DS punished for teachers mistake

[babynot]

DS's(8) class were given a new work book at school last week with with printed labels on the front.
Imagine his name is something like Tommy but this book said Tom which he is never called and hates.

He told the teacher his name was wrong on the label and was told not to worry about it, he didnt ask and so wasn't told not to correct it but decided to scribble out ‘Tom’ and write ‘Tommy’ below. It looks fine, obviously not as neat as it would printed but you can clearly read what it says.

Teacher has left a note saying he needs to rewrite his work into a new book which has been sent home because he vandalised the first one. Its only a few pages of work but will take him at least 20 minutes to do

AIBU to think this is unfair and it’s not his fault they put the wrong name?

And a punishment that OP's son doesn't deserve because the mistake wasn't his, but the teacher's.

I'd be annoyed. It's hardly vandalism.

I would also say no to this ridiculous mistake and would just glue the page he’s done into the new book. You could send a note with it to explain that he isn’t writing out all his work all over again due to a mistake he didn’t make

I’m a teacher and I’ve done exactly the same thing as yours on did, when my title was printed incorrectly on a little desk sign for parents evening. I wouldn’t support making him redo the work.

It depends on how old he is and is it a standard rule not to change/draw/do anything to the covers of books.

When I was year 8 we had a very chilled geography teacher. Me and my friend spent the year during boring bits decorating the covers of our books, despite knowing that wasn't allowed.
When we learnt at the start of year 9 who was our teacher that year we sighed and went and begged (paid for!) new books and copied our holiday work into the new book.
We knew that we shouldn't have done it, but when faced with probably a detention at best for doing it, we took preventative action without resentment. It was a fair cop really.

Possibilities I can think of that would be acceptable to me:

• Is there a way that you can carefully remove the cover from the new book and replace or neatly attach it over the top of the old one?
• Is his corrected name on the old book in pencil that can be erased and the new sticker lifted with steam and glued on to the old one?
• Carefully using a craft knife remove the pages he has written on, trim them slightly smaller around each edge and glue securely into the new book
• Write a note to the teacher telling her that you have done this as you don't find it fair to punish your child by making him copy out work he has already done due to her name labelling error. I'd also somehow include reference to the fact that you do not consider him correcting his own name on his own workbook to be "graffiti".

God no. Then he’d be in trouble for vandalising the new book!

It depends on how old he is and is it a standard rule not to change/draw/do anything to the covers of books.

He's 8 it's the very first thing the OP wrote. No child let alone an 8 year old deserves a punishment in this situation because they've not done anything wrong.

In secondary school ds's gf drew a heart next to his name on an essay jotter book....
He was made to rewrite the whole book after it was' vandalised'..
Apparently even though it had ds's name on it was still school property..
Alternative option was a week's suspension..

I would find it incredibly rude of the teacher to have said that Tom is OK when Tommy is actually his name or preferred form of address. Perhaps she won't feel so dismissive or casual if we shortened her name too, eg from Mrs Jones to Mrs Jon, or to call her Miss Wil instead of Miss Wilson, for example.

Rewriting his name on his own book is actually not vandalism by definition- it's his property. It may be making it slightly messy, but it's not vandalism. It's not like he was writing rude slogans on it or drawing doodles. The teacher doesn't to be terribly bright and appears to have some bizarre obsessions. All she has to do is print a new label and stick it on the old book.

In our school a quick word with the head of year would have resolved matters (ie the child would not be penalised and the old book would just get a new label) ....and teachers with strange obsessions like that and a lack of respect for people didn't last long in the school. OP's school might do things differently though- ask to have a meeting with the headteacher? I personally would point out how disrespectful it was for the teacher to attempt to rename your DS and punish him for trying to retain his real name.

Yes. Do this.
Great reply.

If that's genuinely a risk I'd make a very permanent note in the book on the opposite page explaining that this was his parent's actions and not his, why I had done it, and that if there is issue please contact ME not my child, on (contact details here). Like hell would they have a chance to dick about like that!

Yes, I realised my error and pointed it out.

I would be telling the teacher that my child would not be doing this and I'm unimpressed by the waste of resources. This was the school's error and he corrected it. She can stick a sticker over it if she wishes.

God this is awful.. I'm 62 and still remember the teacher insisting she knew my name better than me..and her humiliating me in front of the whole class when just 5 yr old me corrected her...
(Like your son she shortened it.. I actually thought she was shouting at another child because I didn't recognise the name!)
Yes I'd fight this one all the way..

fucking hell. I really cannot understand schools' obsessions with such trivial bullshit.

If this is a true, full account of the events then the teacher is being unreasonable. Talk to the teacher to hear what he/she says, then decide what to do.

I don't disagree with you OP.

I'd like everyone reading this to think about this as a sign of far wider problems in primary schools.

The teacher is so worried that she will be questioned over him writing his own name on his own book, that she did this. This is probably because SLT know that ofsted will judge them more positively if every book looks pristine. This has been the case in every school I've worked in. It's devastatingly sad.

I would tell the teacher my son isn't doing that and the teacher has wasted a 2nd book now by re issuing another. Such a waste of resources

Nope I would be sending in a note telling the teacher they made a mistake and can print out a new label

if they kick off I would send an email to hoy explaining why my child won’t be doing it

At the most I would cut the pages from the old jotter into the new one and send a note in to say you disagreed with the punishment when he was merely correcting a mistake in his name. I would also say if she has an issue to call you.

I'd like everyone reading this to think about this as a sign of far wider problems in primary schools.

I'm a teacher and several others posting are also teachers. I'm afraid I don't agree that this is a wider problem in schools. In every school I've worked in we would have appologised that his name was wrong and just stuck another sticker over the front covering the name and got on with it.

This. And I would strongly object to the word "vandalised". What an overreaction.

I'd copy it out myself... to make a point!

Yeah, I am normally all for supporting the school but I wouldn't make him do this. She made a mistake, no big deal. He misunderstood her instructions, no big deal. She can print another label to cover the whole "mess", no big deal. 20+mins extra work for an 8yr old to cover someone else's mistake IS a big deal and disproportionate to what actually happened. Can you print a sticker yourself? I would push back on this.