Reply to What's wrong with calling kids "students"?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Our elementary refers to the students as "scholars". I don't have an issue with this, scholar is a fine word even if it doesn't roll off my tongue. However, in the last month I have seen people corrected when they've used the word "students" to refer to the kids, once in person by an admin and another time in a group email exchange among parents (the corrector is a PTO officer). Apparently we are not supposed to use the word students at all if we can avoid it. I've asked a few other parents but no one has had an explanation for why, just that the school adopted the "scholars" language a while back and I guess is pushing it harder this year.

Can anyone explain this to me? What is wrong with the word "students" and why is "scholars" better? I feel like I'm a pretty culturally aware person but this one has be stumped.[/quote]

I am all for it, because it makes kids feel more safe, and creates a safer environment to learn in.[/quote]

How does the word "scholars" keep kids safer? I don't understand. What is unsafe about "students"?[/quote]

DP.  Not sure if this is the reasoning for everyone, but there are some that believe that "teachers" and "students" creates a power imbalance and the students do not feel that they have any control or ability to decline anything that makes them feel unsafe.  If the teacher is enforcing behavior that makes the student feel unsafe, they feel that they have no ability to object or refuse.  When you call them scholars, they feel that they are less controlled and have more power to object or refuse an order or instruction that makes them feel unsafe.

I don't agree with the thought process, but this was what was said to me by one proponent of the term scholar.  I think it's ridiculous, but I wasn't asked, only told.[/quote]

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