(no subject)
Mar. 4th, 2012 03:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nnyI asked a year 11 to do me a favour in class.
"Yes, boss," he said.
I liked it. I told them I liked it, too. I said that patriarchal name conventions and word associations make female epithets less powerful, and that there is an automatic heirarchical difference between the associated power levels of 'miss' and 'sir'. I told them that transgender teachers ought not to have to answer to an honorific that they feel uncomfortable with, and that a gender neutral term would save a lot of hassle that way. I told them that there is an implied heirarchy implied by the term which might well promote the sort of respect that teachers deserve to have in their classroom; that I am responsible for everything that happens in the classroom and therefore in charge of it; that because they get their rent, food, clothes paid for them school is, essentially, their job.
They stared at me for a couple of seconds, while I giggled to myself about how impassioned an argument I can make on the basis of a minute's thought and a whole ton of bullshit.
"Yes, boss," they said.
"Yes, boss," he said.
I liked it. I told them I liked it, too. I said that patriarchal name conventions and word associations make female epithets less powerful, and that there is an automatic heirarchical difference between the associated power levels of 'miss' and 'sir'. I told them that transgender teachers ought not to have to answer to an honorific that they feel uncomfortable with, and that a gender neutral term would save a lot of hassle that way. I told them that there is an implied heirarchy implied by the term which might well promote the sort of respect that teachers deserve to have in their classroom; that I am responsible for everything that happens in the classroom and therefore in charge of it; that because they get their rent, food, clothes paid for them school is, essentially, their job.
They stared at me for a couple of seconds, while I giggled to myself about how impassioned an argument I can make on the basis of a minute's thought and a whole ton of bullshit.
"Yes, boss," they said.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-04 08:09 pm (UTC)