Kids asked to stand for headteacher

[Worcswarrior]

So dd has just started high school. There is an expectation that the students stand up when the headteacher enters the assembly hall. Is this not a bit draconian in 2024?

Oh gosh, please don't ask him if he's alright! It's so woolly. What sort of response do you want? When someone says that to me I'm tempted to either say "No, I'm half left" (thanks, Mum) or start telling them about my ingrowing toenail. Say "Hello", or "Good morning".

Too late, have been doing it for years. As for response from him, I don't really care, just acknowledging he walked in the room.

I'm honestly not that worried if he's having a shit day or not. On over a million a year, that's what he's paid for.

We absolutely were. Any adult entering a classroom... we had to stand.

I think what's more relevant though is that this is part of the process of teaching general manners and respect. There are lots of places we're all expected to stand - eg in church at certain times or when the bride arrives at a wedding etc. At a simpler level, as lots of us have already pointed out, in various professional settings. So not every time my boss walks in the room, but absolutely in a meeting when others come into the room - whether they're junior or senior to me - as a courtesy and to facilitate shaking hands and other greetings. Ditto at social events such as dinner parties or drinks. This is all totally normal.

A head teacher is in a very specific position of authority and respect - like a priest or perhaps some government functions - so standing seems perfectly legitimate in that situation.

Respect should absolutely go both ways. I find teachers appear to make a conscious effort to model this behaviour - greeting children in a polite and professional manner, listening to them properly when they speak etc.

We had to do this for all teachers entering classroom at my comp in the 90s. I didn't think about it much.

This is all fine, in fact good.
Don't see why it would make the kids miserable?
Unless some were absolutely spoilt and unused to doing as they were told?

Totally normal. Its respect. My fil will sit and read the newspaper when someone comes in (to visit him as he lives overseas), it's rude.

We used to stand up if an adult came into the room and hold the door open for adults. I'm not sure about being a peasant though. I don't think there were many in North Ascot when I was growing up 50 years ago. Maybe a current resident could update me?

One more year to go for me.
It's totally exhausting.

Do you not expect the men to stand when a woman enters the room, say a meeting? Then the woman acknowledges them and asks them to sit. As it should be.

I would not have a problem with my children showing respect in this way. I would wonder why somebody would. Thinking back to when I was a teacher, I would have been able to pinpoint exactly which parents would've found this a problem.

In a nutshell.

It depends on the CEO how you treat them.

In my 20s I used to have regular meetings with a CEO and a senior colleague about a couple of projects. If I then saw the CEO about it would be a normal "Hello" like I treated any senior manager in the company including one I thought was an a-hole. There as a couple of colleagues who worked on a project with me but didn't have the meetings would nearly pass out if they saw him.

At some larger companies I have just avoided the CEO and senior management as people brown nosed them and I can't be bothered.

When (on occasion) pupils have said things like "Why don't teachers have to do x y z..? we're equals" I have tended to reply along the lines of "If we're equal how come there is one of me and 27 of you?" 🤔. I am no fan of the boot-camp style of certain academy chains but standing for an adult is not unreasonable (and certainly not "draconian")

Hell no.

We had a Holocaust survivor come to talk to our yr9 s. He was in his 90s. He had coffee in the staff area, and every time a teacher came in, he stood up. I thought that was very courteous.
When he gave the talk in the hall, everyone stood up to greet him, including all the staff.
Even the Headteacher.

Like PP’s, we had to stand up when the teacher walked into the classroom at the start of the lesson.

French teacher: Bonjour la classe
Class (in unison): Bonjour Madame
French teacher: Ca va bien?
Class: Oui, ca va bien merci, et toi?
French teacher: Ca va bien merci. Asseyez -vous.

I suppose it was quite an effective way of putting us into “French mode”.

If I were sitting at a table in a room at work and a customer came into the room I would stand. It just feels like the right thing to do. I'd probably do it automatically.

Normally as a prelude to shaking hands and offering them something to drink.

This falls strictly under the category of 'small stuff'.

I have far greater concerns about the draconian uniform rules, disregard for bullying victims and schools' seeming incapability of implementing their own anti-bullying policies, not to mention complete lack of funding in some LEAs for kids who desperately need diagnosis of a learning disability and then have to pay £300-600 for a report - sometimes more than one - or find they cannot access the help they need. I'm concerned with the teaching profession having downgraded in so many respects - in some cases with an appalling culture of bullying and mismanagement - to the point that it's haemorrhaging staff and struggling to attract high quality teachers to the profession in the first place.

Standing when the Head enters the assembly hall is the least issue with education that even enters on my radar.

What?? 🤣🤣

We had to do this I left school over 30 years ago. It's just teaching respect for the head. Which also helps with discipline.

I'm sure the definition of draconian is extremely harsh or severe. Expecting school pupils to stand up to show respect for their Headteacher is certainly not extremely harsh or severe.
This post is all that is wrong with the attitude of a growing number towards authority; police, paramedics, teachers etc. The whole, 'I don't have to show you respect, you have to earn it, I pay your wages, you're my servan't etc etc
Gaaahhh! It's mad! 😤
I worry for my DGCs 😓

YABU OP.

I am a teacher and I’ve never seen, experienced or even heard about this, either as a teacher or a student! I think it sounds pretty ridiculous. Shocked so many people saying it’s normal!

Only if the woman is HM Queen. Or Dolly Parton (she is my Queen.) 😍

Everyone should stand for Dolly.

But the children are not ‘in television’ are they, they are at school in a learning environment which shapes their future. As well as learning the essentials of Maths, English, IT, etc, they need to learn the tools and skills to communicate effectively and respectfully with their peers and mentors. Hopefully your children will be in a position of employment one day, would you expect them to treat their boss like an equal? There have to be leaders and mentors, the ship has a captain, and he is respected, without him it flounders because the shipmates have no clue how to navigate.
I was on the bus last week and I witnessed a sad situation. It was standing room only, me included, there were several teenagers seated (on their way to college presumably). An elderly lady got on the bus and joked that she was going to sit on the lap to one of the teenagers, she was clearly struggling with the momentum of the bus and stumbling. He just looked blankly at her and remained seated. My children wouldn’t have even needed a hint, they would’ve stood up and offered the lady a seat… that’s because they were taught respect for others, and they didn’t go though life thinking everyone owed them something and they should come first.
They are both in their 40’s now, and highly respected leaders in their fields of work with a happy team of workers beside them.
Don’t do your children a disservice by teaching them not to show respect to others.