“Sir” and “Miss” when used to address teachers, which are, according to one headmaster, “deeply unequal”. James Handscombe, of Harris Westminster Sixth Form in London, has told pupils to ditch the terms, as one likens men to medieval knights and the other likens women to “a small girl, or an Edwardian shop assistant”. Instead, they are to use “Mr Handscombe” and its equivalants – or, if a pupil has forgotten a surname, simply “teacher”.
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I got called ‘miss’a few times!
By kids used to a lady teacher.
Think I was called’mister’ once.
The world has gone mad.
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I was mostly called ‘Miss’ and it never offended me! Occasionally I was even called ‘Mum’ by mistake much to the embarrassment of the pupil who said it (this was secondary school so embarrassment was the order of the day for such a slip-up!).
an Indian friend of mine who is Hindu’s daughter told me that one xmas a teacher told her not to be upset by xmas as she [the teacher] didnt believe in it either… this was to a seven year old girl who is still so into xmas…so many of these people feel above and beyond their duties as a teacher… i can understand a married lady should perhaps be called Mrs, but next step is calling the teacher by her given name…
What has happened to the old standards and respects we were bought up with? We used to have to stand up in class when a teacher or “stranger” entered a classroom. It did us no harm, now it appears anything goes and so much now you can’t or not allowed to say or do. Discipline has gone ot the window totally. Even within the home ones children have or or have been bought up in a completely alien way, not even allowed to smack a child for being naughty or you go to prison .
To my mind the whole country has gone far too soft driven by a generation without respect of their elders. To some extent we have let in people from around the world who also don’t understand our culture and ways which hasn’t helped.
Yes you’re probably right there. The problem we had was that they ‘knew their rights’ but found it difficult to accept that with rights come responsibilities! Teaching was a battle at times but very rewarding overall I think.
I don’t think we ever addressed our teachers as “Sir” or “Miss” - we used to know their names and use them.
In primary school, we called one form teacher Mr Trimble and the other form teacher Miss Inman - then they got married and she became Mrs Trimble - my friend and I went to the Church to see them get married - it took us a while to get used to calling Miss Inman by the name of Mrs Trimble, though!
In the senior school, all our teachers were addressed by last name and courtesy title too - Mr, Mrs or Miss.
It was an old-fashioned “all girls” school and a lot of our teachers were women who had been young in an era when women had to choose between a career in education or marriage & a family life, so we had a lot of mature unmarried teachers - the four most senior teachers who expected the highest standards from “their girls” were the Headmistress, Miss Waring, the Deputy Head, Miss Stevenson, the Head of History, Miss Styan and Head of Music, Miss Dubbin - all formidable ladies I wouldn’t want to cross! They all seemed to really want “their girls” to do well and make the most of their potential and career opportunities.
I had a soft spot for Miss Styan, who used to wax lyrical about her favourite periods in history - I think she was a romantic at heart.
As for standing up when teachers entered the room - I think we probably did - I can’t remember so it can’t have been made into a big thing.
I think it’s just a courtesy thing - if I’m in a group of people and another person enters the room to join our group, I still stand up to greet them or welcome them in - whether it’s a business meeting, a social gathering or a family gathering.
We addressed them as Mrs. Book or Mr. Magic. No first names. That seems the most respectful and appropriate for a child to address a teacher. How else would they address them?
Yes, I seem to remember that when I was at school we addressed teachers by their surname proceeded by Mr, Mrs or Miss. I went to an all-girls school too. One of the male teachers, Mr Lycett, always addressed us in the same way using Miss proceeding our surnames. It made us feel quite grown-up!
I don’t know when this all reverted to just Miss and Sir for teachers but it was this way throughout my long teaching career, although some pupils used my surname prefixed by Mrs occasionally, depending on the situation.
what if the head of school was Knighted? What would replace Sir? Okay tosh 
