A teacher who pronounces library as "liberry"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When my kid said “Can I axe you a question.” I seriously thought about pulling them out of public school. Deep breathing then made the correction…

https://theconversation.com/ask-or-aks-how-linguistic-prejudice-perpetuates-inequality-175839

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Poor teachers get criticized at every turn. It’s no wonder so many are quitting.

+1

Is the teacher native to the Mid-Atlantic US?

Probably New England

They drop r’s

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP it only grates on you because you associate it with being lower class, which you’re trying hard to have your kid not be.

In reality, this isn’t going to have any long term impact on your kid’s socio-economic
status or their ability to pronounce “library” correctly so just stop torturing yourself.

Not low class, that not an issue at all. It's because it's blatantly uneducated sounding, and, well, this person is supposed to be educated and is educating kids. Seriously, if your doctor said " Let me look in my liberry of drugs to see what ...." you would probably raise an eyebrow. If your lawyer said while cross examining a witness "WERE YOU AT THE WEST MONMOUTH LIBERRY ON JUNE 4 AT 3:30?" the entire courtroom would cringe. I don't think teachers get a break from pronouncing words correctly, or using correct grammar, or spelling things correctly.

So no- it has nothing to do with class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd be careful about criticizing this in front of your child, as it comes off a a racist microagression.

Why is anyone assuming a racial angle here? My (white) mom was a teacher from upstate NY and she said "elemen-tarry" and "liberry" and "crik" (creek) and "ruff" (roof) and so forth. I grew up with other quirky pronunciations too. As noted by a PP, these are regional accents. It's not related to intelligence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP it only grates on you because you associate it with being lower class, which you’re trying hard to have your kid not be.

In reality, this isn’t going to have any long term impact on your kid’s socio-economic
status or their ability to pronounce “library” correctly so just stop torturing yourself.

Not low class, that not an issue at all. It's because it's blatantly uneducated sounding, and, well, this person is supposed to be educated and is educating kids. Seriously, if your doctor said " Let me look in my liberry of drugs to see what ...." you would probably raise an eyebrow. If your lawyer said while cross examining a witness "WERE YOU AT THE WEST MONMOUTH LIBERRY ON JUNE 4 AT 3:30?" the entire courtroom would cringe. I don't think teachers get a break from pronouncing words correctly, or using correct grammar, or spelling things correctly.

So no- it has nothing to do with class.

Teacher here.
I am usually thinking about 100 different things at once in the classroom. I’m teaching my lesson, but I’m also making sure the child in the 3rd row isn’t pulling the hair of the kid in the 2nd row. I’m making sure 30 students are comprehending my lesson by watching facial expressions, posture, etc. I’m focusing on my bladder since I’ve had to pee for the last two hours but haven’t had a chance. I’m also walking to the back of the room to check on a student who was crying at the beginning of class. This all happens as I’m talking, so my attention is definitely split. I’m also tired because I was up until 1am the night before grading papers.

I’d hate to think that I’m going to be judged for a mispronounced word. I can do 1,000 things correctly, but I’ll be taken down for the 1,001st?

[Anonymous]

People say acks instead of ask all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Poor teachers get criticized at every turn. It’s no wonder so many are quitting.

+1

Is the teacher native to the Mid-Atlantic US?

Probably New England

They drop r’s

Not a New England-ism… we have plenty of them, but liberry isn’t one.

[Anonymous]

My fourth grade reading teacher pronounced cliché as "clitch." In a poem that rhymed (a cliché is what we say...). I corrected her and it was as if I, a 9 year old, had declared war. She was awful to me for the rest of the year and aggressive with my mother as well. FWIW, this was in one of the worst performing schools in a horrible school district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 12th grade English teacher pronounced Flaubert as flaw-Bert, rhymes with Robert.

Maybe that teacher didn’t know Flaubert well, but was well versed in Emerson, Frost, Marquez, Shakespeare, Kafka, Lee, Murakami, Dickinson, Hughes, Fitzgerald, Hurston, Hugo, Wilde, Achebe, Atwood, Pound, Walker, Hemingway, Brooks, etc.

My point being, of course, that we can’t judge that teacher from one little slip-up.

Can we give teachers a break?

Yeah you can. If you are teaching literature you should have been exposed, at one time or another, to how to pronounce Flaubert.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New Englanders and their inability to deal with r’s IDK why nor do I care

Please it’s not just Rs; we have something against any consonant that gets in the way of speeding through a word!

-upstate NYer who has undoubtedly said libbery (and crik and Newark and New York are almost pronounced the same right?) in her life despite being extremely well educated

[Anonymous]

My high school English teacher pronounced hyperbole as “hyper-bowl”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd be careful about criticizing this in front of your child, as it comes off a a racist microagression.

Why is anyone assuming a racial angle here? My (white) mom was a teacher from upstate NY and she said "elemen-tarry" and "liberry" and "crik" (creek) and "ruff" (roof) and so forth. I grew up with other quirky pronunciations too. As noted by a PP, these are regional accents. It's not related to intelligence.

I am....flabbergasted.

But anyway. Liberry a pronunciation, and a visceral ick, that almost always falls along racial lines. There are exceptions, like your mom, but that's unusual.

[Anonymous]

I’m a high school teacher and I am one insult away from quitting.

If I’m going to be judged negatively for mispronouncing one word, I’m out. It’s not worth the 60-65 hour weeks for low pay and extreme disrespect.

Point to one profession that gets picked on as much as teaching here on DCUM. You can’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My high school English teacher pronounced hyperbole as “hyper-bowl”

Okay. My doctor mispronounces medications all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd be careful about criticizing this in front of your child, as it comes off a a racist microagression.

Why is anyone assuming a racial angle here? My (white) mom was a teacher from upstate NY and she said "elemen-tarry" and "liberry" and "crik" (creek) and "ruff" (roof) and so forth. I grew up with other quirky pronunciations too. As noted by a PP, these are regional accents. It's not related to intelligence.

I am....flabbergasted.

But anyway. Liberry a pronunciation, and a visceral ick, that almost always falls along racial lines. There are exceptions, like your mom, but that's unusual.

Yes I assume the OP is critiquing an AA teacher.