What do you think? / Co państwo myślą?
I heard Justyna talking to her AT students the other day and she addressed them as ‘Mr./Ms. X’ and it struck me. I thought: how cool! And I thought about how I address my adult students: as ‘you’ obviously; and I do it automatically, subconsciously. But I’m not particularly happy with it. You’d say it’s the English way - the English refer to each other as ‘you’ and it doesn’t mean disrespect whatsoever. But in Polish it does! Addressing somebody as ‘ty’ is disrespectful, unless you have a person’s permission to do that. That’s the way we do it here. I know it’s tough when we constantly mix English and Polish in the school, but isn’t it so that we are trying to be more English than the English? Was denkst du?
Hello Michal,
I think Justyna calls only her AT students this way. However friendly we may want to be, it’s a more formal relationship with them, we’re teaching them as a part of their Academy curriculum. And don’t they call us ‘professor X’? Or do they call you, Michal, by your name at Warsaw University?
With the rest of our students, I guess we don’t want to and don’t have to appear or be superior in any way. We want a relaxed, informal atmosphere.
Justyna, we’re talking about you here a lot. But what do YOU think?
Yes, I do address my AT students as „Pani / Pan” in Polish, just as the other adults I teach. I have thought it through several times and never decided to give it up :) First of all, I love the Polish language – I love the forms, structures and words it uses – addressing somebody as „Pan / Pani” is one of them, not at all meaningless. When I don’t call somebody by their name I want to express my respect to that person as well as a certain distance between us – getting too friendly with someone without their clear consent may not be always welcome. I would not like my students to say to me one day: „Hey, Justyna, come on… ” :) And if they don’t call me by my name, why should I do so to them? I think it is my way of introducing and maintaing my own ideal of classroom relations: equality and respect betwen ALL the people there, a bit of a healthy distance between the teacher and the students.
It’s disputable, this Pan-Pani-issue. I understand that Justyna and Michał may find it uneasy to command a certain amount of authority and subordination among species as special as AT students (only slightly younger or just about same age as their teachers), but addressing each other by first names doesn’t necessarily forecast possible dismay or humiliation in the future. Here, respect is something to command with other tools. Of course, yours were my own doubts in the past.
Now, it seems to me, first names in the classroom are always superior to any conventional forms, precisely for the reason of respect. Other priorities are at play. The sooner my students and I pull down certain barriers, the better group we form. Then, in an instant we see what’s false and what’s genuine. Again, this doesn’t imply we are ready to wear our hearts on our sleeves.
And when we look around, we’ll be suprised by the number of cultured adults following all possible conventions and carrying knives in their pockets.
(Forgive the length.)