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ArchivesRe: Name advice from a teacher
in reply to a message by Daividh
"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."
@@@@ I think you missed my point, Daividh. :) A teacher who easily misspells (or mistypes, I'm being charitable) a word like "trophy" makes me wonder if she might have other reasons for complaining about difficult name spellings among her students.
"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."
@@@@ Getting a kid's name right, for cripe's sake, ain't that big a deal, Daividh. It's the very least one might expect from a school system.
"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!)"
@@@@ Perhaps those teachers you've hired who left the education profession are better suited to manufacturing administration. That's cool for them, and that's cool for the kids. As for the pay, the average elementary school teacher's salary here on Long Island is $70,000 -- with summers off, winter breaks and spring breaks.
"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."
@@@@ Well, I suppose kids named "Dick", "Jane", or "Spot" may have an easier time of it in school. One might at least expect the teachers to be familiar with those names. :)
"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..."
@@@@ I did say Elizabeth made some good points, that being one of them. I'm all in favor of revitalizing a lot of names that have gone out of "style", and choosing them over the current crop of trendy Keanus and Mackenzies. But, you know, Daividh, I'll bet there were a lot of misspelled "Dorathys" and "Danels" back in the good ol' days, too. :)
-- Nanaea
@@@@ I think you missed my point, Daividh. :) A teacher who easily misspells (or mistypes, I'm being charitable) a word like "trophy" makes me wonder if she might have other reasons for complaining about difficult name spellings among her students.
"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."
@@@@ Getting a kid's name right, for cripe's sake, ain't that big a deal, Daividh. It's the very least one might expect from a school system.
"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!)"
@@@@ Perhaps those teachers you've hired who left the education profession are better suited to manufacturing administration. That's cool for them, and that's cool for the kids. As for the pay, the average elementary school teacher's salary here on Long Island is $70,000 -- with summers off, winter breaks and spring breaks.
"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."
@@@@ Well, I suppose kids named "Dick", "Jane", or "Spot" may have an easier time of it in school. One might at least expect the teachers to be familiar with those names. :)
"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..."
@@@@ I did say Elizabeth made some good points, that being one of them. I'm all in favor of revitalizing a lot of names that have gone out of "style", and choosing them over the current crop of trendy Keanus and Mackenzies. But, you know, Daividh, I'll bet there were a lot of misspelled "Dorathys" and "Danels" back in the good ol' days, too. :)
-- Nanaea
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