Yesterday I was reading a news blurb about an incident that happened at my high school. I won’t mention what the blurb was all about because as much as I hype up and LOVE the “school with the tall white tower,” I dare not air its dirty laundry or make anyone think less of it. Pause. I can hear the gripes and groaning of alumni particularly of the “colorful” persuasion from all parts of the country, so allow me to address this issue before I get to the point. As much as people may want to hate on their time at P-P-P-O-L, you’ve got to admit that it did prepare you for a whole bunch of things: a) You were ready for college. Whether it was one of the old colonial colleges, a major research institution, or a very competitive liberal arts school that enrolled more people from New York and New England than you really cared to be in school with, you were ready for college. b) If you hadn’t learned how to deal with ignorance before, for many (mostly the guys I suppose), those walks from the 95th street train station were a great classroom. c) That Sweet 16 or Bar Mitzvah invite that got lost in the mail taught you that “you’re a really good friend, but…” d) You learned how to drive. Not from driver’s ed, but from watching WHAT NOT TO DO from the bus drivers on the 6:00. Isn’t it weird how different they drove on the 4:00 vs. the 6:00? ( Shout out to the Flatbush/Dyker Heights route drivers- Miguel, Leroy, Marty!) I digress. Back to the point.
So after reading the news blurb I started thinking about my dear old school and that got me thinking about all of my former teachers who are now my facebook friends. I have a dilemma- I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO CALL THEM! There are a select few who I’ve always called only by their last names and that will never change- Khan will be always be Khan, Bishop will be Bishop, and to them I will probably always be Stretch. But I didn’t have that last name-nickname relationship with everyone and I find myself uncomfortably stuck between my adolescence of yesteryear and newfound adulthood (I guess it’s not so newfound anymore). I want to be bold and call them by their first names, but I just know better. Just because I’m an adult now doesn’t mean I was always an adult, right? I don’t call my aunts and uncles by their first names, so why would I do it to my teachers? But, it feels weird for me to write “Hey Ms. InsertName! Love the profile pic!” on their fb walls. I guess until they ask me to do differently, I’ll defer to my good senses and upbringing and use their last names. I mean really, if I saw them on the street I wouldn’t dare call them by their first name so why do it online? Besides, I would hate for one of them to respond by saying, “They call me, Mr. Tibbs!” I know that has nothing to do with education, but it’s such a good line that I had to use it. I suppose I should use the more appropriate Sidney Poitier quote instead- I wouldn’t dare call my teachers by their first names because I would hate for them to say, “You will call me Sir or Mr. Thackeray.”
I was raised right so I guess I should act like it.
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I like this. I like it a lot. It's interesting but just this past weekend a childhood friend's mother 'friended' me on face book. I started to write Vicki back as that's how her name appeared on my screen but paused and changed it to Mrs. B. When do titles roll away? What age? What status?
ReplyDeleteYeah - I am with you on that. There is one teacher from high school that I still correspond with, however I cannot bring myself to call her Diane. It's always going to be Mrs. Morel. It's the same with my friend's parents. I'll be 50 and still calling Bridget's mom, Mrs. Williams.
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