It seems you just can't win anymore


The mother of a 10-year-old boy in North Carolina is outraged that her son was recently punished for calling his fifth grade teacher "ma’am.”

“I was in disbelief,” Teretha Wilson, the boy’s mother, told Fox News on Saturday.

Wilson noticed her son, Tamarion, was not himself when she picked him up from the bus stop earlier this week.

“I asked him what was wrong, and he told me he got in trouble for saying 'ma’am' to a teacher. I was confused,” she said.

Inquiring further, Wilson asked her son to give more detail about the incident. That’s when the fifth-grader at North East Carolina Preparatory School in Tarboro, North Carolina, pulled out a piece of lined paper with the word ma’am written dozens of times.

Wilson was shocked, especially when Tamarion told her that his teacher, who has not been formally identified, told him that he was required to return the piece of paper with a parent’s signature.

The young boy also claimed that the teacher threatened to throw something at him during the incident, his mother said.

“He was disappointed because he felt like he had done something wrong,” she said.

The next afternoon, Wilson went to the school to meet with Tamarion’s teacher and the school's principal. With her she brought a separate piece of paper on which her son had written the definition of ma’am. (According to the Oxford Dictionaries, ma’am is defined as “a term of respectful or polite address used for a woman”).

Wilson claims Tamarion’s teacher told her that her son “was getting on her nerve when he called her ma’am" but “couldn’t give me a reason of why that was bad.” The teacher also claimed Tamarion knew that she wasn’t serious when she allegedly threatened to throw something at him, Wilson said.

Tamarion has been placed in a different teacher’s class since the incident occured.

In a statement to ABC 11, an official with the school called the situation a “personnel matter,” which “has been handled appropriately by the K-7 principal.”

Still, Wilson said she plans to call the school board on Monday to see “if they’re really going to handle it,” though she did not elaborate on what this would entail.

“This is about my child being respectful, then threatened to be hit with something. This isn’t about racism, as some people have made it out to be,” Wilson said, referring to some of the comments on a family member’s Facebook post where she detailed the incident.

Moving forward, Wilson said she has encouraged her son to “always be respectful to [his] elders even if they don’t want to be called ma’am," she said.

“Is this what happens from raising your child in a good way?” she asked.

A spokesperson for North East Carolina Preparatory School did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.


http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018...ng-teacher-maam.html

Perhaps the teacher prefers to be addressed in a more familar manner, such as “shithead”.

Or "asshole". This is VERY surprising, coming from N. Carolina.

We moved to MA when I was in the middle of the 2nd grade. The principle at the school, who was LITERALLY an old maid, informed my mother that I was not required to say Ma'am or Sir. My mother, being STAUNCHLY from the south, informed the old maid otherwise. If memory serves, my actual teacher LOVED it.

The only thing I can surmise, is that this teacher is a friggin' heathen and as a parent, I'd have a thing or two to say to this asshole trying to circumvent what I was teaching at home. This is just about what I'd have to say to him/her...

You can still be acting like a smart ass even if the words you say, on their own, would seem innocent. And it wouldn't be the first time a ten year old wasn't completely honest about why he got in trouble. I would rather hear both sides to this one.

(Now the throwing part, if true, is certainly not appropriate).

Something similar happened to our daughter, early in her HS years. A close family friend, recognizing her potential, sent her to a summer program at a private school in Virginia. She came back all “Yes sir, no sir” and “Yes ma’am, no ma’am.”

That fall she addressed a woman teacher as “ma’am” and the teacher was offended and made a point of telling her so. Jerk

Since JALLEN hasn't made it here yet I'm going to beat him to the punch. Close these ridiculous public schools now. There is nothing of value coming from them.

quote:

Perhaps the teacher prefers to be addressed in a more familar manner, such as “shithead”.

The typical custom here in the Deep South is for children to address adult women as Miss followed by their first name. Not being originally from the South, it was hard for me to accept. It seems to suggest that kids are too stupid or inarticulate to say the last name. Surnames in the South are generally pretty simple to pronounce.

yet another example of why public schools need to be closed

what they laughingly refer to as public education is rapidly approaching the realm of child abuse

quote:

Originally posted by olfuzzy:
Tamarion has been placed in a different teacher’s class since the incident occured.

Rather than the appropriate response - Fire the teacher.

quote:

Still, Wilson said she plans to call the school board on Monday to see “if they’re really going to handle it,”

LMFAO. I hope she's not holding her breath for that to happen.

My grandson's teachers will hunt out their parents and commend them for the fine job they have done raising the boys because the boys will call them ma'am or sir and say yes ma'am or no ma'am.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

The typical custom here in the Deep South is for children to address adult women as Miss followed by their first name.

Being reared in the South and also being a Southerner, I can say that little children usually address teachers as Miss (add first name). And as the kids are getting older, or the teacher explains she likes her last name, they follow what the woman likes.

And I have never met a Southern teacher or any lady for that matter to be upset by being addressed by, "Miss Sally" etc.

now, some people are upset by this custom, but I will have my children address an elder as "Miss, Mrs., Ma'am, Mr. or Sir" and if you don't like it I don't give a damn. That kid is a reflection of me and my wife, and if he acts wrong, you better let me know as I will get that fixed right quick.

And this teacher needs a smack to the face for threatening a kid- if that is in fact what happened.

Being raised in Texas, I was expected to use Sir and Ma’am in addressing adults. I still do, 50+ years later. I really don’t care if being a Southern Gentlemen is problematic for others.

quote:

And I have never met a Southern teacher or any lady for that matter to be upset by being addressed by, "Miss Sally" etc.

You have not met my wife who was born and raised in the South. I am not totally sure why that bothers her so much, I just let it be.

I always address people as "sir" and "ma'am". It's a sign of respect. Frequent raps to the back of my head from my father left that indelible impression on me. Heck, the 17 year old girl behind the counter at Wendy's asks me a question, she's getting addressed as "ma'am". I don't want the old man reaching out from the grave to smack me again LOL!

No "ma'am"? Another casualty of our brave new egalitarian, monosex, infinisex world. Throw it on the trash heap with "ladylike" and the "feminine mystique".

Most of the young teachers nowaday were never taught, learned, nor deserved any respect. They went to the same school that they are teaching at now.

Yes/no ma'am/sir is required at the school I send my children to. So is Mr./Mrs./Dr. <last name>.

Any teacher offended by thks really needs to have her/his head examined.

Daily I say ma’am and sir

When assisting customers and they have a child with them I even refer to them as “young Sir or Miss”

quote:

Originally posted by Palm:
You can still be acting like a smart ass even if the words you say, on their own, would seem innocent.

Well, bless her heart!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Palm:
You can still be acting like a smart ass even if the words you say, on their own, would seem innocent. And it wouldn't be the first time a ten year old wasn't completely honest about why he got in trouble. I would rather hear both sides to this one.

That's exactly what I was thinking... there could be another side to the story. Don't have a clue, but the kid could be a brat and of course mom thinks he's just an angel who needs more love. But then these days it's all about "the children" and protecting them from anything even slightly difficult in the world.