Senior masters were always 'sir'. In certain informal contexts sixth formers and junior masters might be on first name terms otherwise they were 'sir' too. Even among the boys first names were only used between close friends and then not always. Otherwise it was surnames to the extent that the three Thomases in my form were Thomas DH, Thomas GG and Thomas GML in most contexts rather than David, Gareth and Graeme. Of course this was sometime before the flood.
Most of them were Mr./Ms./Mrs. [Last Name], or [Last Initial].
But a few of them would refer to each other, in class, by their first names (so I always heard about Alma and Virginia (Mrs. McGaughey and Ms. Puddicombe) going out for lunch together. And what they ate. And the decadence of the chocolate.
i pretty much tended to outright ignore them in favour of listening to techno on my walkman in the hallway. (i had a gloriously depressing experience of slipping through all the cracks. yay for public school systems that don't know how to handle someone who is both disabled *and* intelligent!)
I was being unclear. What I meant was that sixth formers used 'sir' even to junior masters in most contexts. A sixth former would always be addressed by his last name by a more junior boy and by masters in most contexts.
You may be interested to know that in the South (or maybe it's just a "these days" thing--not sure, info from my sister the teacher who taught in North Carolina and now teaches in DC, but also simply teaches in the present whereas I went to school in the past) they go with Mister/Miss First Name.
The only place I've heard that is in kindergarten or the early grades of elementary school. But after a certain age in my schools in the south, we always did the Mr./Ms./Mrs. thing.
Ummm ... most of my teachers were Ms. Something-or-other. Except for the five male teachers in the school, who were Mr. Something-or-other. At least to their faces. Oh, and one or two were Dr. Something-or-other.
WTF? What kind of dinosaur uses Miss/Mrs. anymore?
Except for the Spanish, French, and German teachers
I went to high school in both Goose Bay, Labrador and Edmonton. Everywhere else I ever went to school, it was always Mr./Mrs./Miss Blank. Except in Labrador (and, apparently, at the time, and maybe still, Newfoundland) Where teachers were simply "Sir" or "Miss", the latter regardless of their marital status. When I started in Edmonton in Grade 11, with my oh so slight but utterly detectable Newf accent, I struggled for the first few weeks with NOT calling the teachers "Sir" or "Miss".
I should clarify my answer: the three categories were not Mr./Mrs./Miss [Last Name], but rather Coach/Mr./Mzz. [Last Name]. The drawl was due to it being a Texas high school. ;)
For what it's worth, my 14 year-old son must address his teachers by 'Sir/Ma'am/Miss.' A friend of his addressed one of his teachers by 'Mr. So-and-So' and was given detention.
When I worked at a private school, the students called all of the teachers by our first names. In public school, we're called by last names. I don't really have a preference.
I did have someone call me Headmistress once during sex. For that reason, I will never, ever, ever adopt that title when teaching kids.
First names in primary school, Mr/Ms/Mrs in high school. Sometimes we referred to our teachers by their first name, or first name-last name between ourselves, or even out of class, but never in class.
in elementary school & in my first years of high school: mr/ms/mrs or... as we were all fond of saying instead of using last names "miss" or "sir"... no last name please.
then when i transferred to alternative school (i was still in the public school system), we used first names.
Well, we called most of our teachers Mr/Mrs/Miss Whatever, but there was one teacher that everyone just called "SIR." Which sounds very respectful if you didn't hear the way we said it. He took it with good humor though.
I called my Spanish teacher "Shorty", even though he was an inch or so taller than I was (I was the only one who called him that to his face). Everyone called the Chemistry teacher "Fat Matt", but not to his face. I called my favorite English teacher by her first name outside of class. The rest were Mr./Ms.
Oh, wait, the Spanish teacher was also called "Fearless Leader" by several students, in reference to the villain on Rocky and Bullwinkle. I'm not sure how he picked that up. Needless to say, he had a good sense of humour.
In Denmark we NEVER say anything but the first names, at all institutions (not solely educational institutions). Thank goodness for lefty pedagogics in the 70s for that! The only person we call Sir is the head-leader of Mærsk (a multinational shipping company, basically responsible for getting Denmark involved in the Iraq war - he got a real good deal out of the americans, shipping equipment to Iraq, on the condition that Denmark joined the "coalition forces"). Mærsk is like, THE most patriarchal company in Denmark, yaaaarrrgghhh.
California public schools were a mix of traditional and hippie when I was growing up. Probably a mix of Mr/Mrs/Ms and first names, a little more heavy on the traditional.
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PS- Did I gank this icon from you? I can't even remember.
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But a few of them would refer to each other, in class, by their first names (so I always heard about Alma and Virginia (Mrs. McGaughey and Ms. Puddicombe) going out for lunch together. And what they ate. And the decadence of the chocolate.
(They were adorable.)
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in elementary school to the 6th grade, i went to a bilingual school where we called our teachers by their first names.
i went to a highschool that started in the 7th grade, where i had a choice between calling the teacher "classmaster" or the standard mr or mrs
then i dropped out of that dystopia and found my way to a democratic school that didn't have teachers.
but really, i just sort of grunted in their general direction in all cases.
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(i had a gloriously depressing experience of slipping through all the cracks. yay for public school systems that don't know how to handle someone who is both disabled *and* intelligent!)
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nuff said.
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I went to a hippy school.
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When I have my own class, they are going to call me Dear Leader and engage in self-criticism.
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Mmm. Chocolate.
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There will be no democracy in my classroom.
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WTF? What kind of dinosaur uses Miss/Mrs. anymore?
Except for the Spanish, French, and German teachers
Well, both German teachers were also French teachers, so their titles depended on which class one happened to be in.
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Oh, the life of a military brat!
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A school for good little white middle-class liberal-feminist leaders of tomorrow.
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Nor should there be. :)
Love your Khruschev icon BTW.
For what it's worth, my 14 year-old son must address his teachers by 'Sir/Ma'am/Miss.' A friend of his addressed one of his teachers by 'Mr. So-and-So' and was given detention.
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I did have someone call me Headmistress once during sex. For that reason, I will never, ever, ever adopt that title when teaching kids.
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then when i transferred to alternative school (i was still in the public school system), we used first names.
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more random...
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