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ArchivesRe: Name advice from a teacher
in reply to a message by Nanaea
Ah, idealism! Afraid I have to side with Elizabeth on this one, Nan - at least to the extent that the world doesn't always work the way it should or the way we'd like it to.
All too often, awards and personal recognitions are given out by people who don't know the the child as well as we'd like; perhaps the school has 1,500 students instead of 500, or maybe as educators they've been forced to wallow so deeply in governmental and bureaucratic requirements that little time is left to really connect with the child.
Ask some young ex-teachers sometime why they left the profession; I've hired two in the past six months, and this is a big part of why they left after only two or three years in the classroom. (Incidentally, they adapt wonderfully to manufacturing administration, and we sure pay better!)
Elizabeth seems to be saying that in an increasingly impersonal world, having an unusual name or unusual spelling presents additional burdens for a child, and I'd have to agree with that. Not that it can't be overcome, and not that an unusual name doesn't have its own rewards: it does, eventually.
Elizabeth echoes a point I was trying to make the other day: awash in a sea of Brittanys and Briannas and Hunters, what ever happened to names like Mary, and Susan, and Barbara? Today for children they ARE unusual names. Maybe instead of opting for Klingon or trailer park spellings, many people could satisfy their urge for name novelty just by checking the class registers of 40 years ago. It's not a bad suggestion...
All too often, awards and personal recognitions are given out by people who don't know the the child as well as we'd like; perhaps the school has 1,500 students instead of 500, or maybe as educators they've been forced to wallow so deeply in governmental and bureaucratic requirements that little time is left to really connect with the child.
Ask some young ex-teachers sometime why they left the profession; I've hired two in the past six months, and this is a big part of why they left after only two or three years in the classroom. (Incidentally, they adapt wonderfully to manufacturing administration, and we sure pay better!)
Elizabeth seems to be saying that in an increasingly impersonal world, having an unusual name or unusual spelling presents additional burdens for a child, and I'd have to agree with that. Not that it can't be overcome, and not that an unusual name doesn't have its own rewards: it does, eventually.
Elizabeth echoes a point I was trying to make the other day: awash in a sea of Brittanys and Briannas and Hunters, what ever happened to names like Mary, and Susan, and Barbara? Today for children they ARE unusual names. Maybe instead of opting for Klingon or trailer park spellings, many people could satisfy their urge for name novelty just by checking the class registers of 40 years ago. It's not a bad suggestion...
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