‘Sir’ and ‘Miss’ in schools is everyday sexism

Miss is absolutely fine.

We don’t need to be offended over such minor things.

I’m afraid we’re heading down a slippery slope where it’s offensive to call people miss because now not everyone identifies with that gender or because it’s sexist.

No one I know who has been called miss in their job, has ever been offended by it because it is not said in a sexist way.

I’m a teaching assistant in a primary school, being called ‘Miss’ doesn’t bother me in the slightest. The children are trying to be polite.
I think I would prefer Miss to Madam actually. I may be alone here by Madam feels a bit antiquated.

I work in a secondary school and it’s Sir and Miss to all staff, whereas at my DC’s primary school it’s Mr/Mrs/Miss Smith etc. Even some of the staff who don’t know me have called me Miss!

I asked about the Sir/Miss thing and was told it was so pupils didn’t have to bother learning your name- no idea if that’s the general consensus everywhere. I grew up in another country and all school staff were addressed by whatever title they went by ie Mrs Smith, Mr Smith - never heard of anyone in a school irl being called Sir/Miss before I moved to the UK.

When I was in primary school, about 100 years ago (it feels like) if another teacher entered your classroom all the pupils stood up and the boys saluted while the girls curtseyed while saying "Good morning Miss Whoever".

Never used Sir or Miss in any school I attended ot taught in

Doesn't seem to be a thing in Scotland.

At both my boarding school and private international school abroad, we addressed all staff by their Christian (first) names. I would not address a male as Sir nor a female as Ma'am or Madam. It always makes me cringe on the rare evenings I watch the Apprentice to the end and the leaving sap addresses Karen as Baroness Brady and Alan as Lord Sugar.

I don’t know of any primary schools that insist on Sir or Miss, instead it’s Mr/Miss/Mrs/Ms Jones. A lot of kids habitually call their teacher Miss but it’s not something the schools have told them to do. However, the only children who call male primary teachers Sir are new arrivals from India. My male colleagues are regularly called Miss by mistake or Miss…….ter as the children self-correct. In neither case are the kids being rude, they’ve just got so used to calling teachers Miss as most of their teachers are female.

We never said Sir at school. Just Mr/Miss/Mrs/Ms and name as appropriate/chosen title by teachers. Never used Sir/Miss in their own. My daughter is at primary now and the approach is the same.

Ha, I thought this when I was at school and refused to call any male teacher "Sir". That's the actual outdated term because of the deferential class connotations.

Just call them Mr X, Mrs X, Miss X or Ms X depending on preference.

In this area teachers are addressed by their name - Mrs White etc.

Wherever I have taught - comprehensive, FE, independent schools - I say to call me Ma’am or Mrs March. Nobody has ever called me Ma’am after the first day.

At 18, when you are an adult, is when they switch to Madame.

i'd rather be addressed by Miss rather than Madam or Ma'am all day long!

I've worked with teachers who flatly refused to be called 'Miss' and insisted the children call them Miss/Mrs + Surname. I've never come across a man who refused to be called Sir.

Personally, I've never cared enough to be bothered by it - children could call me Mrs 'Shetlands' or Miss.

Historically married women had to leave teaching, so female teachers were always Miss. I dislike Miss anyway. At my previous job teachers were Sir and Madam. Took a while to get used to it, but I did prefer it to Miss.

No, surgeons and unmarried women of any age or occupation use Miss as their title. It carries plenty of gravitas to me. I don't see why we have to mess about with women's titles and diminished them rather than let society reach parity.

We had some bloody formidable and talented teachers at school whom we called 'Miss'. Women teaching has a long and proud history. Why does such a well known title need to be interfered with? Miss and Sir are equals. Just because the title is a bit more versatile than Sir in terms of age, social standing and marital status (and isn't borne by a Knight), it doesn't take away the meaning it holds in this context. Leave Miss alone!

Used to say Mr Jones or Mrs/Miss Smith etc when I was in first school.
I always admired this one older teacher who replied when asked by a child whether she should be addressed as, "Miss" or "Mrs <Turnbull>?", that "Ms" was the only appropriate title, and just to call her that alone!
In high school we had to say, "Sir", and "Miss." My dcs say Mrs/Miss/Mr with the surname.

I live in the NE of England - we call our mothers 'mam', so calling the female teachers 'ma'am' would be very confusing!

But yes, I agree - we used to call our teachers Miss X, Mrs Y or Mr Z in our state school, much better than Miss or Sir.

I don't think that's quite right... I was married at 18 and when in France I was addressed as Madame, not Mam'selle.

Yet another reason why it's a shame there isn't the sort of title in English that exists in other languages (e.g., mademoiselle / madame, signorina / signora) that is based on age / seniority rather than marital status.

Tbh I think that there should be a female equivalent of Master for boys and Mister for men.

You're being daft. I worked in a school (not as a teacher) and I loved being addressed as Miss. Both terms are a bit old-fashioned but the kids don't know that one has less status. I hate being called Madam or Ma'am - that's just for phone scammers.

Better than Sir and Love which is what you'll get called in some environments.

We had the same. Also standing up when teacher/ other adult entered the room

Not sure of the alternative, but it should not be calling teachers by their first names.