Teachers: It’s mid-March. Please spell my child’s name correctly already!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That is a textbook microaggression and the teacher and everyone above her needs to be called out for it.

Gee, and you wonder why some people don't want more immigrants!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want that level of individualized attention, go private.

Ffs, a teacher should be intelligent and capable enough to learn a child's name!

FFS, if it's that important to you, choose a simple name with a simple spelling.

Wheee racism

No, reality. If I move somewhere where they speak a different language, use different phonetics, etc., it will hardly be surprising that someone might mispronounce or misspell my name. I am sorry, we have people from all over the world living here and it is not racist to misspell their name.

In the op, there is a teacher student relationship. Since September. I think teacher has had enough time to get it right and the child deserves to be addressed correctly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So mistakes are now micro aggressions? Jesus.

After you’ve been politely corrected for 6 months, it’s either a micro aggression or the person is an idiot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So mistakes are now micro aggressions? Jesus.

No, everybody just needs to make a micro-effort because names are important! Also, you made a mistake in your reference to Jesus, a religious figure who is not associated with the flippant attitude you were trying to express.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love teachers, and I know it’s been a long, hard year so far. I know my kid’s “foreign” name is not one you’re used to. But it’s mid-March! Can you spell the name correctly already?!? It means a lot to my child and when you get it wrong, they think you don’t care enough to try to get it right, no matter how much I try to reassure them.

Thanks for listening and maybe being a tiny bit more careful.

I have a very basic name not complicated at all and people misspell it all the time! This is from family members as well as strangers. Misspelling a name does not mean your teachers don't care. Try to be less sensitive and let it roll off their backs. This is such small potatoes.

No. Have you not been called the wrong name by someone you though knew you well? It is disconcerting to an adult much less a child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love teachers, and I know it’s been a long, hard year so far. I know my kid’s “foreign” name is not one you’re used to. But it’s mid-March! Can you spell the name correctly already?!? It means a lot to my child and when you get it wrong, they think you don’t care enough to try to get it right, no matter how much I try to reassure them.

Thanks for listening and maybe being a tiny bit more careful.

I have a very basic name not complicated at all and people misspell it all the time! This is from family members as well as strangers. Misspelling a name does not mean your teachers don't care. Try to be less sensitive and let it roll off their backs. This is such small potatoes.

No. Have you not been called the wrong name by someone you though knew you well? It is disconcerting to an adult much less a child.

Yes! My aunt still often spells my name wrong (Sarah). I know she still loves me!

OP- I really think that you need to teach your child that all names, not just ethnic names, are often misspelled. This is not a sign that the teacher does not care!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want that level of individualized attention, go private.

Ffs, a teacher should be intelligent and capable enough to learn a child's name!

FFS, if it's that important to you, choose a simple name with a simple spelling.

Wheee racism

No, reality. If I move somewhere where they speak a different language, use different phonetics, etc., it will hardly be surprising that someone might mispronounce or misspell my name. I am sorry, we have people from all over the world living here and it is not racist to misspell their name.

When I taught, most of my students were speakers of another language. It's more complicated than you realize. I always tried to say their names correctly, but if you haven't rolled r's before in your life, it still won't sound how it should. Some parents liked their kids' names to sound like they did at home. Other parents wanted their kids to know how their names would sound in English and rejected the correct pronunciation. One child had a name with a hard "r" in English, but at home, her parents said like "ah" at the end (think Everly pronounced Evah-ly) due to their accents. It was hard to say it her way without feeling like you were making fun of their accents.

I would hate to think I'd be accused of a microaggression when I can assure you that I wanted to do my best to make every child feel welcomed and proud of his/herself. I did always spell their names right because I am very picky about spellings. An entirely different topic is how I would receive forms with the child's name spelled differently and then try to track down the actual spelling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a boring name, one of the most popular 80s names. I spell it the boring way and it's sill often misspelled. I blame all the kre8tive spellers out there who have made it hard on everyone. Think: Amy. But instead of being spelled the normal way I see Aimee, Amie, Aimy, Emmy, etc.

I have a boring popular 70s name with an ethnic spelling that is very rare. Someone at Starbucks spelled it right on a cup like 4 years ago and it still freaks me out when I think about it. How did she know my name? Was she psychic? A stalker? A really bad speller? I don’t think she’s of the ethnic group that would spell it that way, but maybe?

Anyway, back to the OP, it’s annoying, but your kid might as well get used to having their name spelled wrong. It will be a lifelong issue.

Please just say the name. I've been sitting here trying to guess.

[Anonymous]

I have the hardest name on earth. I would actually tell my teachers the correct way to say it before the 1st day of roll call. Butchering a kids name is embarrassing and I dreaded roll call until I told my teachers ahead of time. None of them had problems remembering the correct pronunciation. There is no excuse not to remember the right way to say a name. I am more lenient on spelling.

[Anonymous]

Did you name your kid Nevaeh or something?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want that level of individualized attention, go private.

Ffs, a teacher should be intelligent and capable enough to learn a child's name!

FFS, if it's that important to you, choose a simple name with a simple spelling.

Wheee racism

Niamh and Siobhan might disagree with that perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love teachers, and I know it’s been a long, hard year so far. I know my kid’s “foreign” name is not one you’re used to. But it’s mid-March! Can you spell the name correctly already?!? It means a lot to my child and when you get it wrong, they think you don’t care enough to try to get it right, no matter how much I try to reassure them.

Thanks for listening and maybe being a tiny bit more careful.

I have a very basic name not complicated at all and people misspell it all the time! This is from family members as well as strangers. Misspelling a name does not mean your teachers don't care. Try to be less sensitive and let it roll off their backs. This is such small potatoes.

No. Have you not been called the wrong name by someone you though knew you well? It is disconcerting to an adult much less a child.

Yes! My aunt still often spells my name wrong (Sarah). I know she still loves me!

OP- I really think that you need to teach your child that all names, not just ethnic names, are often misspelled. This is not a sign that the teacher does not care!

My kid's grandmother spells her name wrong (and it's as common as Sarah, similar with multiple common spellings). It happens!

[Anonymous]

I had a less common but otherwise normal name with only one spelling. It still got misspelled at numerous points throughout my academic career. And now at Starbucks? But I've never found it emotionally damaging...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a boring name, one of the most popular 80s names. I spell it the boring way and it's sill often misspelled. I blame all the kre8tive spellers out there who have made it hard on everyone. Think: Amy. But instead of being spelled the normal way I see Aimee, Amie, Aimy, Emmy, etc.

I have a boring popular 70s name with an ethnic spelling that is very rare. Someone at Starbucks spelled it right on a cup like 4 years ago and it still freaks me out when I think about it. How did she know my name? Was she psychic? A stalker? A really bad speller? I don’t think she’s of the ethnic group that would spell it that way, but maybe?

Anyway, back to the OP, it’s annoying, but your kid might as well get used to having their name spelled wrong. It will be a lifelong issue.

Please just say the name. I've been sitting here trying to guess.

Yessica?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is the teacher pronouncing it correctly? If so, I think you really need to teach your child to look the other way.

My name is Sarah- it gets misspelled at least 50% of the time. It used to frustrate me, but my parents taught me not to worry about it and explained that some people just don't think about it or find it important. My son's name is Zac. Like my name, it is constantly misspelled. Sometimes we laugh that teachers will spell it differently within the same note or email.

My point is that regardless of what your name is, people will misspell it and it is not a sign that they do not care. I would work with your child on learning to laugh at it, rather than feeling sad. It is going to be happening their whole life, so it is better to start dealing with it now. Trust me, the person at Starbucks is not going to worry about spelling the name correctly on the side of the cup!

And now I can’t get Ben Folds’s song Zak & Sara out of my mind. Thanks!