Monday, September 26, 2016



Mispronouncing Student’s Name Now Considered a ‘Microaggression’

Hundreds of school districts across the country have taken a pledge to “pronounce student’s names correctly” to avoid the “microaggression” of mispronunciation.

According to ‘My Name, My Identity: A Declaration of Self,’ a national campaign launched in 2015 by the Santa Clara County, Calif. Office of Education (SCCOE) and the National Association for Bilingual Education, a teacher who mispronounces a student’s name can cause that student “anxiety and resentment”.

 “Mispronouncing a student’s name truly negates his or her identity, which, in turn, can hinder academic progress,” according to Yee Wan, SCCOE’s director of multilingual education services.

Rita Kohli, assistant professor of education at the University of California at Riverside, says it is a sign of “microagression” when a teacher mispronounces, disregards, or changes a child’s name, because “they are in a sense disregarding the family and culture of the student as well.”

The Washoe County School District in Reno, Nevada is one of 528 school districts across the country that have recently implemented a campaign to “pronounce students’ names correctly” - including names teachers and administrators find difficult or unfamiliar - in order to be sensitive to the ancestral and historical significance of a child’s name. 

In a 2014 Cult of Pedagogy blog post, former teacher Jennifer Gonzalez claimed that “mutilating someone’s name is a tiny act of bigotry. Whether you intend to or not, what you’re communicating is this: Your name is different. Foreign. Weird. It’s not worth my time to get it right….

“And before you get all defensive about the bigotry thing, let’s be clear: Discovering that something you do might be construed as bigotry doesn’t mean anyone is calling you a bigot. It’s just an opportunity to grow.”

SOURCE


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Politically correct nonsense carried to the extreme.
I was a college professor for many years and always tried to find out how to pronounce student names correctly, but sometimes it is difficult.

Bird of Paradise said...

Q. What do you call a basement full of liberals? A. A Whine cellar

Anonymous said...

It is racist to expect people of another culture to pronounce foreign words "correctly"!

stinky said...


I had to change my name after the election because of racism just like this, so no, it's not funny.

Stinky,
formerly Tarquin Fin-tim-lin-bin-whin-bim-lim-bus-stop-F'tang-F'tang-Olé-Biscuitbarrel

Anonymous said...

Precious, delicate little petals these college students. I don't know how they survived the education system to make it to college. I don't know how they will make their way in the real world once they leave their sheltered workshop or will they stay and bludge on the taxpayer indefinitely as faculty because they can't face the real world and teach others without any real world experience? Seems to be the pattern of so many socialist members of the faculty these days.

Anonymous said...

Frankly, I see it as just polite and general good form to try to pronounce someone's name correctly. But, I would only consider it an insult if someone purposely mispronounced a name, something kids do all the time to each other. I wouldn't want an adult employee doing it for any reason. Would I use the words micro-aggression or bigotry? No, I'm not a PC cop.

Anonymous said...

I have a very German name. It has been mispronounced my entire life (58 now) I was never offend or felt discriminated against because of it. This country is falling into a deep hole with overly sensitive brats.

the crow said...

4:44 AM It is racist to expect people of another culture to pronounce foreign words "correctly"!

Yes. And it is elitist to name a child some made up name like, Kalama-Sue, Arabella, Aramella, Aralene, Hildarene, Legend, Summertyme, Laquan, and expect teachers to quickly remember them all. Some classes in low socioeconomic areas have over half the class with made up names. And generally they are the badly behaved ones. Why is that? The mothers seem to think that after they have given their little bastards a made up pretty word for a name and self-diagnosed them with ADHD or Asperger's then their parenting is done. From then on they let them go feral.