School calling children piglets?

[GoToSleepBabyPlease]

Came across this on another thread but felt discussing it there would constitute a derail, so bringing it up here.

On a school website (link below):

'To make table manners fun at Hanford we have devised the ‘Manners Table’, a ranking system of eleven different levels with ‘Piglet’ at the bottom and ‘Royal Guest’ at the top. Each level has a different name to describe the behaviour, for example, a messy eater will be a ‘Panda’ or even ‘Cave Lady’ whereas those girls who have mastered dining rather than merely eating will be a ‘Favourite Auntie’ or ‘Best Granny’. When new girls join they start somewhere in the middle with the aim of working their way up as quickly as possible. If they should become a ‘Royal Guest’ they are allowed to bring their own jam to breakfast. Every Friday after lunch, Miss Morrey reads out the week’s manners rankings. If a girl is moved up then they are given a sweet while others may be warned or some even moved down.

1. Royal Guest (allowed to bring their own jam or other spread and can also move people up and down)
2. Best Granny (allowed to move people up and down in manners)
3. Favourite Aunty
4. Primrose
5. Panda
6. Cat (can go to Tuck Shop on Sunday)
7. Squirrel
8. Hyena
9. Boa Constrictor
10. Cave Lady

10. Piglet'

AIBU to think that referring to children as piglets doesn't exactly model good manners?

hanfordschool.co.uk/wellbeing/manners/

Also check out there Twitter.

@Hm2020

If there was an original thread on this school can someone link it please I’m fascinated.

It wasn't on this school, it was a generic boarding schools thread.

I don't think it sounds that odd — being able to move up towards privileges is very motivating (and it sounds like the lower levels aren't really used). We were desperate to be 'table heads' at my school, especially if you were were given a table of Kindergarteners, because it meant you were trusted to set a good example to them.

Dorset girls' prep schools do sound lovely and outdoorsy. I have a friend who went to Knighton House, where their uniform is red dungarees, so they never have to worry about "impractical skirts".

@katy1213

It's terribly complicated. I'd simplify it: Pig at a Trough - Safe in Restaurants - Hyacinth Bucket.

This sounds horribly judgmental. Also, concepts of good table manners are not identical across nations/ communities. I’d be unhappy with the school setting itself up to arbitrate anything beyond generally considerate, hygienic behaviour at the table.

Ha ha ha! This is nuts but I love it.

@makingmammaries

This sounds horribly judgmental. Also, concepts of good table manners are not identical across nations/ communities. I’d be unhappy with the school setting itself up to arbitrate anything beyond generally considerate, hygienic behaviour at the table.

This is a famous private prep!

They will be modelling a pretty universally-accepted standard of table manners befitting children from families with £30k+ a year to throw at their education.

It’s hilarious that you think these are the sorts of girls who are going to be rabbits in headlights if they are one day taken to a Japanese restaurant

Handforth Dene shopping complex is full of the rudest most stuck up people you could ever wish not to encounter. This explains why. They rebel. If I were labelled a piglet I'd be referring to the staff members as Old Sows.

For 30k a year they have an awful lot of just giving requests!

Just been on the website. Were I in a position to spend that kind of money on a school, I'd love to send my girls there.

Hanford girls make dens, climb trees and, in the summer, ride before breakfast. They make their own clothes and develop as free spirits. They learn resilience, confidence and a sense of adventure and they develop friendships which will last a lifetime.

Sounds idyllic. Am very jealous of the PP's who attended when they were girls!

@Queenoftheashes

For 30k a year they have an awful lot of just giving requests!

Tax efficient for parents...

Yes, it is a lovely little Enid Blyton prep - then the poor kids get ripped to shreds when they move up and go to school in the 21st century
(Yes, I did go to school with girls who went here)

They will be modelling a pretty universally-accepted standard of table manners befitting children from families with £30k+ a year to throw at their education.

I think it's more the point that many cultures don't use utensils at the table at all, eating with their fingers etc, and labelling people who can't use a salad fork as a 'cave lady' is a bit problematic. I work in a (very) different school environment to this one, and most kids don't use knives and forks at home, so at school you'll see them attempt to spear a slice of pizza with a fork and nibble around it, or eat baked beans with their fingers. I find the implication that that they're essentially cave people a bit troubling. Smacks a bit of calling other cultures 'savage'.

@GoToSleepBabyPlease

They will be modelling a pretty universally-accepted standard of table manners befitting children from families with £30k+ a year to throw at their education.

I think it's more the point that many cultures don't use utensils at the table at all, eating with their fingers etc, and labelling people who can't use a salad fork as a 'cave lady' is a bit problematic. I work in a (very) different school environment to this one, and most kids don't use knives and forks at home, so at school you'll see them attempt to spear a slice of pizza with a fork and nibble around it, or eat baked beans with their fingers. I find the implication that that they're essentially cave people a bit troubling. Smacks a bit of calling other cultures 'savage'.

Oh good lord You think that parents who are open minded enough to seek out a school like this aren’t aware of other cultures and how they eat?

And you think those pupils aren’t being taken all around the world on holidays every year to experience those cultures and their eating habits first hand?

This is straw clutching at its absolute finest...

April fool?

Oh good lord
You think that parents who are open minded enough to seek out a school like this aren’t aware of other cultures and how they eat?

Not at all, but actions speak louder than words. Going on holidays to gawk at people from other cultures doesn't make one immune to to feeling superior.

@CaptainMyCaptain

April fool?

No, we've had ex pupils on here upthread who have experienced this.

@GoToSleepBabyPlease

*Oh good lord You think that parents who are open minded enough to seek out a school like this aren’t aware of other cultures and how they eat?*

Not at all, but actions speak louder than words. Going on holidays to gawk at people from other cultures doesn't make one immune to to feeling superior.

Um, you hopefully can see the utter irony of accusing these children of ‘gawking at other people’ ON THE THREAD YOU STARTED to encourage people to gawk at these children

Also, isn’t it blindingly obvious to you that if you are the sort of parent who wants to bring your daughters up with a superiority complex, you don’t send them to the sort of school where they are expected to be up mucking out horses before breakfast..?!

Superiority is about leaving the staff to clear up at breakfast, not rewarding those who are as tidy and helpful as possible.

Sorry, I haven't rtft but are you seriously saying that knowing British table manners means you can't fit in elsewhere?

In the UK I eat with my fork in my left hand and knife in my right. In the US I predominantly eat with my fork in my right hand and my knife resting unless I need to use it. In South Asia I stayed with friends in their home and used my hands to eat. In Chinese and Japanese restaurants I use chopsticks.

How daft to think that knowing table manners appropriate to one culture means you can't adapt.

@EdgeOfACoin

Sorry, I haven't rtft but are you seriously saying that knowing British table manners means you can't fit in elsewhere?

In the UK I eat with my fork in my left hand and knife in my right. In the US I predominantly eat with my fork in my right hand and my knife resting unless I need to use it. In South Asia I stayed with friends in their home and used my hands to eat. In Chinese and Japanese restaurants I use chopsticks.

How daft to think that knowing table manners appropriate to one culture means you can't adapt.

Yes, that’s pretty much what OP is trying to say.

Because she hasn’t had the whole thread mocking these kids alongside her, she is now clutching at straws to find a negative in the school teaching table manners to justify her thread

Some of DDs friends went there and loved it.

In the UK we tend to eat with knives & forks, what’s wrong with children using them correctly? Yes, there are meals which are best eaten with fingers but stew & mashed potato or roast chicken?

I think that school sounds awesome. Seems a shame the pupils have to leave the 1940s and graduate to the current day that will come as quite a shock...

Sorry, I haven't rtft but are you seriously saying that knowing British table manners means you can't fit in elsewhere?

No, I'm saying that raising children to think poor table manners = piglets or cave dwellers is ethically suspect and not likely to result in respect of others who've not had their advantages.

Nowhere have I mocked the children, I think you'll find. And if you read my previous posts (there's a 'see all' function) you'll see this.

In the UK we tend to eat with knives & forks, what’s wrong with children using them correctly?

^This, first and foremost