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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A name is identity. Would you be okay with deadnaming a trans kid because it is "minor?"

Maybe it isn't important to YOU, and for you it's a minor thing, but for some people it absolutely isn't.

+1

No what I am saying is teachers are human and make mistakes. My daughter 8 weeks into term was called a totally different name. Think Abigail instead of Charlotte and kept insisting she was Abigail. Did I tell my dd it was because her teacher didnt like her? No, I told her it meant her teacher had over 500 kids.

My name is always always misspelled. It means nothing. Tell your kid to politely correct and move on.

[Anonymous]

The same thing does apply to pronouns. Teachers with hundreds of students aren't going to get pronouns or complex names right everyday. Toughen up and move on, by high school at least.

It's different if you go to a small school or if the teacher has only one classroom of students to teach.

[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!

My name is Sarah, too. Always misspelled - Sara, Shara, and other weird derivatives. I don't think that I've ever once cared. I even had a boss who called me Susan all the time. Eh? There are bigger things to worry about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is not a minor thing

It tells the child -- this teacher doesn't know you at all. This teacher doesn't care about you in the lease.There is else a teacher could do.

It means everything to a child

Even taking the emotion out of it. It tells the child- the teacher is lazy. The teacher is disorganized. Children look up to teachers as role models, and lazy and disorganized is not what they should see.

That was a massive overreaction. It tells the kid that the teacher is human, and to lighten up. Teach your kids not to sweat the small things or s/he is in for a rude awakening in life.

Also, it's a pandemic. Cut the teacher some slack.

[Anonymous]

You got a lazy teacher. That's awful.

I had a Slavic name growling up and used to correct teachers all of the time who messed it up. Some were pretentious about it as if I was going to teach them my culture- I have never even been to a Slavic country. Others just said it wrong anyway. Some actually just pronounced it right after that. It's pronounced phonetically and it's got 5 letters.

There is no excuse for spelling a student's name incorrectly in September, let alone March.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those of you who think it's not a big deal, I assume you are unaware that children with ethnic names are commonly mispronounced and that it's a microaggression.

I also assume that you completely missed the point of that A-Aron sketch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd7FixvoKBw&ab_channel=ComedyCentral

It is not a microaggression. It just means that people have hard times with other languages. Out of curiosity, how many languages do you speak?

The irony here is that you're completely mischaracterizing the A-Aron sketch as a microaggression.

Are DCUM posters ever not incensed by life's everyday mishaps?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have misspelled names when either the secretary inputted the name in our system incorrectly or the parent spelled it incorrectly when they registered.

When my brother was in first grade, his last name was misspelled on the class list, so the teacher made him spell his name incorrectly. Over and over and over again. I guess he tried to correct her once or twice and then just decided it was easier to go with the flow. My mom was ticked off when she showed up for back to school night and saw all of his schoolwork. She still talks about this from time to time 40 years later!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Keren (Hebrew)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have misspelled names when either the secretary inputted the name in our system incorrectly or the parent spelled it incorrectly when they registered.

When my brother was in first grade, his last name was misspelled on the class list, so the teacher made him spell his name incorrectly. Over and over and over again. I guess he tried to correct her once or twice and then just decided it was easier to go with the flow. My mom was ticked off when she showed up for back to school night and saw all of his schoolwork. She still talks about this from time to time 40 years later!

See, this is Not Good.

[Anonymous]

As a trans person, I can tell you that it absolutely is a big deal for you to get my name right. I am fine with honest mistakes, but if you've been corrected a couple of times and are still getting it wrong, I interpret it as hostility.

I don't understand this idea that you get to tell me what is or isn't a big deal. Your life is not mine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it is just misspelled and not mispronounced, that is not microaggression! Or, half the country would be getting mad.

Like the Sarah above, I have a very common name that is misspelled the majority of the time. My daughter is Sophia- also constantly misspelled.

We need to pick and choose what to be upset about and I believe this is something a child can learn to deal with if a parent helps.

+1
This is NOT a microaggression. Stop making everything a ‘thing’.

My name is Sara. Sometimes people spell it Sarah. Not out of malice, but because they most likely know a Sarah. People from different regions (US or otherwise) pronounce it differently & I’ve come to realize that won’t change.
My brother is David. Some people call him Dave—which he lets slide. What he won’t tolerate are nicknames like Big D. And I doubt he would complain if a Spanish-speaking person said his name with their accent.

Yes, there is a barrier with less common names or names that ‘feel’ foreign. And teachers, like everyone, should try their best.

Teachers should have a list of preferred names for each class & learn them.. Elementary teachers should know the spelling for each. But how many times does an upper grade teacher write out a child’s name?

[Anonymous]

Teacher here, I work very hard to spell and pronounce student names correctly. I know it is important to them and sense of identity.
I am always so happy when I say their name with the correct pronunciation on the first try.
The ones I am finding harder now are ethnic names by spelling but pronounced as the anglo version- think Jorge pronounced George.

[Anonymous]

I used to live in a Spanish speaking country and I have an English name that is so hard for Spanish speakers to pronounce. I understood that they were doing their best. It wasn’t a micro aggression against me. Many of them would use the coordinating Spanish name instead of my own. I was also fine with that. Sometimes we just need to have some flexibility with people.

[Anonymous]

No, I'm sorry, this drives me absolutely crazy. Knowing someone's name, saying it correctly and spelling it correctly are signs of respect. I understand the OCCASIONAL mixup ... but constantly getting people's names wrong is rude!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You got a lazy teacher. That's awful.

I had a Slavic name growling up and used to correct teachers all of the time who messed it up. Some were pretentious about it as if I was going to teach them my culture- I have never even been to a Slavic country. Others just said it wrong anyway. Some actually just pronounced it right after that. It's pronounced phonetically and it's got 5 letters.

There is no excuse for spelling a student's name incorrectly in September, let alone March.

“Growl” up you lazy typer you! No forgiveness for mistakes for you either!