Did you call your teacher's mostly by their first name or by their last name?
Posted by Square-Dragonfruit76@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 882 comments
When I was growing up, most of my teachers were called by their first names, but I know that this is not true in all schools.
RobinFarmwoman@reddit
Last. The ones we liked would have nicknames kind of, but only very respectful ones like calling them Mr or Miss and their initial instead of their name. Mr D was the best English teacher I ever had!
Effective_Move_693@reddit
Always called teachers by their last names up until I got to college
BaseballNo916@reddit
All of college professors except one also went by Professor/Dr LastName.
RoboticBirdLaw@reddit
Same. Law school was the first time I ever had a professor say I could call them by their first name prior to finishing any and all coursework with them.
jpw111@reddit
Through undergrad for me, it was Dr/prof.
Then at the school I went to for masters it was a bit more laid back and most professors wanted to be called by their first names.
But now at my PhD school, it seems that most people want to be called Dr. _____ again.
I think it just varies by university culture.
BaseballNo916@reddit
Yeah I could also see masters being more intimate, smaller classes and all.
jpw111@reddit
Yeah it was also a smaller and slightly less prestigious University, so it makes sense that it would be a bit more casual.
Emotional-Bonus-2529@reddit
Most of my male professors went by their first name, all of my female profs went by Dr last name
BaseballNo916@reddit
I had about an equal mix of male and female (I was a history major) and they all went by last name except for one who was male.
I could see women being more likely to insist on titles because women are taken less seriously whereas a male professor is more likely to be treated the same whether he goes by “Dave” or “Dr. Jones.”
queenquirk@reddit
I grew up in the 80s/90s in the South/Mid-Atlantic region (NC, to be precise). We were taught to call our teachers Mr./Ms./Mrs. (Last Name). Calling them by their first name was considered disrespectful.
Unusual_Memory3133@reddit
I was at School in the 70’s/80’s. It’s was Miss/Mrs/Mr - last name, never first names
KiraDog0828@reddit
You should address or refer to your teachers by their last name, except possibly your English teacher, who loses all respect for not teaching you how to use apostrophes.
Known_Ideal_8235@reddit
I know my county, the surrounding counties, and the ones you don’t speed through under any circumstances.
PlayfulOtterFriend@reddit
I always called my teachers by their last name. This has not changed across generations— my kids in school still call their teachers by their last names. So much so that when a kid learns what their teacher’s first name is, it is the height of gossip amongst the class.
Available_Honey_2951@reddit
My district always had students address us by our last names ( Miss, Mr. ms. Mrs ). They felt that it showed more respect for us. I recall some young teachers having kids call them by first names. Nobody said anything but I know the one who remained the district ended up going by Mrs so and so.
LogOk3102@reddit
Last name but my kids call their teachers by their first names!
Murky-Individual6507@reddit
Ms. Mrs. Or Mr. [Last Name]. Same with all of my parents’ friends or my friends’ parents. And still do if/when I see them. I’m 44.
RoseVincent314@reddit
Last name
bearhorn6@reddit
Not even just last name always miss/mrs x. Sometimes in Hebrew class just morah. Never used just their last name let alone their first name. Most teachers never even told us they’re first names. This goes for three schools I went to
Vegetable-Star-5833@reddit
First names in preschool, last names up till college if they allow it
phridoo@reddit
Even in preschool, it was Miss Linda or Miss Carmen. In university, I did an internship at a preschool & all adults were Miss/Mrs/Mr + [firstname].
ALmommy1234@reddit
My daughter’s friends called each others moms Mrs. First Name. She had a boyfriend who came in and called me by my first name. Her head snapped around so fast and she very firmly told him that was Mrs. First Name to him. 😂 honestly, I was fine with just my first name, but she and none of her friends were.
Jumpin-jacks113@reddit
Even when just my wife and I are talking with no kids around. We still refer to the preschool teachers as Mrs. Amy and Mrs. Wendy.
Old habits die hard. I have an uncle who is only 10 years old than me. Im in my 40’s and he’s in his 5’s. He tells me not to call him Uncle Scott, but it’s like “Okay, sorry, Uncle Scott.” It’s just programming at this point.
poisonedkiwi@reddit
My nieces have a situation like that with me, but kind of opposite? My oldest niece is about 9 years younger than me, and the youngest is 14 years younger than me. They're 10-15 now, I'm 24, and the older 2 flip flop between "Auntie (name)" and just "(name)" all the time. The youngest one typically calls me auntie, though. I personally don't care either way though. I think it's just weird to them since I'm chronologically so close in age. By the time I was the oldest's age, I had 3 nieces already lol
TManaF2@reddit
My mother (the oldest woman of her generation) had an aunt about six years older than her, and who spent several years living with Mom's family as a young adult. They developed a relationship more like sisters. Another aunt was only about 10-11 years older. Those two were never "aunt" to her, although their older sisters were, at least until Mom reached adulthood.
mrpointyhorns@reddit
One of my aunts said after I became an adult that I could just call her by her name instead of a title now.
I never really thought of aunt/uncle as titles, but now that I get called auntie, I get it. I have young nieces/nephews/cousins, so I love it, but maybe when they are older just a name will be fine.
I told one of my daughter's friends that she could just call me by my name instead of Ms. (name). All the other kid's call me daughter's mom. But she asked my name and was calling me ms. Name.
rosietherosebud@reddit
My uncle married his wife when I was 18 and in college (I'm 34 now), to someone who was 15 years older than me. Basically really big sister age to me, so she's always just been Melissa to me. My brother who was 16 at the time still calls her Aunt Melissa.
mashed-_-potato@reddit
I can’t hear uncle Scott and not think about Scott Calvin from the Santa Clause
PAXICHEN@reddit
Preschool my kids said Miss Sally or Miss Jamie. Now in Germany it’s Frau Donner or Herr Blitzen.
lamppb13@reddit
If they allow it? Do you mean if they let you use their last name instead of their first name, or if they let you address them with their name?
JumpingJonquils@reddit
Our preschool uses Ms/Mr First Name for 3 year olds and last names for 4 year olds to prep for elementary school
Vegetable-Star-5833@reddit
My sister is a preschool/daycare director for like a school district. Not sure how it works but she covers like 4 schools I think and it’s always funny going to visit her at work and have a 4 year old call me Miss(R) or whatever
BaseballNo916@reddit
I only had one professor in 4 years who went by first name because his last name was hard to pronounce.
DrFaustPython@reddit
Same except college was up to professor preference. I had many that would demand you call them Dr. (Name) and would throw you out of class if you didn't, and others that would insist on using first names only. There was one semester I had back to back classes in the same room and it was weird switching from "Good morning Dr. Smith" to "Hi Lisa, how's it going?"
BaseballNo916@reddit
I only had one professor in 4 years that went by his first name.
WiseQuarter3250@reddit
Mr./Mrs [Lastname] and rarely Dr. [Lastname] presuming they had earned a PhD.
Occasionally also the generic Coach, or Professor.
NoStalinWhenRushin@reddit
I coach and teach my own kids and they call me Coach X and Mr X
Sad_Towel_5953@reddit
I’ve always called teachers*** by their last names.
Maine302@reddit
The plural of teacher does not have an apostrophe. Your English teachers would probably appreciate the correct spelling and usage.
Square-Dragonfruit76@reddit (OP)
I know, but you can't edit titles.
justwow2@reddit
First name is a southern thing, i think. I grew up in the Northeast and i would never call a teacher by a first name. They did in Texas.
Ok-Parfait2413@reddit
Always by Mr, Ms, Mrs and their last name. There was never an option
tegeus-Cromis_2000@reddit
Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms unless they were Dr (like the principal and the music teacher).
RosieRoo70314@reddit
In my school experience, teachers were pretty much always Mr/Ms/Dr LastName. Sometimes Coach LastName or occasionally just LastName.
No-University-8391@reddit
Mr, Miss, Mrs plus last name
patchedboard@reddit
Calling a teacher by anything other than Mr or Ms/Mrs was grounds for being sent to the office
MissMarchpane@reddit
Last name, and last name only. A few have since friended me on Facebook (I'm in my 30s; there's no way it can be any kind of conflict now) and I don't know how I would ever address them by their first name if we met in public. I would, but it would just feel weird.
Some university professors will ask to be called by their first name, especially if you are in any kind of arts field. I was a theater major and some of my professors wanted to be called by their first name only.
Tandom@reddit
My parents raised me to believe that anyone older than me should be called my Mr./Mrs./Miss Last Name. It's a siugn of respect.
chancimus33@reddit
Always just used nicknames. 5th grade teacher had glasses and freckles, everyone called her “specks”…to her face. She was fine with it. Had a teacher in 7th grade with a limp. She went by Eileen. Those that didn’t have nicknames we just called “Buddy” or “Sweet Tits”
Loud_Inspector_9782@reddit
I have never called a teacher by their first name. Not even after having them years ago.
ThoughtPhysical7457@reddit
I didn't even know my teachers had first names.
Low_Attention9891@reddit
I always called my teachers by their last name and pronoun. E.g Mrs. Lastname, Ms. Lastname and Mr.Lastname. I always considered it rude to call them by their first name.
ExcitementMost6948@reddit
Last name or in the case of the religious, it was Sister so and so or Father so and so
Trusiesmom@reddit
In my small elementary school, we have a Mr and Mrs. T, two Ms. M, and two Mrs B. It's as if they think the students can't learn a name. But we expect them to learn math?. Although we do have a Ms and a Mrs Smith, which is also confusing so maybe one of them should go by Ms S?🤣 Also, teachers that go by their first name, "Ms. Julie" sound like they're teaching toddlers. Which is fine, but I feel weird calling a 6th grade teacher, Ms. Tammy. I didn't realize I had such strong opinions about names☺️
Trusiesmom@reddit
Last
frank-sarno@reddit
In 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade it was "Sister". So Sister Fracis, Sister Mary, Sister Sledge, etc..
In 4th-6th, Mrs. or Mr.. Mrs. Robinson, Mr. Hooper.
In 7th grade, mostly the same but we had a few teachers we called by their initials. Mr. Z, Miss M, or Mr. T. (really.. he was Mr. Tierkansomething).
In senior high, a mixture. Some were "Professor", some were Mr/Ms/Mrs. We had a couple doctors in my high school. Dr. Tam (Dr. Helen Tam, not Simon Tam). We had a science teacher who wanted to be called by his nickname Grinch (I think his name was Griznewski or similar).
My students used to call me Mr. S. or Frank when I taught networking at a trade school.
TManaF2@reddit
On the flip side: at what point did teachers begin referring to you, in class, by your last name - and did it feel weird? My high school chemistry and physics teachers used to call us (or call on us) "Miss" (or "Mister") and our last names. To me, that was how letters and formal invitations were addressed, but I didn't think we rated titles until we were adults (18/21 years old, depending on the environment). Also, how many of the AMAB here remember being addressed as "Master X" (either first or last name) before you turned 13 ("Master" being the equivalent title for a boy under 13, at which point you become "Mister")?
BubbhaJebus@reddit
In my experience, it was first names for preschool. For K-12, it was last name preceded by title (Miss, Mrs., Mr.). In college, it was last name preceded by title (usually Professor, or sometimes Doctor).
TManaF2@reddit
Note that the "Professor/Doctor" divide depends on the school, and whether or not the school requires a Ph.D. (Ed.D., Sc.D., Eng.D., etc.) for all its instructors (even those below the professorial level), or whether there are professors who haven't earned their doctorates, or something in-between.
At my uni, the position rank was TA - RA - Instructor - Assistant Professor - Associate Professor - Professor. TAs and RAs were generally grad students (first name basis) or research doctorates (again, first name basis). Instructor and above all required doctorates, so "Professor" was the more prestigious title. At some community colleges, not all professors have doctorates, so "Doctor" would be the more prestigious title...
Triabolical_@reddit
Teachers have first names?
Soundtracklover72@reddit
And homes outside of school too! And personal lives. I bet I just blew your mind
TManaF2@reddit
I had two on the block I grew up. Well, three actually, but only two taught at the local public school (Rabbi Shapiro taught at, and headed, the local Hebrew day school). Mrs. Blau's daughter was also a teacher, and when Mrs. Weiss drove a few of us to and from the county Math Fair, I could tell her I lived "three doors west of your mother"...
Triabolical_@reddit
I thought they just had a dorm underneath the gym where they spent their non-teaching time...
AngeluvDeath@reddit
Actually we just plug directly into our desks and go into sleep mode.
Soundtracklover72@reddit
Urban legend apparently.
littlemybb@reddit
In the south, we had to say Mr. or Mrs. last name. For some teachers, it was Miss or Ms.
Mrs. is for married women, Miss is for unmarried younger women, and Ms. can be if you don’t know, or if someone is unmarried or divorced.
TManaF2@reddit
Up North, "Miss" was for all unmarried women. I still remember Miss Mayer, the hunchbacked grade school library teacher, who insisted we lift the heavy wooden chairs to move them in and out from under the tables so we wouldn't make noises that could be heard in the principal's office just below...
Wallaroo_Trail@reddit
So how exactly do you pronounce Ms. lmao
cdb03b@reddit
Mrs. = Misses.
Miss=Miss.
Ms.=Mizz.
Old_Palpitation_6535@reddit
Mrs is Miz in my neck of the woods! Always.
Unless someone is jokingly saying “me and the missus.”
Hawk13424@reddit
I grew up in GA. Mrs was misses for me. Miss for Ms. Never used Miz.
Old_Palpitation_6535@reddit
Interesting! I grew up in AL, so maybe that’s it.
littlemybb@reddit
This is how I do it! My dad grew up in Texas as well.
Brilliant_Towel2727@reddit
Exactly the same as Miss
cdb03b@reddit
Ms. in almost all US accents has a ZZ sound like the word "Buzz" where Miss has an "s" sound like the word "Bus". They are similar but distinct.
CaptainCetacean@reddit
When I was in school (graduated 2023), everyone said Miss for female teachers. Not sure if its a Florida thing or what, but I've never heard Ms used to address a teacher.
SisterTalio@reddit
There is a slight difference. Ms has a "zz" sound at the end, Miss has an ""ss" sound. Think "buzz" vs "bus."
Acrobatic_End6355@reddit
Time travel from the 1950’s is pretty cool.
ExitingBear@reddit
What is it like being a time traveler from the 1930s?
Cars are sure fast these days, huh?
caprette@reddit
Ms is pronounced “Mizz,” with a “z” sound at the end. Miss has a softer “s” sound at the end. They are not pronounced the same, at least not in any of the American accents I am familiar with.
Old_Palpitation_6535@reddit
But Mrs and Ms are often pronounced the same. Unless someone is deliberately saying “me and the missus,” or something like that.
Impressive_Method380@reddit
one of them is pronounced ‘miss’ and one is pronounced ‘misses’ but idk what ones are
thepineapplemen@reddit
It shocked me when I realized as a kid that Miss wasn’t just the long form of Ms. the way Mister is for Mr. But now I pronounce them slightly different… I think
brenap13@reddit
Miss vs misses is how I was told to say Ms. Vs Mrs.
BaseballNo916@reddit
I’m a teacher in California and all of the female teachers are Ms. Having a Miss/Mrs distinction seems so old fashioned, like is it 1950? My being married has no effect on my teaching.
poortomato@reddit
Same in NY :)
Old_Palpitation_6535@reddit
Growing up in Alabama I pronounced Mrs and Ms the same way, so this was an easy one. Actually I still do, Both are always just Miz.
TManaF2@reddit
I had an interesting experience my senhor year of high school in that I had joined a walking tour class from the public library, and the group included my social studies teacher and the school social worker. It was a first-names group, as most informal adult classes are, but I can't recall ever addressing Dr. Patton as "Tom"...
Then_Increase7445@reddit
Last name, and I would still call them by their last name 20+ years later.
mickeltee@reddit
I’ve had professors explicitly tell me to use their first names and I just can’t do it.
TManaF2@reddit
I've had both at the uni level. When the Prof introduces himself to the class as "Haj" (his nickname and preferred name) and explains why he doesn't use his given names, you call him "Haj".
veronicaAc@reddit
I went from working with circuit court judges to supporting doctors at a pretty BIG cancer research department.
Took forever for them to get me to call them by their first names. It felt criminal!
t_bone_stake@reddit
Same with me. I sometimes see (and address) my sixth grade science teacher from thirty years ago as Mr. Lastname. It doesn’t seem respectful to be calling them by their first name.
IA_Royalty@reddit
We were family friends with a few of the teachers growing up. Then it was always Mr/Mrs, now they are Paul and Brenda. But also there's a couple that are still Mrs. because I can't quite get over that hump. Very relationship dependent.
TManaF2@reddit
The"family friends" thing may be cultural/generational. I was taught to always call my unrelated elders by their titles and last names unless they and my parents agreed on something else (my grandparents' friends were mostly courtesy aunts and uncles), and my older relatives by their relationship before their names (e.g., Aunt Jean, Cousin Izzy). As adults, some of my friends have their children use titles and first names, some use courtesy relationships, and some - like most children over the past 40 years or so - just call everyone by their first names.
Astrazigniferi@reddit
r/subsithoughtifellfor
CaptainPunisher@reddit
In high school we had two brothers who taught at our school, and we would NEVER address them by first name, but we would regularly use their first names in conversation between ourselves to differentiate between the two. Thirty years later, and I will still only address him directly as Mr. Lastname.
VIDCAs17@reddit
My elementary school principal is a family friend, and I still feel weird calling him by his first name.
JanaKaySTL@reddit
My son has been out of elementary school for years, and his principal and 4th grade teacher are still Mr LastName when I see them.
randycanyon@reddit
Heh. Mostly I called them "Sister."
JanaKaySTL@reddit
That would definitely get their attention!
randycanyon@reddit
Often pronounced "S'ter! S'ter!"
Standard-Outcome9881@reddit
What was weird is when the nuns had names like “Sister Michael”!
PAXICHEN@reddit
35 years later and it’s still Mr., Mrs., Ms., or Miss [Last Name].
weedtrek@reddit
My English teacher made it a point that after graduation we could call her by her first name, but it just seemed weird.
BingBongDingDong222@reddit
I ran into an elementary school teacher 30 years later and called her Mrs. So and So. She insisted I call her by her first name, but I couldn't do it.
ParsnipForward149@reddit
My mom taught at my elementary school so she's friends with a number of my former teachers and I see them sometimes. I'm in my 40s and they are all Mrs. So and so to me still even though my mom refers to them by their first names.
Mom: I'm having lunch with Jane tomorrow. Me: tell Mrs. Smith I said hello
briarch@reddit
Same, my aunt was my high school Spanish teacher all four years and my mom taught at a nearby district and knew my teachers too. I still can’t call any of those teachers by their first names, 30 years later, even the ones I’m facebook friends with.
tomcat_tweaker@reddit
My dad is a retired teacher. I still call him Mr. Tweaker. I'm not completely sure of what his first name is. At this point, "Dad" seems too informal and I may have waited too late to start calling him that.
CosmicGreen_Giraffe3@reddit
Same. I am from a small town so when I am back visiting, I run into former teachers and there are some who I/family have other connections with. For instance, a high school teacher is friends with my aunt and uncle, so he was at my cousins’ weddings, my grandma’s funeral, etc. At one of these events, he came over to say hello to me and I said “Hi Mr. Last Name” and proceeded to introduce him to my husband. Teacher looked at me and said “You can call me First Name now.” I just kind of laughed and said something like “I’m not sure I can!”
It just sounds…weird. I know people who have gone on to teach at our former school(s) and they say it is super odd to have former teachers as colleagues and have to call them by their first names.
Cranks_No_Start@reddit
It was Dr, Mr,Miss, Mrs or Sister. Has a HS teacher say “When you graduate you can call me Bill…but not before”.
On the few times I saw him out in the wild it was still Mr. lol.
The_Lumox2000@reddit
I had a HS teacher do this. I called him Jeffery one time after graduation and it just felt wrong.
frijolita_bonita@reddit
Yup. After school I went into Pharmacy and was working retail for a stint. My 8th grade teacher came in needing help with Nicorette and going through the process of quitting smoking. I still called her by her formal name Ms Spade, even though she became a regular customer
PocketBuckle@reddit
Yep. I worked for a time in the same school district I attended, so from time to time, I would bump into my 6th grade teacher and elementary school principal (they had changed jobs). I know their first names, but they are still their last names to me.
Heck, I worked directly with my 11th grade English teacher. She said we could call her by her first name. The other teachers referred to her by her first name. Nope, still Ms. Lastname to me, even though we were coworkers by then.
RsonW@reddit
Yup. My favorite teacher is a regular at my store, I still call him Mister LastName.
djninjacat11649@reddit
Yep, I can think of maybe like one or two college professors that I call by their first name and I have no clue why they are exempt from the mental block
EstablishmentLevel17@reddit
The ones I have (that I'm drawing a blank on) allowed us to call them that in college. Some professors were more lax about it .
Not ones who had doctorates (for good reason 😂)
EstablishmentLevel17@reddit
Seriously. My high school choir teacher posts birthday messages and what not on her former students' Facebook pages and signs it 'Love, >her first name<' Nope. You're still Mrs >her last name<.
Only exceptions are the few college professors I had that allowed us to call them by their first names. There were some but honestly only would come sprinting back to my brain if I were to see them and called them that by memory impulse.
Now the female teachers who have remarried and now have different last names I would probably accidentally call them by what I had know them as as another impulse
Milehighcarson@reddit
Yeah. I am now personal friends with one of my high school teachers and it was really awkward at first to call him Dave instead of his last name.
hopeandnonthings@reddit
Even friends parents or family friends are like "call me Kathy" am I'm like, "ok Mrs Smith, I'll call you Mrs Smith"
Elevenyearstoomany@reddit
Same. I’ve had former teachers tell me to call them by their first name and I’m like uh, no thanks. Except for two teachers in HS I was extremely close to who got nicknames.
lalalavellan@reddit
I had a nonbinary teacher go by their initials (think D.F.) instead of using Mrs./Mr. Otherwise, all last names until college.
BeautifulSundae6988@reddit
That is super uncommon in the US.
SharkInHeels@reddit
I’m just here to see who else noticed the irony of a grammatical error in a post relating to school.
mekonsrevenge@reddit
Didn't even know their first names.
Lisserbee26@reddit
Always and forever title and last name. A student- teacher relationship shouldn't infer they are the same level.
Gilamunsta@reddit
Last name,always
o93mink@reddit
Last name exclusively, all the way through law school
Odd_Tie8409@reddit
Same. Never knew their first names.
christine-bitg@reddit
Same here, with only a few exceptions.
Affectionate-Dot437@reddit
They had first names!?! 😦
StrongTxWoman@reddit
Now I wonder where and when op is from....
No-Lunch4249@reddit
Yeah I had a few younger end college professors who tried to get us to go by first names but since their first name was Professor it wasn't that bad
(This is a joke)
BaseballNo916@reddit
I only had one professor who went by first name because he had a Polish last name that most students had trouble saying. I learned how to say and used it but I have a Ukrainian family name that most people won’t learn to spell or pronounce so I guess I was more sympathetic.
Ellavemia@reddit
We had a teacher who asked to be called Mr. First-letter-of-last-name and I feel like that is not uncommon, because I've seen it in movies and TV.
AluminumCansAndYarn@reddit
I had two high school teachers that were respectively Mr. K and Sargent K. I had a middle school teacher that came in as a long term substitute teacher for one of my teachers that went on maternity leave and there were complications and she was off for the rest of the year but he told us to call him Mr V. I didn't call a teacher by there first name until I was in college. Like even when I was working at a grade school, I still called the teachers by their last name. It was weird.
BaseballNo916@reddit
That’s common for teachers with “difficult” names but still some form of their surname. I’ve only had one one instructor ever that was like “call me Dave” instead of Ms/Mr/Dr/Professor surname or initial.
BeenisHat@reddit
Yeah I had a similar experience. I had a math professor from Serbia. Branislav Djurisic. He told us to just call him Bronco. It was the only teacher or professor I've ever had that asked me to use a nickname. I called him Mr. Djurisic once, trying to be more respectful and he looked at me funny and repeated the request to call him Bronco.
Nice guy. Hated the class though.
DennisTheBald@reddit
Or coach
sparksgirl1223@reddit
I had a teacher that hasn't coached in YEARS. In my house, he's still coach. In public, I call him coach. He's told me I can call him by his first name now, since I graduated almost 26 years ago.
I told him that's illegal and we laughed
ThatsNoMoOnx@reddit
Yep, my kid has a teacher like this. He hasn't coached in years at the school, yet everyone at the school, kids, faculty, still refer to him as "Coach"
sparksgirl1223@reddit
I'm the only one who calls that specific teacher coach lmao
The one everyone called coach passed away a few years back. School isn't quite the same without him.
ThatsNoMoOnx@reddit
Sorry to hear. RIP Coach.
sparksgirl1223@reddit
Aw thanks. The worst part, I think, is he only got a year or 2 of retirement after putting up with all of us for so long :(
ThatsNoMoOnx@reddit
😭 I hate that
sparksgirl1223@reddit
Me too. He deserved a long retirement without high schoolers at his ankles!
No-Professional-1884@reddit
Coach Z?
Yourecringe2@reddit
😂
Yourecringe2@reddit
😂
WarsawWarHero@reddit
Had a lot of adjunct professors (professor is side gig) and they were usually a lot more chill about being called by their first name
VIDCAs17@reddit
A lot my professors in architecture school were literally just architects that happened to be adjunct professors, and many of them I called by their first names.
o93mink@reddit
Yeah I’ve guest-lectured college classes and being called Mr. o93mink by people who are also adults wierded me out
tiger_guppy@reddit
When I got to grad school, there were a handful of professors that were ok with us using their first name. Probably because we were closer in age, or maybe they saw us also also being mature, professional adults (more so than typical college students).
cruzweb@reddit
I'm an adjunct and my class typically calls me by my first name. It's easier for both of us as they're used to addressing the full time faculty as "Dr.", which is a credential I don't have. But yes, at this point we're all essentially peers and there were a handful of professors who I had in grad school who preferred their first name as well.
Anonphilosophia@reddit
Same but they always end up saying, "Professor Lastname" no matter how hard I try to ge them to use my first. 😂
FerricDonkey@reddit
Professor, in grad school: "You can just call me First name."
Me: "Yes sir, Dr. Lastname."
sarahgene@reddit
For me it was through high school, then in college I think every teacher just had us use their first name. It was community college so that might make a difference
ErinGoBoo@reddit
Same. I had 1 teacher in high school who used Mr. and his first name, but only because so many students couldn't pronounce his last name (it really wasn't that hard, but people are... you know).
Zappagrrl02@reddit
Same. When I started working in schools it was hard to shift and call teachers I’d known for a long time by their first name.
Carloverguy20@reddit
It's more professional and polite to use their last name.
It's also professional and polite to use Ms, Mrs, Mxs, Mx, Mr, Dr etc and then the first name with it for example. Some teachers will go by Mrs Amanda, or Mr James, or Ms Samantha.
Disastrous-Monk-590@reddit
Last name? Is this April fools?
Square-Dragonfruit76@reddit (OP)
No, I posted this yesterday
TreeOfLife36@reddit
I'm a teacher. We call *each other* by our last names. I worked closely with one teacher and I didn't even know her first name until I'd been teaching with her for 4 years!
photonynikon@reddit
I graduated high school 1971. My science invites me to his Solstice party every summer. I still call him Mr. Hilferty!
Main-Age-4995@reddit
Is that even a question? Last name. Respectfully
Wolf_E_13@reddit
Mr. or Mrs or Ms. so and so. Occasionally I'd have a teacher that went by Mr or Mrs. and their first name like Mr. Eddy my 8th grade shop teacher. I'm 50 and still call my kids' teachers Mr or Mrs. (last name) unless expressly told otherwise.
AccreditedMaven@reddit
Mr or Mrs. Of all the teachers I had between kindergarten and high school graduation, I knew the first name of maybe 5. One moonlighted as a children’s tv host as Miss. Beverly and we were allowed to call her that name in school.
That was the 50s-60s.
CoffeeandTeaOG@reddit
Ohhh last name. Never, ever first name. This meant that sometimes mid year a teacher would marry and we would have to get used to a new name. I have kids in school now and some of the younger teachers do prefer Ms. FirstName but that was nearly unheard of when I was in school.
Agitated_Extreme@reddit
My school was a big last names school, but with some teachers I did start calling them by their first names in high school lol. One of them would call me by my first name and middle name, so I started calling him by his first and middle name
Cronewithneedles@reddit
I never even knew what their first names were.
Standard-Outcome9881@reddit
In grade school it was always Miss or Mrs. Soandso or Sister Soandso. In high school it was the same thing. Mr. or Mrs. or Father Soandso (I went to Catholic grade and high school with nuns, priests and lay teachers. I didn’t even call teachers in college by their first name.
MetzgerBoys@reddit
Always been last name. Mr, Ms, Mrs, or Dr [last name] with one exception being one college professor who actually preferred we use his first name. He was cool
Chocolate_Haver@reddit
It was always Mr. Or Mrs. Last name
Thin-Bill4533@reddit
Mrs or Mr Smith we are taught respect
jodireneeg@reddit
Last name. NEVER would a teacher in an elementary/middle/high school go by their first name.
I ended up teaching in the district that I attended as a student. Some of my former teachers became my colleagues. It was nearly impossible for me to switch to calling them by their first names. One finally told me that he would flat out refuse to respond to me if I didn’t call him by his first name. (I still slipped occasionally)
quixoft@reddit
Depended on the teacher. Most were just Mr or Mrs/Ms.
But my favorites where always Mr/Mrs/Ms
Born-Finish2461@reddit
I only remember calling two teachers by their first name, in high school.
WalkingOnSunshine83@reddit
Last name.
scificionado@reddit
Mr. or Mrs. (pre Ms. as an option) and last name. Always. In grad school (PhD), some professors invited their students to use their first name, but not all professors did.
deadbeef56@reddit
I knew someone who went to the local Friends School, and they used first names to address teachers. I thought it was really weird. On the flip side, I had a teacher in middle school who used last names to address students (Mr. Smith, Miss Jones) and it made me feel kind of grown up.
JunoEscareme@reddit
I grew up in a small close-knit town where we all called most of our teachers by their first name. But later I moved to a big city, and all teachers were called by their last name.
nancylyn@reddit
Up until college “mrs/mr/ms last name” . In college it depended on the professor. Some were very chill and said to call them by their first name but if they didn’t do that they’d be “whatever honorific last name” .
hellogoawaynow@reddit
Last name always
beebeesy@reddit
K-12 was always last name except for one specific teacher who was a little too friendly. College was a toss up but mostly first name.
MetalDragonfly11@reddit
Up through high school I called them Mr/Ms last name. I went to a college where most professors/etc used their first names.
I connected with one of my high school teachers again in my late 20s, through involvement in a local art community, and I started calling her by her first name.
jafropuff@reddit
The overwhelming majority of Americans have never called their teachers by first name.
Very few schools do this even today.
Derwin0@reddit
All of my teachers called me by my middle name (which I went by).
I had two teachers that did not.
In Jr. High, one teacher called everyone by their first name, even if they went my their middle name or used a nick name.
In High School, I had one teacher that called everyone by Mr (or Miss).
Shadeauxmarie@reddit
Mr. Or Ms. Last name. No other option was tolerated.
CanadianDollar87@reddit
we usually had nicknames like a shorten version of their last name or depending on the teacher, called them by just their last name, no mr/mrs/miss etc.
P00PooKitty@reddit
I went ti two different school systems: one was slightly more traditional and one was wicked progressive, top in the country.
All last name—except in HS there was a program called School Within a School where all the teachers were called by their first names and there were sort if town hall meetings about various matters within SWS.
CelestialRavenBear@reddit
Always last name. Kindergarten through 12th grade. Every single one by their last name.
QuirrelsTurban@reddit
Every teacher I had, I called Mr., Ms., or Mrs., followed by their last name. Sometimes, if the teacher had a difficult to pronounce last name, we just used the first letter of their last name.
Lower-Cantaloupe3274@reddit
Last. Elementary school, middle and high school, and undergraduate. Graduate school it was primarily first names, but some were still addressed by last name.
jreashville@reddit
Last name always.
Cincoro@reddit
Always title and last name. Always.
Jmckeown2@reddit
I had exactly one teacher in college who wanted to be called by his first name. We all thought it was so weird.
rockettaco37@reddit
Always last name.
Up until university where it would depend on the specific professor
AngryOldGenXer@reddit
Always the last name, with the exception of Coaches teaching class, we just called them Coach.
tacitjane@reddit
I've heard of that, but an honorific is put in front of the first name. Do you say Mr. Jethro, Mrs. Brenda, Ms. Myrtle, Professor Cooke? Or do you just say their first name?
Last name always in my neck of the woods and gale of the times. Mrs. Catledge-Lieb. Ms. Gawlik, Mr. Schaeffer, Pastor Pfeiffer, etc.
My husband just asked me how many of my teachers I could name from grade school. Um, all of them. There were only 15.
I still remember maiden, married and remarried names.
Ms. Moore became Mrs. Hansen for obvious reasons.
Mrs. Gunther (widowed) became Mrs. Deppong (remarried).
I feel about that last one. Whenever I'd be peeved by her behavior, I'd call her Mrs. Gunther just to remind her of her dead husband. I even encouraged other students to do so as a form of passive aggression.
DooficusIdjit@reddit
Calling a teacher by their first name was pretty much instant trouble. Some of them wanted to be Ms. Dianne, or Mr. Mark, so that was ok, but you wouldn’t call them Dianne or Mark without expecting a trip to the office.
Constant-Security525@reddit
Public schools, Mr./Miss/Mrs. LastName.
Private school I attended, first names only. My private school was very liberal. I don't think more conservative ones would allow first names only.
MotherOf4Jedi1Sith@reddit
ALWAYS by their last names. Even to this day, when I talk about them, I always call them by their last names.
flufflezot@reddit
In elementary school, through high school, I called them by their last name, but in university, it kind of depends professor to professor. I call them Professor or Doctor So-and-So unless they ask otherwise.
According_Pay_6563@reddit
Last name, and still do 20 years after graduating (small town life), except for two. One is related to the woman I now call my wife, so that one kinda goes without further explanation, but the other teacher...
I started calling my middle school choir teacher by her first name as soon as i got to high school, and I couldn't tell you why. Nobody else did it, she didnt ask me to, it wasnt an act of disrespect, I didn't know her on a personal level, nothing. There was no reason. I just...did it.
JadziaEzri81@reddit
We call them Mr. Miss or Mrs last name
Mom1274@reddit
Last name. Then after high school I got a job as a teachers assistant AND I still called them by their last name.
Yet all the teachers I know in Mexico, I call them by their 1st name...different country, different cultures
caelestizeria@reddit
I call all of my teachers since I was 14 by their first name
ShmuleyCohen@reddit
Calling any adult by their first name was off limits. And an adult letting me would have been weird
Darkdragoon324@reddit
Pretty much always surname, unless maybe it's some sort of weird small artsy school.
ACam574@reddit
Depends. In kindergarten it was Mrs. (First Name). In grade school through high school it was Mr/Mrs (last name). Most of the time in undergrad it was professor (last name). Grad school was dr. (Last name).
When I taught grad students I asked them to call me by my first name. I didn’t like the title ‘doctor’ and my first name is an uncommon last name. I am not used to being called by my last name. Having worked in academia and with lots of PhDs, I knew that most people who insist on you calling them ‘dr’ are just pretentious. It also wastes time with so many people with the title. A lot of students called me Dr. (first name) because they felt uncomfortable not doing so. I usually wouldn’t notice it unless they said it 2-3 times.
Baby_In_A-Trenchcoat@reddit
Last
kbd18@reddit
Always last name but my school (which was rather small) seemed to drop the “Mr.” (But never the Mrs.) so it would be “Chapin” instead of “Mr. Chapin.” But if it was a female teacher she would always be Mrs. Chapin.
SavyBae@reddit
Last name always, that would seem “too grown”and disrespectful to call them by their first name. Cultural thing I guess.
Careless_Lion_3817@reddit
Last name
Puzzleheaded_Run2695@reddit
Last name. The cool teachers would just go by their last name only and you could drop the Mr. Or Ms.
In college, a lot more would go by their first names.
Nice-Stuff-5711@reddit
Out of bed, last name, in bed, first name.
DrMindbendersMonocle@reddit
Last name
Forsaken_Distance777@reddit
Literally never used first names. Often didn't know them.
silliestboots@reddit
Exclusively Ms./Mrs./Mr. Last name, other than the ones that were coaches, and then it was "Coach Last name". I was born and raised in the south (grew up in 70s/80s) and literally a one who was an adult we did not call by a first name. It was, Miss Amelia, Mr. Tom, Aunt Evelyn, Uncle Jerry, etc. Always a respectful title.
elpollodiablox@reddit
In HS if we called a teacher by their first name that was a good way to get an invitation to speak to our dean. And as much as I loved Mrs. Kent, I did not like being on the receiving end of her ire.
SunshynePower@reddit
Last name only because they are in a position of authority in the classroom. They have earned that respect.
To that end, and this is also how I was raised, I call anyone older than me by their last name until they tell me otherwise.
Single-Ad-3405@reddit
Last name. Only exception was a 1st grade teacher who went by “Miss Ellen”. But never “Ellen” without the honorific.
ashmyketchum@reddit
K-9th, title (mr.,ms., etc) + last name 9-12th, last name w/ no title unless Dr 12th onward, same as 9-12 or first name depending on professor
JenniferJuniper6@reddit
Yikes. We didn’t even call the swim team coach by her first name. In the 60s and 70s in America, it would have been very outside the norm for any child to call a non-related adult by their first name.
PsychologicalBat1425@reddit
Last name always, as in Mr. Jones, Miss Smith, Mrs. Wilson. Some preschools will call the teachers by first name, such as Miss Linda. In college I worked in an after-school recreation program at the YMCA, and I would have a couple kids call me Miss Lisa. I tell them they can just call me Lisa, but they still did it.
hedcannon@reddit
I went to a Christian school in the south where the teachers were Brother Bob and Miss Kathy. That kind of thing. But generally never.
Donohoed@reddit
Miss/mrs/ms/mr last name. If we were informal we'd just call them by their last name
Turdle_Vic@reddit
Last name. Hell, I found out my high school geometry teacher lives like 5 houses down from me, 10 years later I still say “Hi Mr. Lu!” whenever I see him on a walk. Jacked former marine. Chill dude.
But yeah. Always last name. They will forever be that last name. Although usually you call a female teacher “Miss [last name]” even if she’s an older married woman. That’s how we did in the 2010s and 2000s, anyway. I only had one teacher who wanted to be called “Mrs. [Last Name].” Older lady. She was a regular science substitute teacher. Sounds weird but it makes sense.
r2k398@reddit
Last name always. Ms. if she was unmarried Mrs. if she was married.
Jed308613@reddit
Last name exclusively for me, but i know many early childhood educators who go by Miss first name, like Miss Amy or Miss Jill.
One-Hat-9887@reddit
I had a few teachers in highschool that didn't mind being called by their first name... aaaaaand then 2 of them got in trouble for dating students 🙈
UnabashedHonesty@reddit
It was always Mrs. or Mr. something
ScaredAlexNoises@reddit
Depends on the school. Most teachers prefer to be called by their last name, but at one of the schools I went to all of the staff went by first name, even the principal.
religionlies2u@reddit
Sister Domition, Sister Karen, Sister Mary etc etc otherwise you got the ruler.
Spooky_Tree@reddit
Last name only, then if you strangely become friends with them after you graduate when you're an adult is the only acceptable time to call them by their first name
Rogerdodger1946@reddit
It was unheard of to call a teacher by anything but Mister or Miss or Missus back in the 50s and 60s. I taught college in the 80s and the students called me by my last name without my asking.
lawanddisorderr@reddit
Last name in primary, secondary, & college. First name in grad school - they were all doctors but insisted in going by their first name.
steathrazor@reddit
Every teacher I've ever known always insisted on their last name I have never called a teacher by their first name outside of a few teachers that I knew personally after leaving school
susannahstar2000@reddit
By last name through grade school and high school, and in college, most of them. A couple were called by first name.
jerrycan-cola@reddit
When I was ranting about my teachers to my friends we would call them by their first name, we had a really shitty principal that we only referred to as Mikey
Otherwise, always last name. Only acception was non-phd instructors in college, they generally wanted to be called by their first name
Guilty_Objective4602@reddit
I don’t think I ever had a teacher who asked students to call them by their first name until I was in college, and even that was an exception.
KATEWM@reddit
When I started as a substitute teacher I would ask the kids to call me by my first name, because honestly I think using last names is old-fashioned (we stopped using them in general life and in workplaces like 30 years ago, and aren't we supposed to be preparing kids to interact in the "real world?" I work in insurance now, and my colleagues would think I was rude if I didn't use their first names. But I digress.)
Buuuut the kids themselves were clearly uncomfortable with it and would usually just call me "Miss Kate." So I let it go. 🤷🏼♀️
Loyellow@reddit
College professors are a lot freer from the administration, I think even if a high school teacher would be cool with it, the administration would still want to not let students do that because it would proliferate and make kids think it was okay to say to all teachers so they just don’t.
Just_OneReason@reddit
Also every student in college is generally an adult. Young adults albeit, but a lot more acceptable for an adult to call their teacher by their first name. It seems incredibly unprofessional to me to have children calling their teachers by their first name. There needs to be that professional boundary.
BaseballNo916@reddit
I’m a high school teacher. I don’t think this is something that admin explicitly enforces, it’s just kind of a norm that everyone goes along with and becomes an unspoken rule. You can choose to go by first name but other teachers might look at you weirdly. There is one teacher at my school who goes by his first name and admin doesn’t care but some of my other colleagues think it’s weird.
I don’t know what’s different in college but to be honest I only had one professor who ever let us to call us by his first name. The only reason was because he had a Polish last name with multiple Zs that most students struggled with. I learned how to say his name and didn’t think it was that difficult but I get it because no one gets my Ukrainian family name either. He was more casual in general wearing jeans and a t shirt everyday whereas most of the other professors wore at least business casual. My understanding was he was denied tenure because someone else already taught his specialty area but he stayed because his wife also taught there and he stopped giving a shit.
I think college professors probably have less interaction with each other on a day to day basis than grade school teachers and more independence, but again I literally only had one prof who let us use his first name.
Guilty_Objective4602@reddit
I understand why they do it. I was just relating my experience.
SonoftheSouth93@reddit
Last name only, always.
Irresponsable_Frog@reddit
Last name with title, Mr., Mrs, or Ms. University it was Doctor. At the community college it was first names. It felt weird so I wouldn’t address them by anything. When I taught it was Ms. T. My last name is a mouth full and kids have a tendency to butcher it and make fun of it all at once. I hate when my employees call me Ms or maam. I tell them we are peers It’s just Rose. No ms needed. I get that I’m your parent’s age but Ms Rose is just weird!
SteamScout@reddit
Last name only with the exception of one teacher in grad school. He was just tired of people butchering his last name.
kalelopaka@reddit
Last names.
thetruelu@reddit
In elementary and secondary, it was always Mr/Ms. [Last Name]. In college, usually Dr. [Last Night] for lecturers. For research professors or TAs, I usually called them by first name
princess9032@reddit
Last name until grad school then first name. Teachers i worked with in college where i wasn’t their student I used first name. Some teachers I had for both (same school) and I definitely had to consciously make the switch
Butterboysz@reddit
My mom taught me it was disrespectful otherwise so even when I had teachers that had nicknames or liked to be called by their first I still would only use their last name. The most relaxed I ever got was calling one teacher in hs by the last name alone and without a Mr. In front. And even that was daring to me lol but everyone else did it and it just naturally happened.
amethystmap66@reddit
Elementary school they could be called whatever they wanted. Most chose first names, but a few enforced last names or last initials.
Middle school was all last names, with the exception of one very Freeform English teacher who went by “Jessie”
High school was all last names.
Current college student now and it’s a mix again. Mostly “professor (last name),” but occasionally one who just wants to go by their first name
ssabinadrabinaa@reddit
Last name, always.
soggysocks6123@reddit
Always mr or Mrs and last name. There are actually videos of American students that refer to teachers by their first names and film their reactions because it’s that odd here.
taniamorse85@reddit
Last name, with one exception. A philosophy professor I had in my last year of college was called Mo by everybody.
canadiuman@reddit
Preschool (age 3 to 5) - Mr./Ms. FirstName Outside Preschool - Mr./Ms. LastName
SamEdenRose@reddit
Mr/Mrs/Ms Last Name. If it Wes a difficult last name it would be the initial of their last name (ex Mr B)
Only teachers outside of school like dance teacheers were sometimes called Miss First.
infinite_five@reddit
Mr. [name], Ms. [Name], or Mrs. [Name]
Neb-Nose@reddit
I would refer to them by their preferred pronoun and their last name. “Hello, Mrs. Jones.” “Good afternoon, Mr. McCoy.” “ I have a question, Mrs. Stankowski.”
To call them by their first name would definitely be seen as disrespecting them and would not be well received.
Iowa50401@reddit
There’s no way I would have thought of calling my teachers by their first name. I did have one instructor at my university who told us to use his first name but otherwise they were Mr., Mrs., Miss, Dr., or Professor. Even as an adult who has been to class reunions where some teachers attended they were addressed by title.
botulizard@reddit
Growing up, it was always "Mr./Mrs./Ms. Lastname", except in the case of one teacher who let you call him just "Lastname" like one of the boys if you were a senior. When I got to college, I had a few instructors who let you call them by their first name over the years, but it was usually Doctor or Professor Lastname.
_AlwaysWatching_@reddit
Last name ONLY, EVER
Error_Evan_not_found@reddit
Always last names, even though a lot of my elementary school teachers were family friends and played in the adult coed softball league with my parents.
I'd still feel weird to call them anything else, learned recently my therapist knows my sophomore history teacher. She said his first name in reference to him not a second later and I still asked who that was.
Nekrosiz@reddit
Mister/miss with the optional last name
HajdukNYM_NYI@reddit
First name would be extremely frowned upon and some of them would take offense to it too
BouncyBlue12@reddit
Last name only.
auntiecoagulent@reddit
Last name, except for 1 college professor who insisted we call him by his given name.
Quite a difficult transition from all the others that would destroy you if you didn't putting "doctor" in front of their last name.
Material-Indication1@reddit
At a very counter cultural private school, teachers by first name, it helped me see them as human beings.
Otherwise, Ms Mrs Mr LastName.
raven_of_azarath@reddit
As a student, I always used last name (except for Dr. Bob, who insisted on being called that).
Now I’m a teacher, and boy is it weird. I actually work with some of my old teachers, and I have to call them by their first names now or nobody knows who I’m talking about. All but two of my students use my last name; those remaining two have given me a nickname based on my first name and I still don’t know why.
MacDynamite71@reddit
I’m want to Parkway Center City in Philly. We called them by their first name
Lolofly47@reddit
Always last name except for after school and summer camp. Most of my after school and summer camp teachers allowed students to call them by their first names “Mr/ Ms (first name)” while in regular school it was always last name.
StarbuckWoolf@reddit
Last name in class. Snooky-uggums at her house b
SusanLFlores@reddit
OP, where did you go to school?
Square-Dragonfruit76@reddit (OP)
I went to a quaker school for elementary through middle school, where everyone was called by their first name, and then I went to a public school for high school where each teacher chose whether to be called by their first name or their last name, but many chose first name.
Huge_Policy_6517@reddit
Last name. When my sisters were in preschool they called their teachers by their first name, Miss first name to be exact. However someone decided that was unprofessional so they had to switch to last names.
InternistNotAnIntern@reddit
Oh my god. Last name of course.
SusanLFlores@reddit
I’ve never heard of an elementary or high school in the U.S. where students called their teachers by their first names. The closest I’ve heard is my great grandson called his second grade teacher Mr D because his last name was long and difficult to pronounce. I had become friends with a woman as an adult but didn’t recognize her as a former teacher. I had been calling her by her first name long enough that it didn’t seem weird not to call her Mrs. Xxxxx.
TheDeaconAscended@reddit
We had one teacher who was called Coach Phil so everyone called him Coach Phil, only time ever not using last name.
nosidrah@reddit
Last name only.
dkenyon74@reddit
Last name
LovesDeanWinchester@reddit
It was always Mr., Miss, or Mrs. Last Name.
fitava79@reddit
Last name.
pxystx89@reddit
Last name through K-12 + college. I called my grad school advisor (and most of our faculty) by his first name but it was a small program
Subterranean44@reddit
Iast name until College them mostly first.
I worked on the district with a bunch of my former teachers and I couldn’t even call them their first name as their coworking peer. Lol. It was too weird!
I also saw one of my high school teachers at a party I went to in college and yelled out “Mr ——“ by accident. Haha. He had SPECIFIALLY told us not to do this if we ever saw him in public
Kylynara@reddit
Up through high school: Mr./Mrs./Miss Last Name.
College: varied by teacher preference.
Column A
Dr.
Professor
No title
Column B
Last name
Last Initial
First Name
Basically pick one from column A and one from Column B, and one of the teachers went by that with the exception of No Title Last Initial. Oh, and we had a few that we referred to amongst ourselves as Mrs. Dr. Last Name and Mr. Dr. Last Name, because we had 2-3 married couples where both had doctorates and taught at the college, and sometimes we had to disambiguate.
Working_Park4342@reddit
First name, but I went to an alternative education high school. Shout out to Zepplin High!
OwslyOwl@reddit
Always last names. After high school, I ended up being in the same circle as my teacher because I majored in the same subject. Everyone in that circle called him by his first name and it felt weird being the only one to say Mr. Lastname. I eventually asked if I could call him by his first name too, and he said yes, but to this day it still feels weird.
IcyWorldliness9111@reddit
I think it’s pretty rare in the US for teachers (public school) to be called by their first names. Some districts won’t allow it as it can be considered disrespectful. Sometimes laidback University teachers tell students to call them by their first name. Many of my HS students (retired now) would call me Ms. Or Mrs. J. It was simple and easy, and fine with me.
FunReflection9@reddit
Mr/Mrs/Ms. Last-name in K-12. Professor Last-name in college.
However, the dedicated teachers in my current program all introduced themselves with first-name-only on the first day- "We're going to be working together closely over the next 5 semesters, so please feel free to just use our first names." One earned his Doctorate halfway through our program and started insisting we call him Dr. Last-Name and was a huge prick about it. Got incredibly irate that we deferred to Dr. First-name instead.
Live-Ad2998@reddit
Somehow I mostly evaded calling them anything at all. Just "hi, um I don't understand."
Maybe that's why I didn't win at making friends and influencing people
dumbandconcerned@reddit
Mr./Ms./Mrs. LastName exclusively through high school and most of college. In the lab I worked in in undergrad, my two PIs told us to call them by their first names. As a grad student, I called my master's PI Dr. Lastname, but he's one of the few in the department who prefer that. (No shade, he's a very nice guy! Just much older and not American, so a little more formal.) I call my phd PI and the other professors all by their first names.
AggravatingCamp9315@reddit
Last name 100% until university. Then it was Dr Smith unless they say no, call me Jeff. Lol
maynelyjayne@reddit
Mr. or Mrs. Last name. Only that. We would have gotten in lots of trouble for anything else.
No-Opposite-11@reddit
Most of my teachers were said by their last names… I did have a few, however, who preferred us to say their first names because it made them feel, and I quote, “like a youngster”
Savingskitty@reddit
First name in k-3rd. Last name the rest of the time.
a_filing_cabinet@reddit
My partner works in a school, and is friends with other teachers. I still call them Mr/Mrs last name. I don't actually know any of their first names
JumpingJonquils@reddit
Never first name. The one teacher I had in school who insisted on students using his first name ended up removed from the school for having inappropriate relationships with students... It's a formality barrier for a reason.
smileglysdi@reddit
Last
originalmango@reddit
Mister last name, or Miss last name, or even Sister first name? for the nuns. I remember a Sister Ellen Mary and a Sister Patricia, so maybe it was first names instead of surnames.
half_way_by_accident@reddit
Last names in grade school, mostly first names in undergrad.
Loisgrand6@reddit
Last name
babybird87@reddit
last name till University… than first
CoconutxKitten@reddit
Really? My professors wanted Dr. Last Name
TangledUpPuppeteer@reddit
It was always last name. Mr, miss or Mrs. Always until college. Then I had quite a few teachers that all had the same first name — professor. Some had the first name Doctor. Always felt weird calling them by their full government name, but when you have 3 professors in a room, you have to distinguish which you mean, so, you basically have to use it.
Surprising how many parents named their kids in preparation for their future careers!
CoconutxKitten@reddit
Mr./Ms./Mrs. Last name
Lotusflowerbum@reddit
Last name (I.e Mrs. Bills or Ms. Downey)
SuperiorHappiness@reddit
I’m 56 years old and I STILL call my teachers Mr. or Mrs. and their last name.
sketchahedron@reddit
Last name for sure. I don’t even know most of their first names.
Acrobatic-Tadpole-60@reddit
Last names all through high school and then almost all first names in college.
manderifffic@reddit
Title and last name until college. It was a mixed bag in college, bust mostly first name.
cloisteredsaturn@reddit
Last names, from preschool all the way through nursing school. Where I’m from, calling a teacher or professor by their first name is viewed as disrespectful.
somearcanereference@reddit
We used first names at the school I attended for my elementary years. I think it was meant to emphasize that teachers and students were all members of the learning community.
It was only ever last names in junior high and high school, except for a couple of teachers in high school who told us we could use their first names if we wanted to. They were the teachers who really tried to connect with individual students, and I'm still friendly with them [redacted] years later.
pmorter3@reddit
Would be very strange to call any teacher by their first names in the US
Diamond123682@reddit
Mostly last names. Nowadays, it depends on the teacher’s preferences.
For example, I’m a sub and my current last name (current ‘cause I’m getting married this year) is difficult to pronounce so I have my students call me “Ms. (First name)”. A lot of them think it’s my last name but students I have frequently have caught on that it isn’t and have tried taking a shot at pronouncing my last name. They couldn’t get it right. Lol. They still use the honor the “Ms.”
halforange1@reddit
Last name. And Mrs. was used for married female teachers, while unwed female teachers were Ms. I see that now all female teachers are Ms.
Twodogsandadaughter@reddit
Last name , I even call my friends parents by their last names , it’s a respect thing
Push_the_button_Max@reddit
We didn’t even think that our teachers had first names.
rachelm920@reddit
Last name. Mr. Mrs. Or Ms. Last name.
Massive_Pineapple_36@reddit
Last name exclusively. I could name all my teachers by last name but maybe 20% by first name lol.
CODMLoser@reddit
Always by their last name.
Mondschatten78@reddit
Last names, unless we were in a one-on-one situation and the teacher asked me to call them by their first name (love you Ms. Moulden!).
I made the mistake of calling out to one substitute I knew outside of school using his first name, and got in trouble for it.
FAx32@reddit
Always Mrs,, Mr., Miss, Dr., Professor last name.
Joeygorgia@reddit
What type of school did you go to? Genuinely curious, I’ve never heard of anyone calling a teacher by a first name
RexIsAMiiCostume@reddit
Always by last name, with the exception of some very chill college/university professors. Usually still last name for them too though, except in grad school my bf calls a lot of the professors who are heads of labs by first name (partially cause there's a lot of married couples and they have the same last name, I think)
DieHardAmerican95@reddit
Last name, always.
cholaw@reddit
Who calls a teacher by their first name? Very inappropriate.
I used to teach at a vocational school. I had a student call me by my first name and omittex my title. I never responded to any questions she had since she wasn't talking to me.
WorldlinessRegular43@reddit
Mr. or Mrs. LastName
shandelatore@reddit
Last name all the way through college.
Winter-Ride6230@reddit
Absolutely not, but I’m in my 50s, my DD called some of her teachers by their first names and I found that very hard to adjust to.
AR15sRockBaby@reddit
I went to Catholic school, so Sister First Name for the nuns, and Mr. or Mrs. Last Name for the secular instructors.
AnneinJapan@reddit
Mr. or Ms. \~\~ all the way through senior high school. From university on, it became Professor or Dr. \~\~, EXCEPT in a few special cases in which the professor wanted to be called by his first name.
coysbville@reddit
Last name. I would honestly see any teacher who insisted students call them by their first name as... kinda sus.
There was a teacher at one school I went to who was kind of like that. Not first name shit, but he prioritized being his students' "friend" rather than someone they should see as an authority figure. Fast forward a year later, I've graduated and started going to local college parties. Guess who see there. Mr. Fucking Ladner, partying with the very students he taught in the previous years, many of which werebstill under 21. He was still a 10th grade biology teacher. I took that free time to tell him just how stupid I thought he was to move the way he did and that he was gonna lose his job eventually. Needless to say, he lost his job that year. Fucking idiot.
Revolutionary-Copy71@reddit
I went to 9 different schools in my primary education years, eight public and one private. There was not a single one where it was acceptable to call a teacher by their first name.
Packu_Bat@reddit
We called them Miss Smith or Mr Smith . Even in college .
nessysoul@reddit
First name is weird and seems to chummy/disrespectful.
Some teachers had hard to pronounce names in grade school so we’d say like “mrs. G” or soemthing but always last name
Seuss221@reddit
Last name only
Careless-Impress-952@reddit
Last name, always. You could get sent to the principal’s office/detention if you didn’t. As far as I was concerned Mr./Mrs./Ms. was their first name
msklovesmath@reddit
Last, with one exception of Larry, the high school arr teacher. Absolutely legend.
Zardozin@reddit
Last names, except when you got a hippy who wanted to become with the kids.
caljaysocApple@reddit
Strictly by Last name until college
Shen1076@reddit
Nursery school: Miss Firstname; after that always last name
JayeK47@reddit
Strictly last name with the appropriate honorific attached. (Dr. ,Prof., Mr., Mrs. or Miss)
distressed_amygdala@reddit
I went to private school for 3 years, and called my teachers "Ms." or "Mrs. LastName", even though they were all related to me lol. After that, I was homeschooled by my veteran-public-educator grandma, so I called her "Grandma" lol. Then I went to college and everyone was "Professor" or "Doctor".
JT-Av8or@reddit
I still don’t know my teachers first names. 😆
LionCM@reddit
Last name... always.
Quirky_Commission_56@reddit
In grade school and high school it was always Mr. or Mrs./Miss
But since my mom was a teacher in the same district, by the time I was in college I was addressing them by their first names since they’d often come to our house on the weekends.
Staszu13@reddit
Last name. Using the given name is considered disrespectful
damageddude@reddit
It was always Ms./Mrs./Mr. last name, even if we knew their first name right through HS (class of 1985). Of the ones I know via social media (not as many anymore, sadly), I still use their last name.
GurglingWaffle@reddit
Up through highschool it was Ms lastname, Mrs lastname, Mr lastname. Sometimes a teacher might use a first name but it was still preceded by the honorific. Ms Samantha,.for example. In college it would be professor lastname.
Hawk13424@reddit
Last name with the appropriate honorific (Mr, Mrs, Dr, Professor).
rydzaj5d@reddit
Always Mr or Mrs (last name) The only exception was my son’s private school—there everyone was addressed by first name. The principal, Diane, assured me that it would not affect discipline. Everyone knew that being called into Diane’s office meant business. And for my son, that worked
JustJake1985@reddit
There... There are people who address their teachers by their first names? I realize societal rules on respect change over time and place, but this is one that I just don't understand. I was taught/raised that you always addressed your teachers as Mrs. Smith, and it extended to other adults in general, unless that adult said "please call me by my first name!" or until I was old enough to be on a first name basis. That being said, while I can now address other adults on a first name basis, I absolutely cannot seem to unlock the ability to address former teachers on a first name basis. I ran into my kindergarten teacher last year and even though it's been almost 35 years, I still can't call her anything besides Mrs. O'Donnell. My parents went to high school with my sixth grade social studies teacher and every couple of months my dad says "oh, I ran into Gregg the other day and he said to tell you hello!" and I just... My brain short-circuits and can't accept him as anyone but Mr. Elder. The same extends to my pediatrician; I ran into her last month and even though she's now retired and hasn't been my doctor for over twenty years, I still call her Dr. K.
boxorags@reddit
Mr./Mrs./Dr. (last name)
madderdaddy2@reddit
Last name except my high school band staff. Mostly first in college.
forevermore4315@reddit
Never ever ever by their first name.
Alarmed-Extension289@reddit
Unless they said other wise it's always been last name only even through college.
SenseNo635@reddit
Calling people by their last name makes me uncomfortable, so I always call them by their first name. I did that all through school and still do it today.
Beginning_Cap_8614@reddit
Last name until college, and even then only if the teacher requests it first. If a teacher is called by their first name, it's after a title to ensure the students know their place. (Miss Stacey) Children are expected to use titles for authority figures, otherwise it's disrespectful.
peoplearejustok@reddit
Last name with Mr/Ms./Mrs. When I was teaching my students called me by my last name, I hated hearing my first name from students.
common_grounder@reddit
Always by their last name unless they asked for their first name to be used. But there are certain academic environments in which first name usage is common or customary. For example, my daughter attended a Quaker college where everyone, students, administrators, and faculty alike, are considered equals, so everyone calls everyone by their first name. In the '80s, I attended a large state university that had a small but prestigious design school. In the larger university, every professor I had was addressed by their last name, but in the design school, things were much more casual and first names were used for all the faculty. I assume it's still the same now.
Still-Peanut-6010@reddit
Last name. I am not sure I could even tell you the first name for many of them.
Major-Winter-@reddit
Nope. It was always Mr./Mrs./Miss Lastname. I would have caught it at home if I disrespected my teachers.
spicy_chick@reddit
Last name only for me as a Gen Xer. My kids go to a more progressive public charter school and they call their teachers by their first names.
Tortured_Poet_1313@reddit
It was absolutely Mrs./Miss/Mr. LastName all the way through college with VERY few exceptions.
JustMeHere8888@reddit
I don’t think teachers had first names when I was a kid. They were all Miss, Mrs or Mr LastName.
Aggravating-Gain6925@reddit
Last name with the appropriate prefix. Mr. Mrs, Miss, Dr. Etc.
digital_dumpfire@reddit
Last name but college can be different. Some more liberal degrees just use their last name. I’m a social work major getting my bachelors degree and barely know my professors last names.
Ellavemia@reddit
When I attended school we exclusively called teachers Miss/Ms./Mrs./Mr. Lastname.
sunrisehound@reddit
Teachers have first names??
Itriedbeingniceonce@reddit
Last name, always.
Bird_Watcher1234@reddit
Aways Mrs, Ms or Mr Last Name
scruffye@reddit
In high school I don't think I addressed any teachers by their first names, though I think for some of my coaches I would address them by their last but without Mr./Ms.. So like I'd refer to them as Coach Smith or just Smith but never Mr. Smith or Jack.
In college I addressed every teacher as Professor Lastname except for the studio art professors, they all went by first name.
breezychocolate@reddit
My high school had us call teachers by their first names and that was very much an exception to the rule.
AtheneSchmidt@reddit
Last names with 2 exceptions in elementary school, both who went by an initial. (Mr. B and Ms. H,) Both of these teachers chose to be known by their initials, and they specifically decided to do so because their names were very difficult for young children to say properly.
TrashDaisy999@reddit
Last name all throughout school. A couple of time a a kid would call a teacher by their first name to see what would happen and it would usually result in the teacher coming unglued
CreatrixAnima@reddit
It kind of depends on where you are. In my region, there are a lot of Quakers, and Quakers don’t believe entitled as a general rule. So a lot of first names. Not exclusively, but it’s not unheard of at all.
_Internet_Hugs_@reddit
We were not allowed to call teachers by their first names. Even if you knew them personally outside of school, in school you had to call them by their honorific and last name. When I was in Jr. High a girl in one of my classes had the teacher marry her (much) older sister. The guy was literally her brother-in-law and she still had to call him Mr. Smith.
Square-Dragonfruit76@reddit (OP)
The school forced this rule on you?
_Internet_Hugs_@reddit
Oh yeah. If you called a teacher by their first name you'd get detention. Some teachers were okay with it, usually the ones that spent a lot of time with kids in afterschool clubs or coaching and were younger, but if you got caught calling a teacher by their first name by one of the uptight ones it was not good. At the very least you'd get a lecture on respecting your elders and people who know more than you and at worst you'd end up in detention. I only got a couple of lectures before I learned my lesson.
Square-Dragonfruit76@reddit (OP)
Sorry, to clarify, I'm asking if the school forced this even if the teacher was okay being called by their first name?
_Internet_Hugs_@reddit
Yes. The school forced it. It was a behavior rule. Like the dress code or chewing gum in class. We had to agree to the Code of Conduct at the start of every school year. It was literally in the handbook they gave every student on the first day of school.
Square-Dragonfruit76@reddit (OP)
Interesting
Realistic-Reaction85@reddit
We didn't even know our teacher's first names.
jkdess@reddit
daycare/preschool settings (Miss,Ms.Mrs.,Mr.) first name. elementary and beyond last name. The only time where I’ve seen a first name be used outside of that as if the teacher is non-binary and there’s just no prefix to it.
Imaginary_Train_8056@reddit
Never by their first name, even in a social/non-school context.
yowhatisuppeeps@reddit
Ms / Mrs / Mr Last Name (or first letter of last name for long or complicated names) for elementary through high school, mostly. Never by first names, sometimes in high school they’d have nicknames though (had one everyone called Big Red, etc)
In college it was usually Dr / Professor Last Name (or last initial), but someone would be Dr / Professor First Name, and some would just be First Name. They would address how they wish to be referred to on the first day of class
SavannahInChicago@reddit
Last name until college. College was first name or doctor.
Anon-John-Silver@reddit
Depended on the teacher. Some were okay with first name, most I called by their last name, some had nicknames they liked.
WarmHippo6287@reddit
Called them whatever they wanted to be called. Some teachers preferred last name, some first name, some were just called by a single letter of their name.
pete_blake@reddit
Last name, never, EVER first name
Stimpisaurus@reddit
In my experience, it depended on the teacher/professor. School policy was typically calling them Mrs/Mr ______ (insert last name.) That being said, in fifth grade, my teacher had a difficult to pronounce last name, so we just called him Mr. Wayne.
By high school, a lot of the teachers were a lot more laid back about the formalities. While there were some who wanted to be called Mrs/Mr whatever. There were also a handful of just out of college teachers in their early mid 20s we just called by their first name or a nick name.
College was more or less the same, though tended to be even less formal.
Just_Me1973@reddit
It was always Mrs Name or Miss Name or Mr Name. Never but their first names. In the US it’s mostly considered disrespectful for a child to call any adult that’s not family by their first name. At least that’s how it was when I was growing up in the 70s and 80s.
Oomlotte99@reddit
K-12 it was Mr./Ms. in college it was by first name per their request or, if not specified, Dr. last name. With other students often just referred to professors by last name.
rcjhawkku@reddit
By last name, with title: Mr., Ms., Dr., Prof.
A possible exception would be graduate students teaching introductory university courses.
Actually10000Bees@reddit
Last name only, with a Mr., Ms., Or Mrs. in front of it. Using the first name would be seen as disrespect and would get you in trouble.
Even if I saw one of my old teachers in public (I graduated 14 years ago), I would feel super uncomfortable using their first name.
silvahammer@reddit
Last name exclusively except my Kindergarten teacher Miss Pat
callmeprin2004@reddit
Always last name, even in college.
Warden18@reddit
Always last name. The only exception would be if we were close enough and would joke around and use their first name on occasion to surprise them. I think it's disrespectful to use their first name unless you know them outside of school and are on a first name basis. Still, I wouldn't want to set the precedent for other students to call them by their first name.
Kazodex@reddit
Nah, I usually just called them “mommy”
Imaginary_Roof_5286@reddit
Mr./Ms./Mrs./Miss last name exclusively through high school. First names weren’t usually known, even of the more populate “cool” teachers. In college there was the addition of Dr. to the honorifics. There might have been a few who went by first names, but it was generally discouraged.
Puzzleheaded-Maybe32@reddit
Last name.
I still call my 7th grade English teacher Mrs. [Name] even though she's repeatedly told me since graduation I can call her by her first name. I just can't do it 😂😂
I graduated in 2011. She was my teacher in 06
huz92@reddit
First name. But I went to a smaller school that was pretty liberal about most stuff.
abmbulldogs@reddit
Mrs., Ms., or Mr. Last Name only. That included college when it became Dr. Last Name.
Competitive-Fee2661@reddit
Never by their first name, that was considered disrespectful. Same with my children.
Hoosier_Jedi@reddit
I’m a teacher. God help any kid who calls me by my given name.
inquiringsillygoose@reddit
What do you go by if not your given name?
BrainFartTheFirst@reddit
🙋🏼 Hoosier, can I use the bathroom?
IA_Royalty@reddit
Nah today it's "Ay Hoosh! I'm stepping out"
ageekyninja@reddit
Nooooo lol you definitely never call a teacher by the first name. The level of disrespect 😭 it gives me chills
Tuerai@reddit
Definitely called all my teachers by mr./mrs./miss/mz. lastname.
it is funny, because it seems like training for how society used to be rather than how it is now, because in the professional world, i call everyone by their first name unless there's like 3-5 people with the same name.
ZevVeli@reddit
You call the teacher by their last name until you get their degree. If they do allow you to call by their first name, you still have to append the affix to it. So John Smith would be either Mr. Smith or Mr. John, but never just John.
Anthrodiva@reddit
Last name
Just_OneReason@reddit
Mr/Ms. Last Name. In college some professors went by their first name. I could never have called any of my K-12 teachers by their first names.
BrunoGerace@reddit
74 here...
It was either Miss, Mrs., or Mr. So-and-So, or it was my dad's paratrooper boot a foot up my descending colon.
I'm glad to have that formal mode of address.
It speaks to respect. Respect is implicat until shown to be undeserved.
Gokies1010@reddit
Last name, even as an adult. Calling them by their first name is disrespectful.
Nothingelsematters22@reddit
Last name. I also work in a medical clinic and call all the doctors Dr (last name) regardless of how many times they tell me to call them by their first names.
MaleficentMousse7473@reddit
Last name all the way through college. In grad school it was first name
ConflictedMom10@reddit
The only teachers I’ve ever known to go by first name were preschool and special education. I teach SPED and go by first name.
Morgul_Mage@reddit
Mr. Or Mrs Lastname. Always.
Hell, I’m 56 years old and I still call my 8th grade science teacher Mr. Lastname when I see him.
FadingOptimist-25@reddit
We call most teachers by their last names.
DD-de-AA@reddit
always by their last name proceeded by a proper gender greeting. Miss Mrs. or Mr.
RoxyLA95@reddit
I would never think to call a teacher by their first name.
wickedseraph@reddit
I cannot fathom using a first name towards a teacher or professor.
aenaithia@reddit
Public school in rural Georgia. All teachers were Miz or Mister Lastname.
hollyglaser@reddit
Mr or Mrs lastname
archaicanxiety@reddit
Last name. I have college professors who i sm friendly with or have on Facebook and i still address them as Last Name or Dr.Last Name. In fact My mother just had a 50th high school reunion in October and saw former teachers and STILL refers to them as Mr., Mrs. or even Ms. If that's how she knew them as a student.
romanticaro@reddit
elementary mostly first name, middle and high last name, college was a mix
GothDerp@reddit
Up in northern USA it was Mr/Ms/Ms "last name." In the south it's usually "Ms/Mr "first name" depending on the teacher. My college professors prefer their first name with me because I'm their age...
wendyd4rl1ng@reddit
As a student it was pretty exclusively Mr|Mrs and their last name. I had maybe 2 teachers who went by their first name. That's across almost a dozen different schools/locations I went to.
As an adult it's flipped, when I've run into old teachers they pretty consistently tell me to address them by their first name.
Acrobatic_End6355@reddit
Last names. Your school must’ve been an outlier.
StumblinThroughLife@reddit
Last only. You’d get in trouble calling them by their first. Aldi there’s a 70% chance you never learn their first name unless you’ve had them a couple years in a row and they’ve bonded with that group of kids
CosmicGreen_Giraffe3@reddit
We called teachers Mr./Miss/Mrs./Ms. Last Name through high school. In college, for me, it depended. There were a few professors that students would call by their first name, but Professor Last Name was more the norm. Same was true for graduate school.
Even decades later, I would still call a former teacher by their title and last name if I saw them.
bellegroves@reddit
Last name exclusively until Scott with the bare feet and patchouli just wanted to be Scott for 12th grade literature.
karer3is@reddit
Never in my life. Even when I went to college and I was significantly closer in age to a few of my professors, I never did that; it just would've felt weird because I was raised never to speak casually to teachers
HighFiveKoala@reddit
Went to school my whole life in California, only called teachers by their last names
cometshoney@reddit
I ran into my first grade teacher when I was a grown ass married adult. She was still Ms. Woods. If Ms. Woods even had a first name, I was not aware of it. I still don't know her first name, mainly because I'm convinced her legal name was, in fact, Ms. Woods.
FoxyLady52@reddit
Last name. Mr., Mrs., or Miss ——————. Ms. wasn’t a thing yet.
proscriptus@reddit
Mr., Mrs., or Miss through high school and my first stint in college. My second time in college, I was 27 and I went to an alternative college and it was mostly first names.
Professional_Mood823@reddit
Always last name. The only teacher that called me by my last name was my JROTC instructors.
languagelover17@reddit
I teach Spanish, so I go by Señora. But I would not allow a student to call me by my first name.
Square-Dragonfruit76@reddit (OP)
What is your reasoning?
languagelover17@reddit
It’s too informal. No teacher at my school would allow it, it’s more formal and respectful to call a teacher Mr or Mrs or Ms.
Square-Dragonfruit76@reddit (OP)
But that's a reasoning based off of convention alone, not an argument to keep doing it.
I would agree that it shows respect, but what kind of respect? Proponents of the first name debate would say: "leading a school where students call adults by their first names, this practice helps break down unproductive barriers and engender mutual respect between adults and students." (Paraphrased from source.
languagelover17@reddit
I disagree that first names are a sign of mutual respect. I need students to see me as an authority immediately. I am not their equal, I am authority figure to them.
languagelover17@reddit
It’s too informal. No teacher at my school would allow it, it’s more formal and respectful to call a teacher Mr or Mrs or Ms.
PinkRoseBouquet@reddit
Are you kidding? We never addressed our teachers by their first names. Always Mr or Ms X, Professor X if applicable.
Square-Dragonfruit76@reddit (OP)
Wolverine, is that you?
IchibanChef@reddit
I have only ever referred to my own teachers as Mr./Ms.. The only teachers I have ever referred to by their first name are my kids' teachers that we know outside of school.
Tough_Tangerine7278@reddit
Honorific + Last Name
Macropixi@reddit
Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms “Last Name”
Professor “Last Name” once I got to college.
It’s a sign of respect
inspiredsue@reddit
I grew up in the 50s and 60s. All teachers and most adults were called Mr., Mrs. or Miss. I had maybe a couple of teachers in my senior year of high school that we were allowed to call by their first name outside of school. Everything changed in the 70s.
AssignmentFar1038@reddit
Last name. I don’t think I ever had a teacher, all the way through college, that I could call by their first name. Even as an adult with kids in school, I can’t call their teachers by their first name, despite them encouraging it.
Due-Assistant9269@reddit
Last name only.
AlternativeDue1958@reddit
Catholic school for 17 years; Mr./Mrs. (last name)
CookbooksRUs@reddit
Last names, until I got to boarding school. At Hippie Prep teachers went by their first names. Then I wound up at Stuffy Prep and it was 50/50.
Suitable-Nothing-706@reddit
Only called them by their last names. But for some reason, when I forget their names (like years later), the one that I remember is their first name idk why.
Scootchula@reddit
First name. Preceded by “Sister.”
ktbear716@reddit
last name always
CatOfGrey@reddit
I graduated from high school almost 40 years ago, and I still talk once in a while with a former teacher. It took me 20+ years to move from "Mrs. K" to "Joan".
rheameg@reddit
Mr or Mrs XYZ
SnooLentils3066@reddit
As a support staff in an elementary school, I insist they call me Mrs ______ Some support staff are okay with first names, such as the custodian, health clerk, etc. But that’s not for me.
No_Bookkeeper_6183@reddit
I’ve never called a teacher by their first names, most I didn’t know. Started first grade in 1975 with Miss Lindgren.
SnooLentils3066@reddit
Last name. Always. My 7th grade math teacher and I became friends and we still are, 50 years later. It took me 10 years to fe comfortable addressing her by her first name.
shammy_dammy@reddit
I never called them by their first name. It was Mr./Mrs. Last name or sir/ma'am
Saltwater_Heart@reddit
Last name only. Mr. Mrs. Ms.
The_Lumox2000@reddit
Other than PreK all my students have called me by my last name.
When I was growing up my teachers at a Montessori school k-3rd went by their first names. After that it was their last names.
NVJAC@reddit
Never called a teacher by their first name.
CrimsonEagle124@reddit
Last name all throughout grade school. First names for professors I was close with, outside of the classroom.
confusedrabbit247@reddit
Mr or Mrs/Miss/Ms Surname
forceghost187@reddit
Grades 3-6 I went to a school where we called then by their first name. Even the Principal. Besides that school, always last name
purplishfluffyclouds@reddit
*teachers
Mr./Mrs./Ms./Professor [last name]. Always. We were never allowed to use first names with instructors.
FeelTheWrath79@reddit
A teachers first name is either Mr., Mrs., Miss, or Ms. Also Doctor.
NFLDolphinsGuy@reddit
Last name Pre-K to college. If I run into them I still do, although I have been corrected by some of them.
Kimba26@reddit
Absolutely never had a teacher who I called by their first name. Even three years after college graduation when I ran into my psychology teacher from high school a local bar and he said "I think you can call me (his first name) now ". I was like no, I absolutely can not.
august401@reddit
my school did mr/mrs first name, but i went to a weird asa charter school
TankDestroyerSarg@reddit
Only time I started to call a teacher or professor by their first name, was in trade school. Always last name in K-12 and 4-year University.
glendacc37@reddit
In school, we always called teachers Mr, Miss, or Mrs LAST-NAME. In college (90s), it was a crap shoot. Some went by first names while others were called Dr, Mrs/Ms, or Mr LAST-NAME.
I later worked as professional staff for over 20 yrs at a major university. It felt like faculty and instructors went by their first name, and it was difficult for me to figure out if they had a PhD or not if I wanted to address them more formally. I'd often receive emails from international students addressing me as Dr even though I didn't have a PhD.
KissMyGrits60@reddit
when we were growing up, we had to call them, Mr. or Miss, or Mrs.. We were not allowed to use first names. I still call my music teacher from the 70s by her last name.
alexthe5th@reddit
Always last name, along with Mr, Mrs, Miss, Coach, Doctor, or Professor. Only on some very rare occasions would I use first name, usually a small number of college professors who I got on a first-name basis with.
TypeOneTypeDone@reddit
Not even in college did I do that, and most professors don’t care.
That being said, the only time I’ve ever seen it was in daycare. The kids were taught to call us all “Miss (first name)” or “Mister (first name)
brak-0666@reddit
Last name only. There were a couple teachers in high school actually whose first names I never learned.
Emily_Postal@reddit
Title and last name.
Classic_Ad_9985@reddit
“Mother” “Father” unironically
308_shooter@reddit
Last name except for two in college. They scooped me up early to work with them during school. Calling my coworkers Mr. (Insert last name) felt weird.
TheShitpostAlchemist@reddit
Exclusively last names, usually Mr or Mrs through grade school and then Professor or Dr in college. Sometimes college professors will say you can use their first names but by then it just feels weird.
breebop83@reddit
Last name. With the exception of 4th and 5th grade, that teacher went by Mr FirstName.
Funny personal story, my husband and his siblings went to the high school where my uncle taught. Husband didn’t have him as a teacher but one of his brothers did and he still really struggles with not calling my uncle Mr LastName. My BIL is in his 30s and my husband and I have been married for 7 years (together for 10) so it’s not like he was recently in HS and he’s seen my uncle multiple times when they’ve both been at family functions or helped us with home projects.
Loud_Ad_4515@reddit
I had one professor in college that refused to be called "Dr. Selvin," replying in faux humility, "Dr. Selvin is my father. Call me Mark." It was ridiculous, actually.
In preschool, and among special education teachers, they are usually called Miss FirstName or Mr FirstName. Everyone else I've encountered in educational settings were Ms/Mr/Professor/Dr LastName.
dontlookback76@reddit
In k-12? No, last name only. My apprenticeship? We called our instructors and apprenticeship coordinator by their first names. Except for one whose last name was Scott, but went by Scotty at work and school.
high-tech-red-neck@reddit
In most American educational situations, using the teacher's first name is considered disrespectful.
cantthink0f1rn@reddit
All my teachers went by their last names except for one. She came from India and her last name was really complicated so she just went by her first.
JoyfulNoise1964@reddit
Miss Mrs or Mr last name
mrpointyhorns@reddit
I think early elementary school we did Mrs/Ms/Mr first name. But I think by 3rd/4th grade, it switched to last name.
BrazilianButtCheeks@reddit
Always last name!
HeatherM74@reddit
Miss, Ms, Mrs, or Mr last name. Still the same at schools I work at. That being said I am a paraeducator and we go by Miss or Ms first name with our special needs students. I know my last name is a tongue twister for those without cognitive disabilities. I can’t image my students trying to save it. One calls me Heaver. (Not heee-ver, Heaver with a V instead of a TH)
mealteamsixty@reddit
Mr or Mrs (miss) last name, always. My mom would have murdered me if I'd ever called a teacher by their first name. Any adult, really, with very few exceptions
Spazyk@reddit
Only last name.
flyingfurtardo@reddit
Always last name, even through graduate and law school.
sadthrow104@reddit
We’re a fairly informal culture but not that informal!
liverdawg@reddit
Last name. First name got you sent to the office 100% of the time.
CountBacula322079@reddit
Last name except for my gifted special ed teachers, for whatever reason we used first names.
Most college professors I start out with "Dr." and they almost always just ask to be called by their first name.
meltsaman@reddit
Definitely always Miss/Mrs/Mr SoandSo. I didn't even know most of their first names, even the ones I really liked. Most of my yearbooks only had the last name of the teacher too. Parents also called them Miss/Mrs/Mr. Even the janitor was called Mr. Jones
CaptRogersNbrhood@reddit
Never called a teacher by their first name. Mr., Mrs., Ms. So and So.
Glassfern@reddit
Millennials here. We called them by their Surname. But I had some teachers where we called them by their first
Kauri_B@reddit
I didn't even know thier first names, even my parents called them Miss/Ms/Mr/Mrs etc
Prometheus_303@reddit
Last names.
99.99% in grade school.
I'm distantly related to one of my teachers. Even when I see her at a family reunion - even now decades after I've graduated - she's still Mrs. Smith.
We occasionally called the theater director (also an English teacher) by his first name. But mostly just among ourselves (just the theater kids, dunno if anyone else used it). If we were talking to him or some other teacher it would definitely be Mr. Smith.
It would probably be a little more likely to use first names at university level. But I'd say it is still heavily last name dominant.
One of my earlier undergrad classes was taught by a PhD candidate. He had us use his first name with him.
We had a married couple both teaching in our department. We'd use their first names when there could be ambiguity as to which Dr. Smith you might be talking about.
The only time off hand that we regularly called a professor by their first name was again the theater director. While I wasn't a theater major myself I used to help with the plays and the director was always John. We never called him Dr. Smith. When he retired the new guy came in and continued using first name... Now that I'm thinking about it - I can't even think of what Jack's last name is...
3CatsInATrenchcoat16@reddit
Last name only but some of my friends who are now teachers tell me it's now Ms/Mrs/Mr First Name.
ThatVoodooThatIDo@reddit
Last name. The only way I knew some of the first names is because my aunt was a teacher and she was friends with them
Prestigious-Name-323@reddit
I’m still in touch with my kindergarten teacher. I still refer to her as Mrs. Last name. And that’s after I went to college with and am friends with people who are teachers.
BasketFair3378@reddit
First name only when we were making out! A lot of detentions.
Square-Dragonfruit76@reddit (OP)
More details needed...
Street-Plantain-4498@reddit
They were my teachers, not my "teacher's".
Square-Dragonfruit76@reddit (OP)
Oh whoops. I used voice to text because I was cooking and didn't notice it. Thanks for pointing that out.
thetoerubber@reddit
Is this common in Massachusetts? I grew up in California and we never called our teachers by first name. Most of the time we didn’t even know what their first name was.
Square-Dragonfruit76@reddit (OP)
I don't know how common it is, but I know a couple schools that do it, as well as some schools where different teachers will last to be called different things.
Icy-Whale-2253@reddit
Only time I called a teacher by their first name was in college, and that was one teacher who was somewhat young. Others called him Mr. First name
Premium333@reddit
Rarely Mr./Mrs./Ms. first name as some teachers preferred it. Most often though it was honorific and last name.
I can't remember a single teacher who wanted us to use their first name without an honorific though.
Ace-of-Wolves@reddit
American here to add to the chorus of "last name." In fact, kids could get in trouble for using their teacher's first name (depends on the school, the teacher, etc).
Educational-Sundae32@reddit
Always by their last name, calling them by their first name is considered disrespectful.
seaburno@reddit
My mom was a teacher, and was friends with many of my teachers (and I was friends with their kids), so I'd see them in a non-academic/social environment on a regular basis. My 9th grade math teacher was our neighbor. My teachers were ALWAYS Mrs/Miss/Mr. [Last Name].
In college, I had three professors who I didn't call by [Title][Last Name]. The first one was also my debate coach, and he is only 6 years older. We (as a team) spent so much time with him (and his family) that it was really weird calling him Professor [Last Name] and his wife Susan, so we started calling him Coach [First Name]. The second one had was also my academic advisor, and I was his research assistant for 2 years. He insisted that when I was working with him, I was closer to a peer than a student, so I used his first name name. The final one had this awful to pronounce eastern European name, so he was Professor T.
Even now - 30+years after graduating, I can't bring myself to call my teachers by their first name. Three of them live in the same independent living facility as my Mom, so I see them almost every time I visit her. Even though all of my other friends are now first names to me, they are still Mrs. or Miss [Last Name]
DryFoundation2323@reddit
Mr. Blank/Mrs. Blank/Miss Blank. Anything else was good for a trip to the principal.
pm_nachos_n_tacos@reddit
Last always. In middle school, an art teacher said we could call her by her first name, and reminded us everytime when we didn't. But she had the same first name as me. When other kids asked me questions during work time, she'd respond, because she was helping someone else and just overheard our name.
As an adult, I'm assuming she had an issue with her last name, either divorce or family disassociation. Or maybe she just wanted to be hip lol
FunDivertissement@reddit
All adults were called by last names except for relatives (Aunt Nancy), and my parents best friends who we saw several times a week. Once when asked by our 5 yr old neighbor, what his first name was, my dad replied "Mr.".
Square-Dragonfruit76@reddit (OP)
Woah. I also have an Aunt Nancy
FunDivertissement@reddit
Actually my aunts weren't named Nancy. It was just the first name that popped into my mind for some reason. May aunts were Royce (pronounce "roy-see", Trudy, Isabell, and Frances.
Based on her named I'd guess your aunt is closer to my age than to my aunts generation.
Traveller7142@reddit
Last name exclusively in high school and lower level undergrad classes. Mostly first name in upper level undergrad classes
Efficient_Wheel_6333@reddit
In primary and secondary school, it was always Mr./Mrs./Miss Surname, at least to their faces (we had a vice principal who later became our principal that was Mr. Surname to his face and in front of other adults, but among each other, he was always Nickname-for reference, I went to a Catholic high school that hosts Kairos retreats for the juniors and seniors 4 times a year (twice for girls and twice for boys). Allegedly, he was given the nickname during one of these retreats, but that happened before I started school there. College, it was always Professor or Professor Surname unless informed otherwise.
Jaymac720@reddit
Before first grade, they were Ms/Miss Firstname. Afterward, it was last name
Cledus_Snow@reddit
Mr./Mrs./Dr./coach [last name]. no exceptions
mauser98k1998@reddit
Last name, Sr, Ma’am, or coach.
Js987@reddit
Almost universally by their last name. One or two, mostly professors in college, insisted on first names but that was at their request. Even if a teacher had a hard name it was typically their last name truncated to the first letter, like Mrs. S. Interestingly, children often call neighbors they know Mr. FirstName here in my area, so it appears this is more of a formal situation thing rather than a degree of familiarity thing.
Ok-Rate-3256@reddit
Always last name
worrymon@reddit
My teachers never even had first names.
jeffbell@reddit
99% of the time it was Mr/Mrs/Miss/Dr Laastname.
The only exception was my son's math teacher who asked people to call him by a nickname similar to his last name.
Razulath@reddit
I'm from Sweden so only first name
Syeleishere@reddit
Last name is the rule. Now I knew a guy that became a teacher and just so happened to be installed as MY student teacher( teacher in training). Id known him for years by his first name and was suddenly required to call him by Mr. Lastname. I got in trouble many times for forgetting we were at school.
Ambitious_Wealth8080@reddit
This varies by region, I think. As a counterpoint to most comments here, I grew up on the west coast and went to hippie-dippy private schools for elementary school, middle school, and college, and only ever consistently called teachers by their last names in the public high school I attended.
Parents of friends were also always referred to by first names, and everyone would have been uncomfortable using Mr or Mrs - I remember befriending a little girl from Texas and my mom asked her mom to tell her to please stop calling her Mrs Lastname. It’s still odd to me as a young adult with friends from all over when parents of friends expect to be called Mr or Mrs (or Miss Firstname, for the southerners).
Still_Proof1613@reddit
I married the nephew of one of my college professors. I still call my "uncle" Dr.
therealmmethenrdier@reddit
Last name.
SadLocal8314@reddit
Mr. Ms. Professor. I graduated college late, but in 2008 when I graduated, it was Professor or Doctor.
comrade_zerox@reddit
Some of my College profrssors went by their first name as well
comrade_zerox@reddit
In my final 2 years of High School, I transferred to a new school that was a first name basis system. Including the principal. This is quite rare
FreezasMonkeyGimp@reddit
I don’t think I ever called a teacher by their 1st name at any point from Pre-school all the way through college. It was always Mr/Mrs/Ms. X of Professor/Dr. Y
MagnumForce24@reddit
Always last name, you'd have a rough time with first names unless you liked detention
Goodlife1988@reddit
Always last name all the way, from K - college. It was Mr, Mrs, Dr, and Ms (what their preference was). It’s a sign of respect. My children grew up calling their friends parents, in the same way. My kids are now adults, and I still hear my daughter refer to the mom or dad of a childhood friend with their last name.
Wicket2024@reddit
Always last name. At grad school one of my professors was an old sorority sister and in the classroom it was last name, first name socially. Never ever called a teacher by their first name.
Sassifrassically@reddit
Last name in grade school, but in college most professors told us to call them by their first names
_Smedette_@reddit
Ms/Mr Last Name. The only time a first name was used (outside of college) was with the nuns, but that always included their title, eg: Sister Bernadette.
Had a few teachers in undergrad and beyond who insisted on Mr/Professor/Doctor Last Name, but most were fine with us using their first name.
BaseballNo916@reddit
That’s interesting, I only had one college professor who went by his first name the whole 4 years. Where are y’all going to college?
PrinceTwoTonCowman@reddit
In high school, we had a teacher that had a nickname, but people still put a Mrs. in front of the it, like Mrs. McTeacherFace, not Teachy McTeacherFace.
pastelpinkpsycho@reddit
Last name. Still as an adult after adding some old teachers on social media I still think of them as their last name. It’s weird when I hear someone call them by their first name.
Ok-Scarcity-5754@reddit
Always Mr/Ms Last Name. Hell, my kids are in school now and I’m calling these teachers by their last names like I wasn’t fully graduated before they were even born lol
ExitingBear@reddit
At one school, the culture was to call teachers by their first name (as in, you might not even know that teacher's last name. They introduced themselves as "John.") It was very, very unusual.
There were a few teachers in high school (and professors in college) who were advisors for time intensive extracurriculars. If you were in that club, during club hours, you might refer to that teacher by their first name. If you weren't in that club or were in class (not club) hours with that teacher, they were "Ms. Smith."
Everyone else, last name.
RandomPaw@reddit
Mr Lastname, Mrs Lastname, Ms Lastname or Miss Lastname until I got to college and then they were mostly Professor LastName.
RainyAlaska1@reddit
Always their last name. It was Mr. Johnson or Ms. Murphy.
freecain@reddit
Preschool: Mrs. Elementary school and up to college Mrs/Mr .
There were a few exceptions with teachers with harder to pronounce last names in elementary school where they would go with Mrs usually (though my mother went by Mrs. when she taught elementary school). A few high school teachers would have nicknames, but it would be Mr - and the nicknames were almost always based off their last names.
Weirdly, in highschool we always called our coaches Coach sometimes - and there was one english teacher who coached the girls cross country team we called Coach in school, even though I was on the boys cross country team.
Now, as a parent - I tend to call both my kids teachers Mrs. even though some are younger than I am. I also still call teachers I had as a kid by Mr. when I interact with them, even though I'm older now than they were when I had them - and a lot of those interactions are on websites like facebook where their family and friends are calling them by their first name.
uglygirlohio@reddit
Always Mr Mrs Dr Professor,etc
Silver_Leonid2019@reddit
Last name absolutely! There was one professor in college that said we could call him by his first name. Nope, never did! Actually dropped the class, not entirely about the name thing.
TwincessAhsokaAarmau@reddit
Last name, it’s disrespectful to ever call your teacher by their first name.
Sad-File3624@reddit
Bellow high school level it was always Miss Name. In high school each teacher would let us know how they wanted to be called and the same thing for college. Some college professors wanted to be called by first name, others needed Mr LastName, others coach, each one was different
Hotsauce4ever@reddit
Mr or Mrs or Ms, then Dr or Professor.
Never by the first name.
drspacetaco@reddit
I’m 37 and friends with my 12th grade English teacher. I still call him Mr. (Last name). It’s disrespect to call your teacher by their first name unless they explicitly said you could.
PacketOfCrispsPlease@reddit
Never the first name.
I still call my friends’ parents “Mr. & Mrs. Jones”. And I have kids of my own.
PomeloPepper@reddit
I didn't know teachers even had first names!
SnooPineapples280@reddit
Never used first name even a single time at school, not even in college.
ThePickleConnoisseur@reddit
Last name unless they only give you their firstname. I’ve had a few professors in college so far do that
kstaxx@reddit
I went to a very weird elementary school in California where the teachers decided first or last name so my KG, 1st and 2nd grade teachers picked last names and my 3rd - 5th grade teachers picked first names.
In high school, my English teacher let seniors call her by her first name.
In college I studied theatre and most of my professors in my department had us call them by their first names.
I had enough of a mix that neither option seems strange to me.
river-running@reddit
Last names only. Even now, at 35, I would address an old teacher the same way if I met them out and about, partly out of respect and partly because I don't remember a lot of their first names.
javiergoddam@reddit
Elementary was first names, middle through high school was last names unless it was one of those male teachers who liked to sit backward in chair and act like letting high schoolers curse in class was radical lol. Community college I don't recall but I'm pretty certain first name was standard unless it was a Dr.
Techn0chic@reddit
Last name with Mr/Mrs included
LCJonSnow@reddit
I only called one teacher by his first name in my entire educational career. His name was Dr. Robert Roberts, and he was Dr. Bob. His wife, who had her own PhD, substitute taught, so she was Dr. Mrs. Dr. Bob.
Caspers_Shadow@reddit
Last name. They were Mr. Mrs. Ms. _______ and when I got into college it was Professor _______. There was only one teacher we had a nickname for. Somewhere in his career he became Bobby-O.
nightglitter89x@reddit
Last name. First name makes me feel like my dad is gonna stare me down.
Joeybfast@reddit
Also use their last name. Even when I am talking about them today I use their last name. Expect my Rugby head coach we called my by his nickname .
hawffield@reddit
I call my supervisor and managers by their last name, much less my teachers.
I’ve worked in various teaching kind and I’ve been called “Mr. [my last name]” mostly in older groups and “Mr. [my first name]” for younger kids and the pupils I have heard in Uganda.
hatchjon12@reddit
Last names.
cleanuprequired1970@reddit
Mr. or Mrs./Miss Lastname. I can think of maybe 1 exception.
largos7289@reddit
Last name and always mr or mrs in fact i didn't have a male teacher till 6th grade.
Rourensu@reddit
I think the only (pre-college) teacher I didn’t call by their last name was my high school Japanese teacher, who was “Sensei.”
Interestingly, when I was a middle school English teacher in Japan, three of the teachers had the same last name, so the student called them FirstName Sensei.
poisonedkiwi@reddit
Similar thing here! The only teacher I didn't refer to by their last name was my French teacher in high school. We called her Madame. Even when I would pass by her in the hallway when I was no longer taking her classes, we would greet each other in French and I'd call her Madame.
Rourensu@reddit
My high school sensei was my first “Sensei” and on Saturdays I would go to Japanese school and I majored in Japanese in college and am now getting my MA in (Japanese) linguistics, so I’ve had many senseis, but he’s still “Sensei” to me.
LongjumpingSurprise0@reddit
In grade school, almost always (Mr, Ms, Mrs Last Name) except for the auto shop teacher who we called him by his nickname which was just a shorter version of his last name. College it varied, but when I started taking firefighter courses it was always Captain (Cap) or Chief.
NoAbbreviations4545@reddit
Always last name.
grixxis@reddit
I think I was in college by the time I had a teacher go by their first name, and even then it was either a TA doing lectures or a teacher from one of the CD electives. It was Mr/Ms until college when most everyone was Dr. .
Ezmar@reddit
In my experience, it depends, the rule is last name, but there's a rare exception where someone just goes by a specific name in all circumstances. One professor in particular went by his middle name exclusively in all contexts, personal and professional, and it was more distinctive than his very plain surname, so everyone used his middle name almost all the time.
dragonfayng@reddit
always last name unless you were trying to get under their skin
Pretty_Please1@reddit
When I worked in a school, I preferred to be called Ms. first name. But I worked with younger kids and disabled kids of all ages.
Nattie_Pattie@reddit
Definitely last name. I didn’t call any teachers by first names until college
hegelianbitch@reddit
In grade school it was always Mr/Ms Last Name. But I'm college, most of my professors have said they either don't care what you call them or they specifically asked to be called by their first names. And a lot of the ones who never mentioned what to call them would sign their emails with just their first name.
Soundtracklover72@reddit
Last name preceded by Mr Mrs or Ms
NerdyMama95@reddit
Last name only. There are honestly teachers to this day that I still don't know their first names. 🤷🏻♀️
No_Salad_8766@reddit
All I called by their last name, except 1, my German teacher. Mrs in German is Frau. So we were supposed to call her Frau last name. But everyone ended up just calling her Frau. She never told us not to. But I find it funny that everyone was just basically yelling WOMAN to get her attention. Lol.
Traditional_Ant_2662@reddit
Last name. Always. Mrs., Ms., Mr.
CountChoculasGhost@reddit
Last name
By the time I got later into college, a lot of professors got a lot more casual and some would ask to be referred to by first name, but depended on the person.
BoukenGreen@reddit
Always called teachers by their last name. Even after being graduated for almost 20 years I still do that unless I’m told I can use their first name.
More_Possession_519@reddit
The only teachers I had who went by their first names were theatre/art/dance teachers.
blana242@reddit
Last name, always. If I see them now, I still call them Mr/Ms/Dr last name. I actually work with one of my uni profs now and EVERYONE from my time period at school has a "Dr... I mean Joe," moment when we're in meetings.
nojugglingever@reddit
Elementary school, always last name. Mrs. ______, Mr. ______.
High school, mostly the same. One or two teachers who went by their first name.
College, exclusively first names. Maybe with some senior, more serious professors, I would say "Professor" to get their attention instead of "Bob," but for the most part, it would sound oddly formal to not use first name.
cookorsew@reddit
Always last name thru the 90s. College was usually first names. Now, my kid’s school is kind of a mix but there’s always a Ms or Mister in front of the first name. We also have initials. Mr X, Ms Jane, Mrs Smith, Ms Doe, etc. It’s whatever the teacher wants to be called but with a touch of formality.
It’s not tradition in my area for kids to use a formality with adults outside of school but people that moved here from other areas do teach their kids to always put Ms or Mr in front of all adult names. So some of my kid’s friends will call me “Ms Jane” and my SO “Mr Jack” rather than just our names. Once we get to know them better, they usually drop the Ms or Mr but it’ll still occasionally pop up. I personally didn’t teach my kid the formalities unless the other parent taught their kids and only when she was younger. I kept it simple, “She is Ms Cathy,” or “She likes to be called Ms Cathy,” which I explained that there are subcultures of the US and how to respect them.
Swimming-Book-1296@reddit
I'm in texas so its Honoriffic Last Name for every teacher. Mrs Smith, Dr. So-and-so, etc.
DizzyLead@reddit
"Mr./Mrs./Ms. [Last Name]."
It's a habit that stuck with me so long, than even after I graduated and started working in the school for years after that, I would call the teachers "Mr./Mrs./Ms" So-and-so even if I was as old or even older than they were.
yozaner1324@reddit
Elementary through highschool it was almost exclusively last name . I can only think of one exception—the art teacher in high school had us just call her by her first name.
College was different and was a mix of Dr. So-and-so and first names. Professors in my major were more likely to go by their first name than professors for other gen Ed subjects.
kilroy-was-here-2543@reddit
Last name, I only called one teacher by her first name and that was because she asked us too. Once I got to college it got a lot more lax. Some professors want you to call them by their first name, some by their last, others just don’t care
ycey@reddit
Last name. You only got a first name option if they were still young, new teachers who shared a last name with a more senior teacher
BeeSuspicious3493@reddit
I had one that used her first name. Her husband was the vice principal at the middle school and known for being tough. She was the fun high-school Spanish teacher and said she didn't want kids to think they're the same.
HumpaDaBear@reddit
Ms, Mrs or Mr last name until the last high school year. In college it would vary. First name sometimes.
RosietheMaker@reddit
Last name unless it was a priest or nun, then we used Fr./Sr. Firstname.
CategoryExact3327@reddit
Last name only.
Defiant_Ingenuity_55@reddit
Last name.
GoddessOfOddness@reddit
It depends on the culture of the school. Most schools are last name. Some schools you will hear “Miss Jane” or “Mr. John”.
I taught in an inner city school where we were “Mr.” or “Miss”.
“Miss, can I have a pencil?”
HurtsCauseItMatters@reddit
I'm 45 and if I saw a teacher of mine, I would STILL call them by their last name. If I was caught doing the opposite as a kid, i'd have paid for it.
Moist-Consequence@reddit
Last name for everything. My AP English teacher, who I loved, insisted on being called by her first name once her students graduated, but I refused, didn’t feel right
Silver_Catman@reddit
I think the only time I've ever called the teacher by their first name was in junior college the rest of the time it was Mr LastName/ Ms LastName
CaptainPunisher@reddit
Through first grade, it was usually "Miss Firstname," and then "Title/Honorific Lastname" through most of college. Once I landed in computer science, though, pretty much everyone was on a first name basis with "Dr. Lastname" only being used for a couple of professors who happened to be from China.
ariana61104@reddit
Last name. The only exception that I had was in Pre-K where in many places you may call your teacher Miss/Mrs. (first name). I've heard this is somewhat common, though I'm not for sure.
I have heard from some friends that they had teachers (who were generally younger) who were ok with being called by their first name, but this is not the norm.
Fragrant_Spray@reddit
After about 1st grade it was all last name. When I was really little, though (about 5 or 6 years old), I remember the teachers being called things like Miss Susie, and Mr. Dave. This would have been about 40 years ago.
JudgementalChair@reddit
Mr. Mrs. Ms. [Last name]
You try any other shit and your ass was grass
MentalTelephone5080@reddit
Last name. And I had a teacher that changed last names three times in the 9 years I was at the school
AntaresBounder@reddit
I’m a HS teacher. To call a teacher by their first name without permission is incredibly disrespectful. I’d be within my rights to submit a student for a disciplinary action if they did that repeatedly.
No-Goat-9911@reddit
In elementary, middle, and high school, I called them by their last names—for example, Mr. Lastname or Mrs. Lastname. Now that I'm in college, my professors want us to call them by their first names, but I usually just say "prof" or, if I'm emailing, "Professor Lastname."
SeaMollusker@reddit
Always last name. I'm in grad school now and everyone calls the professors by their first name and it feels very strange but I just go with it.
cawfytawk@reddit
In the 80's we never called public teachers by their first name. In college, they told us how they wanted to be addressed. Some had PhD's so deservedly "Dr. __". Mostly "professor ___" or their first name if that's what they wanted.
Nopenotme77@reddit
A few teachers/professors were known by their first names but mostly by their last names.
DudeThatAbides@reddit
Title and last name, like a respectful and respectable student should. I engaged in all kinds of mischief, but respecting the teachers was just a given. And mine thankfully made it easy to respect them.
Square-Dragonfruit76@reddit (OP)
Why can't you be respectful and respectable otherwise?
DudeThatAbides@reddit
Could just be a product of where I went to school (NC)? Calling a teacher by anything other than title and last name, unless they specifically wanted to be called by another moniker, was considered a general sign of disrespect by essentially downplaying the authority in teacher-student dynamic.
It’s akin to calling your mom or dad by their first name, especially while you were still a child.
whtevrnichole@reddit
first names in kindergarten only. last names 1st grade through college.
trexalou@reddit
Thru HS it was always last names. Still is as some are still tea hi bff/coaching my kids. College was typically first name, as the individual professor requested (except for the ones that became colleagues after graduation who I am now familiar enough to not only go by first names, but to be FB friends that actually interact with one another).
The tougher part is when your former classmates are faculty, staff & administration for your kids! It’s SO HARD to refer to the superintendent, or the history teacher by their last names instead of their HS (or grade school) nicknames! 🫣
lord_reign@reddit
Mr/Mrs Last Name, always. Never would call a teacher or professor by the first name. Feels weird to even imagine
Bluemonogi@reddit
At my school we used Mr, Mrs or Miss and their last name.
In college we used Professor or Doctor Lastname.
Traditional_Entry183@reddit
There was never, ever a point where i referred to a teacher by their first name through high school.
In college, there were a small number where it was acceptable. Usually younger professors when I was an upper classman and there wasn't much of an age difference.
schmelk1000@reddit
Last name.
Mr. Smith/Mrs. Smith/Ms. Smith…
DancingFlamingo11@reddit
Last name until college. And then it was only certain professors.
Questions_Remain@reddit
I went back to college at 50 after retiring from a “sir” and “title name” career and I exclusively called teachers Mr / Ms (Name) and or Professor / Doctor (Name) per their preference and how they initially introduced themselves. Even if they said “I’m John Smith” you can call me John, I would “Mr Smith” them in class to set a precedent by example for the younger students.
Misslovedog@reddit
the most casual i've ever been with a teacher was to call them by just their last name, no miss/mr. There's a couple professors that i've had in college that say that using their first name is fine, but it still feels weird lol
ushouldbe_working@reddit
MR/MRS/MS Last name. In college, most of the profs went by their first name.
breakerrrrrrr@reddit
Pretty much 50/50 until college. Then when I got to a small college with a small tight knit major I was on a first name basis with most of my professors. No title or anything
wojo1962@reddit
Last names only. Like Mr Jones, Miss Anderson, Mrs Smith....etc
DFMNE404@reddit
Last names. It’s rude otherwise in my opinion, even to non teachers first names are exclusive to people my age and position or to those who let me use their first name.
No-Consideration-891@reddit
Growing up it was considered incredibly rude or disrespectful not to address your teacher by their last name. I graduated highschool in 2009. College was a bit different, some professors preferred last name, others were comfortable being called by their first name.
pocketrocket-0@reddit
Here its seen as disrespectful to use first names of your elders unless specifically introduced or instructed otherwise
My grandma was a pre k teacher and she went by miss (first name) that's how she introduced herself.
Even out of highschool if I run into then it's still mr/Ms/Mrs last name unless it's been established that they prefer their first name
Pitiful_Bunch_2290@reddit
Last always.
Vegetable_Quote_4807@reddit
Last name with Mr, Miss or Mrs in front.
schonleben@reddit
Mr/Mrs Lastname all the way through high school. There were a few arts/electives teachers who would either have a nickname or would forego the Mr/Mrs, but per administration they werent able to go by their first names. College was a mixed bag - mr/mrs/dr lastname, first names, last names only.
I’ve worked with the theatre department at a high school for a few years now - not as staff but on a freelance basis. I’ve finally gotten all the kids to just use my first name. All the actual faculty/staff are still Mr/mrs Lastname or just Lastname.
Square-Dragonfruit76@reddit (OP)
It was against the rules? You are the first commenter to have said this. What was their reasoning?
schonleben@reddit
It’s been so long I really don’t remember. It may have been more for the sake of appearances rather than a formal rule. I just remember a couple teachers saying something along the lines of “I can’t let you call me Susan so just call me x” o had one teacher who went by Lou, short for Lucifer. No clue what the backstory was there.
TastefulAssfuck@reddit
The only place I've ever heard of using first names was a quaker school I went to for a year when I was a little kid. Even there, some of the teachers still used mr./mrs. But a few of the younger teachers went by first name. I remember our gym teachers name was Louis.
But every public school and college that ive heard of pretty much exclusively uses last names
workntohard@reddit
To my memory, all but one were last Mr/Mrs/Ms last name. The one exception was shop teacher. Students and other teachers called him Mr C, just the letter, no idea what his full last name was.
Only_Pop_6793@reddit
Last name unless I really hated them. Lookin’ at you Nicole
g0thfrvit@reddit
I call anyone I do not know well by their last name. I work as a veterinarian and it irks me when clients call me by my first name when they’ve just met me. We’re not close like that, respect me more.
margieusana@reddit
The only first names we used for teachers started with “Sister.”
marklikeadawg@reddit
Mr. or Mrs. Last name.
Decent-Bear334@reddit
Not a chance. Catholic school, Franciscan Brothers high school, military college.
zigzagstripes@reddit
Last name exclusively except for the one year I went to a weird alternative school where it was Ms./Mr. first name
And one professor who was so iconic and amazing in every way that she went by her first name. And everyone knew who you were talking about when you just said her first name.
Accomplished_Mix7827@reddit
Last name. Calling a teacher by their first name is incredibly uncommon. It took me a while to get used to calling lab TA's by their first names in college, and the only professor I ever called by first name was an Indian woman who decided it wasn't worth the struggle of teaching us how to pronounce her last name correctly (we still always called her Dr FirstName, though; to do otherwise would have been disrespectful, and she was generally well-liked).
We may be more casual than a lot of cultures, but teachers still receive a lot of respect and deference.
Positive-Avocado-881@reddit
My high school’s policy was to call them by their first name. Other than that, it was always last name. Even in preschool.
Mediocre_Daikon6935@reddit
Using a persons first name that you are not friends with is both presumptuous and inappropriate.
sertraline4me@reddit
Last name. I’m 28 and friends with my first grade teacher (who retired after my first grade class) on Facebook and whenever she comments on anything or wished me happy birthday I still say “thank you Mrs. Smith”. I do the same whenever I see any former teachers in public. I do have some college profs I’ve remained friendly with and some of them have been first name since day one but only because they specifically requested that.
Weightmonster@reddit
Mr/Mrs/Ms/Dr (last name) all through school.
I know in Quaker schools they say Teacher (first name). And I’m sure there are very liberal/hippy schools where everyone is called by their first name.
qu33nof5pad35@reddit
Last name. The only time I’ve called a teacher by their first name was in college. He was in his early 30s and wanted us to call him by his first name.
winteriscoming9099@reddit
Near-exclusively last name, with the exception of this one teacher in the music department.
chewbooks@reddit
Sister or Father and then their first name. That's a Catholic school for you. If they were lay teachers, they were Miss, Mrs., or Mr and their surname.
Remarkable_Table_279@reddit
I went to a two room private school so very much not standard. There was always a title. (Or supposed to be) So Ms/Miss/Mrs first name or Mrs Last name. Also Miss first name was used regardless of marital status. My 80+ year old mom is still Miss First… But one teachers aide start with title but she was basically just one of the girls so it switched to first name…but we were really supposed to say Ms first I thought it was a southern thing but when I went to college (late 90s) and asking an elementary education (also Southern) roommate if her students were going to call her Miss Last or Miss first & she was appalled that anyone would call a teacher by her first name even with a title.
Remarkable_Table_279@reddit
I was so annoyed when my dad was at the hospital and some 20 something aides called him by his first name…didn’t say anything (not my place, my mom was there)…but it felt like they thought because he had Alzheimer’s and brain damage means he was no longer deserving of being addressed respectfully.
Remarkable_Table_279@reddit
I’m fine with it if kids use my nickname without a title but I’d prefer a title if I’m being addressed by my first name by a literal child (Miss or Aunt Relatable or RaeRae)
Remarkable_Table_279@reddit
The use of titles was so engrained in me that when I entered the work place I was lectured for not using first names or adding a title. And because it felt weird calling men with gray hair by their first name, I followed the guys and used last name (for some guys)…except I got in trouble about 5-10 years later when a different boss pointed out that if two people shared the same first name I called the person I liked less by their last name. (But seriously “John A” & B sat next to each other…what was i supposed to do?)
rawbface@reddit
I have never heard of any American school using first names for teachers. Even in daycare and pre-K, it's "Miss/Mr Firstname", and never just their first name.
It was always a hard and firm rule that you must refer to teachers as "Mr/Mrs/Miss/Dr Lastname" with absolutely no exceptions.
Square-Dragonfruit76@reddit (OP)
I went to Quaker school for elementary through middle school, and everyone was called by their first name. I went to public high school, and there it was up to the teacher but most of them chose first name.
11B_35P_35F@reddit
Honorism (Mr., Mrs./Ms., Professor, Dr.) and last name. I had one professor in college who was younger than me and said we could call him by his first name. He was the only one in called by first name.
AlaskanBiologist@reddit
In high school, last name. In college most of my professors insisted on using their first names. Some of them went by Dr. First Name. Like Dr. lisa.
Legitimate-Stage1296@reddit
I still call my children’s teachers (who are young adults) by their last names. I’m socially friends with a few of them and it was hard changing!
I think in college there were a few first names and a few last names.
Marie1989NY@reddit
I never called my teacher by their first name ever. I believe there were same cases I didn’t even know my teachers first name especially in elementary school.
alwaysboopthesnoot@reddit
Honorific/title, Surname. Always. PreK through Senior year/Grade 12.
My mother, for about half my young life, was a public school teacher in a different city’s school district. She would have slapped me silly, if I had ever referred to one of my teachers by their first name!
anneofgraygardens@reddit
i lived in San Francisco until I was eight and the school I attended there used first names only. The principal was Pearl, my first grade teacher was Marylin, etc. I remember reading "Mrs" in books and not understanding how to pronounce it because it just wasn't part of my vocabulary.
When I was eight my family moved to the burbs and my teachers at my new school were referred to as Mr or Ms. It felt super weird and unnatural to me at first.
We addressed professors by their first names at the university I attended.
SirCharlito44@reddit
We never called our teachers by their first name, but when I was a teacher in South America it was Mr. And then first name.
The only time I can think of teachers being called by their first name was when an ex gf went to a private school and they would just call them by their first name (no Mr or Mrs). It seemed weird to me.
GreenWhiteBlue86@reddit
Last names only, all the way through the defense of my doctoral dissertation -- and I was past my 50th birthday when that took place.
Responsible-Fun4303@reddit
Always last name. From grade school through high school it was “Mr, Mrs or Ms” and then college it was “professor” with their last name following.
IndependentShelter92@reddit
Mr. or Mrs/Miss Last name only until college. Then it was however they introduced themselves.
Head_Razzmatazz7174@reddit
Oh, gracious, no. Mr./Mrs./Miss lastname.
The only time you ever called a teacher by their first name is if you were related and even then, you only said it at the family reunions.
royalhawk345@reddit
As far as I know, none of my teachers had a first name.
It was kinda funny running into one from my elementary school years later and not knowing how to address her except as "Mrs. Jones."
pittlc8991@reddit
Never first name, ever. It would have been very weird and disrespectful. Even talking among friends we would refer to them as Mr./Mrs./Ms./Dr.
tidalwaveofhype@reddit
Last name. Had one teacher that didn’t care but tbh he gave off pedo vibes and later I learned my friends mom worked with him at another job and she said he gave off those vibes as well.
judgingA-holes@reddit
Only last names until I got into college, and then they usually told us which they preferred.
huuaaang@reddit
I didn't even know my teachers' first names.
BrainFartTheFirst@reddit
Exclusively last name with the sole exception of one of my high school teachers. He preferred being called by his first name.
CaptainAwesome06@reddit
Always by "Mr./Ms./Mrs. [Last Name]".
The exception were my two German teachers who went by "Herr [Last Name]" and "Frau [Last Name]".
I had one teacher that taught drafting/engineering/architectural/3D design. He was my favorite teacher. Everybody called him "Kobus", despite his begging that we call him "Mr. Kobus".
Parking_Champion_740@reddit
Last name…Mr or Mrs x. Even my kids’ teachers/principals…i could rarely bring myself to call them by their first name even if they were contemporaries
CheezitCheeve@reddit
Depends on the teacher. Mostly last name but a couple firsts.
Team503@reddit
I cannot imagine calling a teacher by their first name. It was Ms. Auer or Mr Richards, ALWAYS. Public school, private school, and military school in both Texas and Georgia.
andmen2015@reddit
Mr, Ms, or Mrs Last name.
Takeabreath_andgo@reddit
Last name. I couldn’t and still don’t call my childhood friends parents by their first name. Mrs. Smith, Mr. Smith etc.
BatteredOnionRings@reddit
First names exclusively for K-8, last names almost exclusively in high school and college. (I had one or two teachers or professors who preferred first names, I think exclusively in the creative arts.)
shadowdragon1978@reddit
Mr./Ms./Mrs./Title Last Name. Anything else would have gotten us in massive trouble not only with the school but with our parents. It would have been considered rude and disrespectful to address them any other way.
Not_an_okama@reddit
About 1/4 of my highschool teachers were either firstname or firstname-lastname. 80% of college profs were first name, and only about 25% of the ones that insisted on dr. Lastname had the respect of the students.
dino-sour@reddit
Always last name. The cool teachers we dropped the "mr/ms/mrs" and they were just their last name.
PabloThePabo@reddit
Last name but some of them we just called coach because they also coached sports
1n1billionAZNsay@reddit
Mr/Ms/Mx last name. Even as a parent to my children's teachers.
Zealousideal_Cod5214@reddit
In elementary school, we called them by their first name. After that, we called them by their last name.
Mandielephant@reddit
We had one teacher who said we could call her by her first name but everyone refused. She was one of the best teachers I ever had. Over holiday break she made us all write down her phone number and said if we were in a situation and needed a ride home she would give us a ride home no questions asked. She passed away recently and it really hit hard.
distracted_x@reddit
Mr/ Mrs/Ms Last Name. From kindergarten up.
knickknackfromguam@reddit
Last name only
lilmspiggy@reddit
Last name. First name implies equals and a more intimate familiarity, like friends or relatives
nichtclever@reddit
Mr or Mrs last name etc. My god calling a teacher by their first name would never enter my mind as a child.
rileyoneill@reddit
Always last name. Even if I come across one of my teachers from 25 years ago. It is still last name.
The most accurate detail in Breaking Bad was that Jesse still called Walter White, "Mista White" and never used his first name.
Inspi@reddit
Last name exclusively. Am 42, still call them Mr/Mrs Lastname when I run into them around town (I live near a few of them).
TEG24601@reddit
My 3rd Grade teacher allowed us to use his first name. Up until High School, we always used the preferred honorifics before a teachers last name. In High School it just became Last Name without honorifics, in 99% of cases. In college, it is always Professor Name or the appropriate honorifics for instructors.
msabeln@reddit
When I was in public school in suburban St. Louis, it was always [honorific] Last Name.
I now work in a rural public school in the Ozarks, and students refer to the teachers and staff as [honorific] First Name; likewise, the adults refer to other adults the same way when in front of students. But the teachers, away from students, refer and speak to other teachers by last name only. However, the athletics director is referred to as “Coach” in all situations by everyone.
shesgoneagain72@reddit
Never their first name. Always Mr or Mrs so and so.
XayahTheVastaya@reddit
They went by first names in the 20 person farm school I went to
Epyphyte@reddit
Last, unless it’s Montessori.
Boomerang_comeback@reddit
Always last name.
GentleDoves@reddit
Elementary to high school: Exclusively last names. I only called a teacher by their first name once and it was ENTIRELY for the purpose of being disrespectful. (My work group needed help and he was intentionally ignoring us)
College: Within my department, the professors much preferred to go by first name. Non-professor staff members also went by first name. All other departments went by their proper titles. (Dr. Last name, Professor Last name, etc.)
JennyPaints@reddit
Last names for teachers and first names for students in the classroom almost exclusively. But in college and law school some professors had first names during office hours and in the hallways.
The big change in law school was that the students were also addressed by last name in class.
foozballhead@reddit
For me, only last name, even in preschool and kindergarten.
For my child, the preschool teachers went by Miss First Name, but from elementary school in through graduation it was all last name.
Kentucky_fried_kids@reddit
Depends, many teachers went by first and many by last. I’m in college atm, and I would say around 30% of professors go by first names.
DrFaustPython@reddit
We would get in trouble if we ever even dared to use first names. We were written up for disrespect.
cdb03b@reddit
Last name. The only teacher I ever called by their first name was a college choir director who when by Dr. First Name.
RoamingGnome74@reddit
When I went to school calling teachers by their first name would have been cause for detention.
itds@reddit
I went to Catholic school. Lots of Sister Marys.
OGMom2022@reddit
We didn’t call any adult by their first name. You were either Ms/Mr or ma’am/sir. My mom’s friends were called Aunt.
SRQmoviemaker@reddit
Always last name. Except for my HS tv production teacher he went by a nickname.
Chubby_Comic@reddit
Kindergarten, we called her by Ms. First name. But from then on, all last names.
RefinedVillainy42@reddit
Last name except the professors in college that preferred their first names used
Lychee_Specific@reddit
I teach on the postgraduate level and I'm "Professor" to my face. (They call us all by our last names among themselves and get very flustered when they accidentally do that to my face - or worse, when they shorten my last name to the first couple syllables to my face. I think it's hilarious.) Even after they've graduated, my students have a terrible time switching to my first name.
-Dee-Dee-@reddit
Fyi when everyone is saying last name, they don’t mean just last name. Always Mr, Miss, Mrs, Ms, Dr, Coach, or Professor. Whatever title and last name. Like Mr. jones.
In the USA that is most common and proper.
Anachronism--@reddit
Always last name. It was kind of a novelty if you found out a teachers first name.
codenameajax67@reddit
Never first names.
When I was teaching college I would call all my students by their last name and expect them to do the same with me.
It was amazing to see them realize that THEY were now adults, as they had always been Ted never Mr. Armatrout.
LawfulAwfulOffal@reddit
K-12 public school, all Mr. or Ms. Exception is that any gym teacher, or other teacher who also coaches a sport, can be called ‘Coach,’ so long as it’s clear that it’s being used respectfully.
425565@reddit
It was always Mr. Ms. Fr. Sr Dr. And then their surname.
ritchie70@reddit
Mr/Mrs/Ms Lastname.
That was true when I was in school back in the Bronze Age and when our daughter was much more recently.
Seems like preschool teachers and outside of school instructors tend to be “Miss Firstname.”
Lacylanexoxo@reddit
Always last except Mr. G. Ag teacher
Hikinghawk@reddit
I had exactly one teacher that let us call him by his first name, a college professor that hated the formality of academia in his home country so he rejected all titles, cool dude. Everyone else, from pre-k up was Mr/Ms/Dr/Prof [Last Name].
pixienightingale@reddit
Ms, Mrs, or Mr Lastname
For Phys Ed, Coach Lastname
ScottyBBadd@reddit
Neither
fernincornwall@reddit
Quaker schools tend to do first names while public, most private, and catholic schools do it more formally.
manicpixidreamgirl04@reddit
Some alternative public schools use first names. My neighbor went to one, and when she heard me refer to my teacher as Ms Lastname she said she thought kids only did that on tv.
miparasito@reddit
Mr or Mrs or Miss Lastname
I had one teacher who got his PhD and asked people to call him Dr. Firstname but I remember feeling like that was rude/too formal. Dr Last name seemed much better
However NOW I’m a teacher and all of the kids call their teachers Mr or Miss Firstname. I like it. Not sure when things switched
theatregirl1987@reddit
Last name. And then when I started working at the school I had graduated from a bunch of the teachers became my friends. It was really hard to use their first names. But also hard to call someone Ms. P when you're out at the bar!
MrTeeWrecks@reddit
Last name only. Had a few with difficult to pronounce surnames that would shorten it to the first letter so like “Mrs. L” or “Dr. G”
When I was a special education teacher I had my students call me by my first initial only because many of my students were limited speech or nonverbal so a strong monosyllabic sound was easier for them to master so some called me ‘T’ others ‘Mr.T’ (yeah, yeah I know)
brian11e3@reddit
Learning your teacher's first name was a magical experience. Kind of like seeing them outside of school.
Slevinkellevra710@reddit
Always last. I have two older brothers, and one of them has a friend with a sister who ended up teaching at our high school.
My brother always referred to get by her first name in conversation, and it always kind of scrambled my brain.
Hotspiceteahoneybee@reddit
Mr. or Mrs. And then their last name, or Coach and their last name. (A lot of male teachers, even if they weren't actually coaching a school sport, got called Coach)
JudgmentalRavenclaw@reddit
Always last name unless they were a SPED teacher. All of the non-RSP (resource—so extra support pull out into their classroom, not self contained) SPED teachers were “Teacher First Name” bc that’s what their students called them.
Major-Distance4270@reddit
Definitely last name. I didn’t even know their first name half the time.
Empty-Cycle2731@reddit
First name exclusively at my school growing up (public Kx12 in a major city), but I know that's exceptionally rare.
sharkycharming@reddit
I went to Catholic school. We called the nuns Sister [First Name], but the other teachers were Ms./Mrs./Mr. [Last name]. This was both in Maryland and in North Carolina. Most of my professors at university went by first names, though, except the really old ones.
Derfburger@reddit
Mrs., Ms., Mr., Dr., Professor, or Coach in the classroom or any school function.
I have known a few of my teachers from college and even high school (after graduation) on a personal basis outside the classroom in those situations first names were used. If I met a teacher/professor outside the classroom that I did not know personally I default to the classroom style unless they correct me and ask me to call them by their 1st name.
ShanLuvs2Read@reddit
We went by MR/MZ or Father/Sister since I went to private school at certain times …. We, as in my sister and I, were not allowed to use first names, and if someone said that we could, we still did Mr or Mrs/Mz in front of it …. My kids are the same way…. even to their God Parents and neighbors.
Now, if they are older and have jobs and whatnot, they have some they do call by first name and some they don’t….
PA_MallowPrincess_98@reddit
Last name but it’s harder when you are taught by family members who you know by their first names since Day One.
Caliopebookworm@reddit
"Sister" or "Brother" and then their last name. I attended a private Evangelical Christian School.
In Canada, students call their teachers "Sir" or "Ms."
AllswellinEndwell@reddit
Oh, I'll take it to an even higher level.
I moved from the North East to North Carolina.
I had a middle aged black woman as a math teacher when I first moved there. Church going, very proper type (this was like 1985?). She spoke like one of the ladies from the movie, "Hidden Figures".
"Mr. Endwell, did you get the full assignment done?"
"Yeah".
"Excuse me? What did you say?"
"Yeah I did?"
I was thoroughly confused. I was pretty clear I answered her.
"When you answer me, you will address me as 'yes mam' or 'no mam'! Is that clear?"
"Yeah."
She sent me right to the office. The funny thing was, I had no idea why she was so angry. Even my dad had to come in and have a discussion with the principal, it's just not a thing for kids from the North.
I had teachers in school that were old enough to have been on both sides of segregation. In the mid-80's desegregation was only 20 years or so prior to that time. She was old enough that she came up through that system, and took a pretty harsh position on what 'respect' was from students. We ended up coming to an agreement after that, but man it was a harsh lesson.
anthraff@reddit
Last name
IrianJaya@reddit
Always by last name. I've never been to a school where teachers would go by their first name. The only exception I can think of is we had a shop teacher at my high school who kids would call by his nickname if they were in his class.
bettiegee@reddit
Last names through high school, first names in fashion school. I am 56. And now social media friends with some of my high school teachers. It feels really weird to call them by first names
SisterTalio@reddit
Last name until I was a college junior and working closely on research with some professors, then I started being treated more like a grad student and switched to first names.
DontBuyAHorse@reddit
Last name, mostly. But I did go to an alternative school for some time in high school and the teachers there went by their first names. But that was a huge exception.
Birdywoman4@reddit
Last name at every school I attended in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma
DGlen@reddit
Mr./Mrs. Whatever
AdventurousExpert217@reddit
Last name only for me, my kids (ages 18-34), and grandkids (ages 8-16). The only exceptions were during preschool when teachers were called "Miss (first name)".
When I taught high school, students called me by my last name. Since I've been teaching college, I invite students to use my first name, but many prefer to use my last name, and that's fine by me.
Agitated-Donkey1265@reddit
Always Mr/Mrs/Miss [last name], even the cool teachers in high school went by Mr/Mrs/Miss [first name] at the least.
All throughout college, I can name one professor that insisted on being called by his first name, but would allow just his last name for those of us who wouldn’t, so long as you did NOT call him doctor, even though he had one. I think some would’ve been mostly OK with that, but most would not
FiendishCurry@reddit
Mr/Mrs/Miss [Last name] throughout college, until I went back to college at 23 and was an adult student and then the professors insisted on being called by their first names.
Reader47b@reddit
Mr. / Ms. / Mrs. / Dr. / Professor Last Name. Exclusively.
ShoddyCobbler@reddit
Up through high school, last name. In college, it was a mix. A couple professors opted to use their first name.
I later worked with one of my high school teachers and hoo boy it was weird trying to call her by her first name
Quack_Mode@reddit
I‘ve grown up going to alternative schools where the teachers would be offended if you called them by their last name lol. I‘m aware though I‘m the exception and i‘ve still yet to go into college where that might change.
EnigmaIndus7@reddit
Last name
doodynutz@reddit
Not until I got to college was it normal for first names to be used. Even then, only when I was at community college was it normal. Once I went to a university they were super crazy over making sure you referred to them as Dr or Professor. Which was so weird to me since at community college they looked at you sideways if you tried to use a Mr/mrs/professor/etc.
LadyFoxfire@reddit
When I was in preschool and kindergarten, the teachers all went by “Miss (first name)” but after that it was “Mr/Ms. Last name”
LLM_54@reddit
I went to a school where we called them by their first name and then later called them by their last name in college
Zealousideal_Ad_8736@reddit
One of my HS teachers was the close friend of my older sister, so I always called her Patty - she never corrected me, but I'd known her all my life, so it was tough to have to call her by her surname.
as1126@reddit
Every nun was "Sister ..." and then the Deacon and then last names preceded by "Mr. or Mrs."
RodeoBoss66@reddit
Always Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms. Last Name.
Novel_Willingness721@reddit
Always appropriate prefix (Mr Miss Ms Mrs) then last name. In fact I only know one of my teacher’s first names.
Stay_At_Home_Cat_Dad@reddit
All of my teachers, save one, were called by their last name. My philosophy teacher in high school had us call him Steve.
eloquentmuse86@reddit
Last only
Meilingcrusader@reddit
You call them by their last name: Mr/Mrs/Ms Last Name through his school, and then Professor Last Name in college. I suppose perhaps Doctor Last Name if they are one
AKA_June_Monroe@reddit
Always Mr. or Miss/Ms/Mrs Lastname
There were a couple nod teacher we knew the names of but we didn't use them. There was one girl in my class that started the trend of saying the teachers first name in an exaggerated southern accent. We would say it as a joke in class and she never said anything to us. When talking to her when was said Ms. Surname so I'm guessing that why she let it go but she was chill.
brieflifetime@reddit
Oh the trouble is have gotten in for calling a teacher by their first name. Absolutely not. I did call a lot of adults by their first name but older adults had to be Miss [first name] and teachers were Miss/Mrs [last name]
lollipop-guildmaster@reddit
Don't be silly. Teachers don't have first names.
Renny4400@reddit
Mr. Or Mrs. Last Name from kindergarten through high school and then first names in undergrad and graduate school.
GSilky@reddit
Always Mr/Ms last name. It was so drilled into me that I eulogized an important fifth grade teacher in my life as Ms... When I was in college, professors often used their first name, and liked us to as well, that was difficult to wrap my head around. Of course I did, you should always refer to people how they prefer, but I felt like something was being lost, it made me so uncomfortable.
ExtinctFauna@reddit
Last names, except my German teacher. She was just Frau.
River-19671@reddit
It was always Mr or Mrs last name. Even in college and grad school the professors were Professor Lastname. I am 57F. I last got a degree in 1992. After grad school I wrote a thank you note to my advisor and he signed it with his first name
Zama202@reddit
Last names only.
Sapphire_Dreams1024@reddit
It depended on the school, I went through a few schools as a kid and only one of them encouraged us to call our teachers Ms. [First name]. I also ended up working there as a daycare teacher for a little while when I became an adult and they called me Ms. [First name] too.
Vikingkrautm@reddit
Last. I'm 60. As a teacher, I still use only my last name. I'm not their friend, I'm their educator.
Sorry-Government920@reddit
Last name always
prosperosniece@reddit
First name- Preschool, Last names throughout the rest of my school career
thermalman2@reddit
Public school is universally by last name.
Progressive private schools use first names a lot.
Emotional-Tailor3390@reddit
In elementary, junior, and high school it was Mr/Ms Lastname
In college it was Professor Lastname
WittiestScreenName@reddit
Last names
No_Body_675@reddit
It was Mr., Mrs., or Ms (Last name) until college. College professors usually let us call them by their first names. If they were a Ph’D holder it was supposed to be “Doctor (Last name)” unless they told you otherwise. Most just said to call them by their first name.
I had one with the last name “Murphy” who said that we could call her by her first name, Dr Murphy, Murphy, just please don’t call her “Murph”.
Cruitire@reddit
Last name. If I ran into one today I’d call them by their last name still.
One exception. In college one of my professors I eventually started calling by his first name at his insistence because I was also one of his research assistants and so we spent a lot of time together outside of the classroom.
There were other professors I called by their first names but none of them were people I had as professors myself, and I met them in other context outside of academics.
CODENAMEDERPY@reddit
Last name up until university. Then it was 50/50 with the professors.
splorp_evilbastard@reddit
Mr. or Mrs./Ms. LastName
Except one weird sociology teacher. He insisted we call him "FirstInitial LastName".
Ebice42@reddit
Mr. Or Mrs Last name.
In pre school, early elementary, there we a few teachers who were Ms. First name. Often because their last name was really difficult for a 5yo to say
JanaKaySTL@reddit
Mr/Mrs/Ms Whatever, except my accelerated HS English teacher. He wasn't much older than us, and made us call him Dave, because "my dad is Mr Whatever, not me". He was definitely one of my faves!
Sunday School teachers were usually Miss FirstName, not LastName, married or not. 🤷♀️
Zoe_118@reddit
Last name only
Out-There1013@reddit
Usually Mr. or Mrs./Ms. last name, although we had a couple of teacher's aides who went by Ms. first name. I don't remember for certain if they were unmarried, but that might have had something to do with it. Later I had a principal who was married but she was sometimes called Ms. last name by both the kids and adults.
baddspellar@reddit
Last name
My kids we to a public elementary school where teachers were called by first names, but last names were used in middle and high school.
Avasia1717@reddit
never had a teacher i called by their first name, from kindergarten to grad school.
Nameless_American@reddit
“Mr/Mrs/Ms [Last Name]” for all of school and then “Professor [Last Name]" in college.
Several_Bee_1625@reddit
Up until college it was all last names. In college it was all first names — it was a policy at the college.
My kid is in elementary school now and almost all her teachers are first name.
polelover44@reddit
Through third grade it was first names only. 4-12 it was Mr./Ms. Lastname.
stellaismycat@reddit
In Alaska I went by Ms first name. When I came back to the lower 48 I was Ms B, and then I switched schools I had to switch to Ms full last name because there was already a Ms b in the school.
Now I go by teacher last name because we have a nonbinary teacher who goes by teacher last name. I actually prefer it to Ms. We have multiple teachers who use teacher last name because of solidarity with the teacher. And their whole team switched as well.
tarheel_204@reddit
Grade school - last name 100% of the time
Once I got to college, most still preferred going by their last name but I funny enough, my professors with the most “prestige” were usually super chill and went by their first names too
liamstrain@reddit
Last name through Highschool.
First name mostly in college, except for one professor - who was universally acknowledged to be a twatwaffle.
No-Profession422@reddit
Mr/Mrs/Miss Last Name.
telepathicavocado3@reddit
Last name always, unless I'm talking shit about them behind their backs.
gdubh@reddit
Last name, exclusively.
TeslaNovaStar@reddit
Last name only. I was thought Mr. or Mrs. (Last name) Was the way to address teachers and did it that way through college. Stopped schooling around 2015 and my college classmates which ranged in ages from 18 - 50+ all used the same manner for referring to a teacher. So perhaps it's a regional thing?
tcrhs@reddit
Always Mr. or Mrs. We never called teachers by their first name.
Katsaj@reddit
Mr/Mrs/Ms Lastname through high school. Mostly first names in college and grad school.
Vachic09@reddit
Mostly last name
bibliahebraica@reddit
Last name through graduate school. And even now, many years later.
NarrowAd4973@reddit
Last name. I never even knew what the first names of most of my teachers even were.
Apocalyptic0n3@reddit
I don't recall any teachers letting us call them by their first name until college where I had a few who preferred it. I did have a few teachers in high school that just had us call them by their last name (e.g. Brown instead of Mr. Brown) but that was as informal as we got.
Nyx_Valentine@reddit
I'm assuming it was always last name. I know you can call someone by "Miss" while still using a first name, but I'm pretty sure they were always last names. I don't think I even knew what their first names were.
Brilliant_Towel2727@reddit
In my experience, 'Miss first name' is what you would call your parents' friends or little old ladies at church. Teachers were always Mr./Mrs. Last Name. I don't remember a kid every trying to call a teacher by their first name (probably because we didn't know them), but if they had I'm sure they would have been in trouble.
abbot_x@reddit
Calling teachers by their first names is extremely unusual.
Starting in kindergarten, title plus last name. Never first name. Some teachers authorized a shortened last name, so Mr. Josephson might go by “Mr. J.”
Preschool teachers and daycare workers are usually title plus first name.
The only major exception is that members of Catholic religious institutes are usually called by a title plus their first name or name in religion, not their last name. So at a Catholic school, a lay teacher might be called Mrs. Smith (title-last name) but a sister would be Sr. Mary-Joseph (title-religious name)..
BigMomma12345678@reddit
Gen X here. I remember using last name
DropTopEWop@reddit
Last name except one. Shoutout to Shannon in 11th grade math. Cool as hell.
MrLongWalk@reddit
Last name exclusively.
MyUsername2459@reddit
Always last name.
It was always "Mr.", "Miss " or "Mrs. " when I was a kid in Elementary, Junior High and High School. This was before "Ms." was that widespread in my part of the country.
In college it was always "Dr." or "Prof. " for professors and Mr./Ms./Mrs. for instructors without a doctorate or professorship.
In law school it was always "Prof." because while everyone on the faculty has a Juris Doctor, legal tradition has that people in the legal field don't use the title "Doctor" despite having a doctoral degree, rooted in an old concern about misleading people into thinking they were physicians.
neobeguine@reddit
Last names kindergarten through undergraduate (ie college/university) back to first names in graduate school. Last names again in medical school. Residents aren't really students anymore, but whether they call their attending physicians by last or first names varies by program.
phridoo@reddit
In pre-K it was [honorific]+[fistname], then all the way up to university it was [honorific] (Mrs/ Miss/ Dr/ Professor/ etc ) + [lastname]. It wasn't until university in the UK that I called educators by their first names & it felt wrong.
sneezhousing@reddit
Last name only
Devee@reddit
Last name. And now that I think about it, I think those are the only people that I called by last name.
Current_Poster@reddit
Last name, except with a few teachers in (like) K-1st grade.
cbrooks97@reddit
I never even knew most of my teachers' first names.
Silly-Resist8306@reddit
Mr or Mrs Last Name up thru high school. In college it was Dr or Professor Last Name. There might have been a rare hippy professor who told his class to use his first name, but it never happened in engineering school.
fleetpqw24@reddit
High School- Always Mr./Ms./Mrs./Coach Last Name for teachers and admin support staff, and the school nurse. Other support staff were Ms./Mrs. First Name for females, First Name for males.
Some folks had nicknames or shortened versions of their last names, while others did go by first name. Spanish teachers were always Señor/Señora, and we had one that preferred Doña María.
College was a mixed bag: some teachers said first name only, a lot went by Mr./Ms./Mrs., and doctors were always referred to as Dr. So-and-So.
ScatterTheReeds@reddit
Strictly last name
Western_Nebula9624@reddit
Almost exclusively last names, with the exception of one in college. I had two or three classes with her over the years, plus she was my accompanist for voice lessons and was the accompanist for the choir I was in, oh and the music director for the one musical I was in. She was everywhere, but always asked to be called by her first name.
fenwoods@reddit
Last name through undergrad. First name in grad school.
Disastrous_Cat3912@reddit
Mr. (Last name) and Mrs. or Ms. (Last name), for all 13 years of public school. In college it was Professor (Last name) unless they specifically requested to be called by first name.
drinkslinger1974@reddit
To this day (30 years later) my old singing coach tells me to call him Jim. I can’t.
blondechick80@reddit
Depends. While attending school, last names. After graduation it became first names as we were no longer student/teacher, but friendly adults
fajadada@reddit
Mr , Ms , Mrs
_WillCAD_@reddit
Last name only, always with Mister or Missus or Miss. I started kindergarten in 1975 and graduated high school in 1987, so that's the time frame. And I went mostly to public schools, though I did get sentenced to a four-year hitch in a Catholic school from 5th thru 8th grade.
The one exception in all those years was a crafts teacher in my high school who insisted everyone call him Rueben. Which made sense, since that was his actual name. He was definitely one of those sixties hippy types, encouraging his students to have fun with their craft projects and stretch their imaginations. It was a nice, relaxing class. I got to make some pottery and do a couple of woodworking projects. Still have a couple of those items today.
tmrika@reddit
Last name, no question. I remember when I graduated high school, a couple teachers told us we could refer to them by their first name now, but I simply couldn’t do it, just felt so wrong.
Firefliegirly@reddit
All last name except for a art teacher with a really great first-last name combo. Everyone calls her Ms. her first name.
Infinite-Dinner-9707@reddit
Definitely Mr/Ms/Coach LastName or Lastinitial growing up in the 80s.
My kids growing up now - still Mr/Ms/Coach LastName. My son will call his teachers FirstName sometimes at home just to mess with me, but he knows we'd kill him if he actually did it at school
sgtm7@reddit
The idea of calling any adult by their first name would never even occurred to me. Mr., Miss, or Mrs.. Aunt or Uncle preceding first name for close family friends.
davidm2232@reddit
I think the most familiar I ever got even as an adult is I call my shop teacher Mr. I instead of his full last name. And he's retired now and we drink together
Quix66@reddit
Last names. I think it was against school policy to call teachers by their first names.
PerfStu@reddit
Last names to college, which was a mixed bag.
First names in grad school.
NorwegianSteam@reddit
If someone had a really complicated last name they could have been Mr./Mrs/Ms. First Name, but never just their first name.
marksman81991@reddit
If a teacher had a complicated last name we would do like Mr. K or Miss O
NorwegianSteam@reddit
We'd do that too. Seemed to be up to the teacher.
GroundbreakingAge254@reddit
Always last name - this is standard here. I used last names from preschool through grad school.
natertottt@reddit
Last name in elementary. Went to a Montessori middle school where they went by their first name. Then back to the last name for high school.
Lakerdog1970@reddit
Omg....you're giving me PTSD.
I was born in 1970 and grew up in the southern US. It was as they were desegregating the schools and they basically dumped in the segregated teachers with the teachers who had taught in the white schools.
My teachers from grades 2 thru 12 always had some mean AF black woman out for blood. I was just a kiddo.....trying to do the assignments.....finish the worksheet.....get 100/100.
Meanwhile, if I didn't call my teacher Ms. __________. I'd bleed. Literally.
I'm in my mid-50s now and still always call adult black women, "Madam" or "Ms. ______" (if I know their name).
Meanwhile, I have scars on the backs of both hands (I can see them as I type this) as a mid-50s man because of one particular teacher in 4th grade. If I asked a question, she didn't rap my knuckles like they show nuns in the movies. Nope.....she jabbed at the back of our hands with a ruler and used the metal inset to draw blood.
The next year, I had a teacher who paddled me because I had diarrhea and asked to go to the bathroom when we had had a bathroom break 2 hours prior. i was dying. I was scared because I knew Ms _______ was mean AF and I hoped I could hold it until I went home. . And I couldn't just go to the bathroom because this was the 1980s public school. So I asked......was refused.....got paddled by Ms. _______. Shit my pants......got paddled faster and harder by Ms. _________. Hope she washed the paddle before she beat the next white student. She never beat a black student......just the white kids. Sent to the office to get new pants from lost and found. No clean up offered Never called my Mom.
I mean.....
I call all old black women Ms. ______. If I don't know their name, I ask.
Also, when people talk about "reparations for slavery"???? I gave at the office.
jollyroger822@reddit
Last name only, there were only 2 that I called by their first name and that was in college and I was 31.
DummyThiccDude@reddit
It was always last names at my school. A few teachers just went by their last names initial as well.
nyyforever2018@reddit
First in high school, last everywhere else
cosmickx@reddit
here its considered disrespectful! Last names only
callmeKiKi1@reddit
Mr or Mrs or Miss and last name. Didn’t get to use first names until University, and even then it was hit or miss. Back in the dawn of time, 70-80s
Carlpanzram1916@reddit
Never ever called a teacher by their first name.
Queen_Aurelia@reddit
We called every teacher Miss/Mrs/Mr last name all through school. It wasn’t until university did we call instructors/professors by their first name and that was only some of them that preferred it that way
marenamoo@reddit
I went to a Catholic girls school so it was always Sister or Mother. In college it was always last name prefaced by Professor or Dean
marksman81991@reddit
Always last.
scudsone@reddit
I had a few teachers that preferred first name - my 5th grade teacher was Ms. Kate, one of my HS English teachers was Beth, and in college a few professors went by their first names My 2nd year design professor was almost always Guido, except when doing presentations in front of other professors and visiting faculty it seemed weird, so then he was Mr. Zullianni. Though he never asked for the more formal address, but it seemed correct in the more formal setting.
But it is the norm to call them by Mr./Ms. LastName or Professor LastName past kindergarten. My kid’s preschool is all Ms. or Mr. FirstName.
CabinetSpider21@reddit
Always Mr. Or Mrs. (Insert Last Name)
Yankee_chef_nen@reddit
I (Gen-X) never called a teacher anything other than Mr./Mrs./Ms. Last name.
Trick-Caterpillar267@reddit
Last name exclusively
Specialist-Tie8@reddit
Ms/Mr. FirstName in preschool then lastname through college than regular first names (without the honorific in front) in graduate school.
oldsak2001@reddit
Last name only (with the exception of one teacher who taught in a 50 person school in a 500 person town who let students use her first name) until I started grad school.
LaLechuzaVerde@reddit
It depends on the school, but I think last name is more common.
erilaz7@reddit
I called all of my teachers by their last names. Even my cousin, when she was a teacher's aide in my class. But that was so weird to me that I just avoided talking to her at school.
My sister is a preschool teacher and has her students call her by her first name. Even her son did that, and to this day he still calls both of his parents by their first names.
Agreeable-Policy4389@reddit
This made me remember an argument from kindergarten. After school I went to the daycare that my grandmother owned because my mom worked there. One of the kids insisted that my mom was Miss MyLastName because my grandmother (her mother-in-law) was Mrs. MyLastName and there couldn’t possibly be 2 Mrs. with the same name.
Alternative-Law4626@reddit
Mr/Mrs/Miss last name. At least until college, then it was Professor last name.
EffectiveNew4449@reddit
It was always Ms, Mrs, or Mr (insert last name)
Courwes@reddit
Last name. Mr or Ms/Mrs whatever
Slight_Literature_67@reddit
K-12, we called teachers by their last names. In college, it was first names unless we had an older, more established professor who always preferred "Dr. Last Name." The younger professors and instructors preferred first name usage.
Scrappy_The_Crow@reddit
Never by their first name, always by Mr/Mrs/Miss/Coach and their last name.
slider728@reddit
Through high school, teachers were almost always called by Mr/Mrs/Ms and their last name. I can only think of 1 teacher that was called by their first name on a regular basis.
In college…it was a bit of a mixed bag. In class, we’d often call them by Professor or Dr Last Name. When class was done, some professors we’d call by their first name, others we didn’t dare. It depended on the relationship we had with them.
StarSpangleBRangel@reddit
Last name.
messibessi22@reddit
Mr or ms Last name. Unless they had a strong preference that you call them something else. Typically at the start of the year they will write their name on the board and whatever they write is what your supposed to call them
Kingberry30@reddit
Last name. Most the time I didn’t even know their first name.
Hitthereset@reddit
Never first names until maybe a few college courses.
DecemberPaladin@reddit
It was always Mr/Mrs/Ms for the lay teachers, and Sister/Brother for the nuns or…monks—? We called them “brothers”, I don’t know if they were monks. Most wore cassocks.
Shit, I had never thought of that.