Reply to At what area high schools do students address teachers by their first names?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am not a teacher, but[b] I am an adult [/b]and I do not want any child addressing me by my first name in no environment. Perhaps it is a cultural thing, but this need to equate children to adults seems to be a Western/European thing. A child can be taught to feel empowered in an environment where there is, in fact, hierarchy. School is very much such environment, as would be the workforce. [/quote]

Interesting justification. 
Regardless, GDS does have hierarchy--the teachers do dispense grades and the administration has the authority to expel a student. Children are empowered in this environment, and using first names is a way in which children are encouraged to question authority, whether that authority be in the form of a text, tradition, another student, or an adult. It's not a privilege that is given lightly--they don't eschew authority simply for the sake of it; the point is for children to be able to think critically and have a voice to express those ideas. 
FWIW, my kids have no problems switching between GDS, where they address teachers and administrators by first names, and other environments where they address adults Mr./Ms./Mrs./Dr., etc. My children know that different people and different contexts call for different modes of address. [/quote]

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