriers between yourself and a teacher, especially if there are not a lot of other complaints on file.

Edit Oct 29
At 60, I have a lot of experience in this world. I submit you have more to deal with than you should, because you are creating some of it yourself. Some you have no control over, but we all have crosses to bear. You are at the age we have all experienced, and you think you know so much, just like we did, but you will discover soon you don't. It will be a lot easier, and life will be more pleasant, if you take a little advice and chill a little.

Vietleeurorse

OK. Simple answer. It is neither a legal or ethical question. It doesnt belong in this category. HOWEVER, if the teach requires you to call her "Miss," you call her Miss. You are in HER house. Not the other way around. That's why you cant call her Christian. You need to learn your place for now.

EDIT FOR MR. OCTOBER

Yes, you are correct. She SHOULD learn how to address people properly. I'm 55 years old and I would say fairly accomplished. But I have no problem calling the guy behind the meat counter Sir. Respect is something that transcends class, money or attitudes. You treat people with it, and you get it back. One of the major things wrong with this world today is that people just dont seem to understand that anymore.

I guess that makes me a Nazi, huh?

200pips

Why are you being so rude to people that you want to answer your question? It sounds to me like you have an attitude problem. As people have previously said, it isn't a legal issue.

Apsdydrr

Hi Lora.

May I say, at the outset, that I would ask you please to edit your question to remove the name of your teacher. It is very inappropriate of you to tell the world your teacher's name and to reveal that she is unmarried. That is nobody's business, and I sure wouldn't blame her for being honking mad at you if she found out.

I'm a schoolteacher in a junior high in Taiwan (uniforms and rules and respect and the whole ball of wax) and I wish I had a nickel for every kid who considers me "evil" and a dime for every kid who "hates" me. I'd be rich. The fact is, I am neither evil nor deserving of anyone's hatred, and teaching is not a popularity contest. If it were, I bet even your Algebra teacher would beat me!

So. Maybe I can help you with your question now.

There are three reasons why your teacher's insisting on being called "Miss" is not unreasonable.

1. You should call her "Miss" because it is her wish to be addressed in that manner. She is entitled to the same respect, by virtue of being human, that I would give to you if you were in my class. Mind you, you'd "hate" me too, because of my rules about tucked-in uniform shirts (boys) and no hitched-up uniform skirts (girls), and no gum or talking and no MP3's, and homework getting done, and all that.

2. You should call her "Miss" because she is a teacher and thus entitled to your respect. I say this for the sake of the learning environment, not for the sake of anyone's ego.

3. You should call her Miss because, for all you know, there might be a teachers' rule that they have to make kids call them "Mr." or "Mrs." or "Miss" or maybe not even "Ms". If you have to wear school uniforms, that could very well be the case.

I would call you "Lora" if you were my student, but if you really insisted upon it, I would call you "Ms. S." It is a matter of showing respect for you, and acknowledging the sense of very limited control over their own lives that a lot of people your age feel.

You say that "respect is the farthest thing I have for her." I'm an English teacher, and you should say "furthest". Only say "farthest" if you're talking about actual distance.

I'm sorry to tell you that your teacher and your principal can "make" you do just about anything, provided your parents concur with the philosphy and the instruction is not illegal, dangerous, immoral, or harmful.

I won't touch your comment about child protection laws, because I used to be a child welfare social worker. I've seen and heard and stopped things a lot worse than a 13 yr old girl being forced to call an Algebra teacher "Miss". Like parents refusing to let their kids go to school, not feeding them, and hurting them in ways that would shame hell.

You seem to think that because taxes fund public schools, that you should have some say in things. Well, I pay taxes in Canada, and I don't have ANY say in a lot of things that REALLY bug me. Like not being allowed to say "Merry Christmas" for fear of offending non-Christian families. Like closing schools on Fridays to reduce skipping out. Like paying kids money if the vandalism cost is under budget. Don't get ME started either.

I apologize to you Lora. I promised myself that I would not answer your question like a scolding parent or a lecturing teacher, but I did so anyway.

To make it up to you, I will tell you a teacher's secret about how to get sweet revenge on Miss Don't-give-out last-name-on-the-Internet (even though you already have). It's simple.

She wants to get power over you, by insisting on a respectful title while you just get your first name as if you're a little kid or something. Right?

Get even! Make her pay! Prove that she is wrong! Study so hard that she has to give you an A! Never again could she treat you like an immature little kid! That'll teach her!

As an afterthought, Lora, please don't talk about "whore yourself out". It's undermines your own dignity and credibility to talk like that.

Would you please ask your father, or your teacher, to email me? I think the issues raised by your question are a lot more serious than having to call someone "Miss".