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?

If that was me I wouldn't be wasting my time copying anything out, I'd be going into school and politely explaining why he wouldn't be doing anything extra.
We had a constant battle in year 4 with teachers spelling my son's name incorrectly (not an unusual name, just one lots of people spell wrong - think Rueben for Reuben). On parents evening I finally lost the will to live when we saw his tray still had the wrong spelling of his name on there - I crossed it out with sharpie and wrote the right spelling on there. He told me the next day that they were cross about it, but they'd had a whole half term to sort it - funnily enough they never spoke to me about it.

But was the name written on his book his birth name?

My youngest daughter is called Bella, but all her friends know her as Ben. On her school books, they all say Bella which she hates but also respects because that IS her name.

He shouldn't have scribbled his name out. He should have asked to change it or been patient as I am sure the teacher would have sorted it (but couldn't immediately as they were trying to teach the lesson).
He shouldn't have been asked to rewrite his work but he does need to learn to be more patient and understanding when mistakes happen (those saying the name should be known by now, maybe an old register was used). I would ask the office to check the school files that he hasn't got the wrong name written down somewhere...also check he doesn't actually call himself this at school. My son has a friend using your example who was always called Thomas by his parents. It's only when he started school he started being called Tom, and his mum didn't know! She made a joke about it in the class chat group introducing her son Thomas, who everyone else knew as Tom!.

Well, a mistake that's pointed out can be corrected when there is time (probably the teacher's own time, so as not to waste the lesson, especially if she'd had sorted it in the first place).

I know it's his name, which is personal, but the mistake wasn't.

He didn't need to scribble on his book at all (whether having lost his temper or just through lack of decent presentation) so does need to be told this is a problem.

And a sticker over a load of scribbling with biro won't hide graffiti. It would have neatly covered a typo in the same position.

It won't be the teacher who cares particularly either, it will be someone who looks at the books and says boys are not productive enough and behind the girls and having this individual teacher personally having such low expectations is the reason this is the case every year, across the country.

That is so triggering for me! I worked in a school where they decided that A4 sized labels should be glued ( with cheapo version Pritt stick) onto the front of each book.
Then used that as a way to castigate me when, inevitably, the labels started to unpeel. Absolutely it was my fault for not instilling proper values in the children I had taught for only 2 weeks in my first job as an NQT.
15 years ago and I still shudder every time I think of the place. It was a rude awakening into how awful SLT can be. I'd never seen bullying in the workplace before, but this school was horrendous.
OP, whether it is the teacher or over zealous SLT, this doesn't sound like a nice environment for your DC.

The word ‘vandalised’ is ridiculous. I’d have to feedback to the school that he has the right to be called the name he prefers and he ‘corrected’ the misnamed book.

Actually I’d also probably steam the new correct name label off the new book and Pritt Stick it onto the old book. Then hand back the unused exercise book suggesting they are less wasteful with resources.

You could hire a calligrapher to copy it into the new book.

can you cut out and stick the pages in the new book? or can you get the cover off the new one and replace the one on the old one? any fuss from teacher needs to be shut down.

Say to teacher she needs to tell you what she is doing here

1. is she punishing your son by making him “write out his lines” for 20 mins because she made a mistake
2. or does she want to relabel the original with two nice labels - given it was her mistake and not be so OCD.
3. or should sh neatly cut out his original writing and stick it into the new book

as much as anything issuing him with a whole new exercise book is a waste of money and funds fgs. Unless she plans to acquire it and take it home to use.

Make the bloody point to her it is not acceptable to punish your child because she has invented a random name for him, which is not what he is called.
she made a mistake. And telling him to ignore his name is pretty disrespectful . Can he just call her a random name?

Absolutely this, why is anyone even contemplating anything with a second book, what a ridiculous waste of resources

Carefully cut out the page and tape it in.

Former teacher here. You would not believe just how difficult some senior leaders can be. The teacher may have been worried about a potential book scrutiny that they would be pulled up on it.
I have been given handwriting targets where the kids were writing but not joining and I was given a talking to about what a rubbish teacher I was because of this and would be put on a support plan.

sometimes teachers are so overwhelmed and scared of leaders that they lose all sense of reality as they are worried about losing their job over the most ridiculous things.

this is what it is like in many schools

My daughter's name ends with an 'ie'. At her foundation year parents evening I found they'd been spelling ending just 'i'. I added the 'e' to everything - her books, her tray, her peg. The teacher didn't accuse me of vandalism, she apologised for her mistake. Like your son's teacher needs to

It won't be the child's class teacher who made this rule...this will have been the Senior Leadership Team. The class teacher will just be following the ridiculous policy on this stuff.

At a previous school I worked in, I was once quite literally called 'lazy and disorganised' following a book scrutiny, because ONE of my classes 34 writing books had ONE 'date and learning objective' sticker stuck in every so slightly crooked...and I'm talking about a tiny 'slant' of an angle not quite straight!!! It was UTTERLY bizarre, but I got an official warning letter about 'presentation standards'.

I'd been teaching for 25 years at this point and was Writing Lead and an LEA Writing Advisor...so definitely NOT lazy and disorganised!!

I handed my notice in that term...such a toxic environment.

Agree. Totally unreasonable of the teacher - what a power trip.

I mean... I'm a teacher and I wrote about my experiences. I have seen it in all five schools I have worked in. I strongly suspect it is a factor in this school.

That’s true actually - the teacher afraid of the “book look” - but to make the child write the work out again is unreasonable.

I would send a message back to the teacher saying that due to them mis-naming him, he corrected the error and that you would like a sticker to cover up the original error. Making him rewrite the work and saying he has “vandalised” his book is preposterous. I would not be asking him to redo the work and I would not be doing it either. That’s a very draconian punishment for a young child when the error is not his.

This kind of thing is why we leave.

If its a member of senior leadership this is filtering down from then I’d be asking to speak to them directly about how the inane pressure they’re filtering down to their staff has resulted in your child being punished for a mistake that wasn’t his - and apparently sense has left the building and instead or re labelling a book we’re now just wasting almost unused resources for the sake of a sticky label. And we wonder why teachers are leaving in droves.

I agree with posters that I wouldn’t be making my son re copy anything back out and I’d be explaining why. If he’s repeatedly corrected them on his name for the entire school year they’ve already had six months to learn his name, I’d be pissed off too. Would teacher like it if he started abbreviating her name? I doubt she’d be particularly patient.

Ridiculous! He’s only 8! I teach in a secondary school and wouldn’t behave like this.

Remove the staples from the old book, take out the pages of work then take the staples out the new book, insert the work then put staples back in. Simple.

Gently suggest to your child that in future they ask for a replacement sticker rather than changing it himself. Hopefully the teacher won't make the same mistake again.

This was my thought too! Wasteful when a new sticker or the corrected one is absolutely fine.

OP- I think this is ridiculous and I would absolutely be raising it!

Vandalised ? WTF? He didn’t vandalise the book he simply corrected the error. It’s not an expensive first edition.