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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am so sorry to see that people that reply to these posts know nothing about what they are talking about. After attending ONE open house I can answer the first name question. It has nothing to do with a lack of respect or trying to insinuate that all adults are equal.  When GDS was founded, as the first intergrated school in DC, all black americans had to address whites as Mr. and Mrs. - regardless of roles.  This school decided that everyone would call each other by thier first names to avoid the racist conotations of salutations.   Please do your research people before you anser these questions.  Just saying mr or mrs does not in anyway teach respect - its a facade.  respect is taught in many ways.  My children call some of my friends by thier first names, and other people they don't know by mr and mrs.  Do you really think this means they don't respect my friends?  I am sorry that you are so close minded.   And those kids don't drink coffee in middle school.  If you are trying to diss GDS, your going to have to try harder than that. [/quote]

Titles are used to convey respect.  So because whites were disrespectful to black Americans, we should throw out titles altogether to show black Americans we have now learned to be respectful.  I'm just having a hard time buying this logic.  It seems to me that if you want to show respect to black Americans, you should use a proper title.  I don't care for my children's friends calling me by my first name but I don't make a thing of it b/c so many other parents seem to love it.  But it gives me the creeps a little to have young kids who hardly know me call me by my first name.   [/quote]

African-Americans and Jews who founded GDS decided that this is what they wanted to do.  It wasn't a bunch of white Americans who unilaterally made this decision.  My kids attend GDS and, like Vegas, what happens at GDS, stays at GDS.  My young kids understand how to toggle between the various worlds in which they live, how to address the myriad adults in their lives, etc.  There are probably some GDSers who address all folks by their first name.  But I know children from a range of independents in the area and they operate with varying degrees of formality.  Respect is not the mere act of using titles but what characterizes the person's behaviour over the course of the interaction.  [/quote]

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