to think that schoolchildren should be called pupils and not students?

[specialsmasher]

Just bothers me. Not sure when 'student' started to be the common term for a schoolchild, but I don't like it.

YABU. Kind of petty, and your anger is misdirected. In America, we use BOTH pupil and student so, no, it is not an "Americanism".

How silly.

I'm not angry. Though to be dismissed as 'how silly' is kind of rude, so could make me that way...

As long as the teaching remains as good I don't think it matters and the kids like it.

However, if they decide that sixth formers are students and therefore are mature enough to set their own work rate (school in Suffolk!) with the result that most 17 year old boys did precisely nothing, then no.

It doesn't matter that much, clearly, but it is a symptom of something wider, IMO - hopefully it will stop somewhere before schoolchildren are referred to as clients or customers commonly.

YABU to even care!
I am a teacher and I called them students, pupils and kids .

YANBU. They're pupils, who are taught by teachers.

We now have a 'principal' in our local comprehensive instead of a headteacher. We're in the Home Counties, not the US.

Actually the nomenclature is more important than some teachers seem to appreciate.

"Actually the nomenclature is more important than some teachers seem to appreciate. " Errrr - why?

Well done Mnetters, totally agree with you about all these creeping Americanisms. I went to a comprehensive in the 70's and it changed overnight from being a plain old secondary mod where all the kids were pupils. The buildings changed not one jot but you should have seen the new glossy brochures! Pupils were now "students", teachers became "faculty"
and the school grounds became a bloody "campus." This was in a nod to the trendies in the LEA who all wished they had had a bit of campus action with the "pigs" in the US in the 60's instead of chewing their bic biros back in boring old Thanet! On the "young adults" issue my digit is firmly pointed at Al Green the Childrens Commissioner among others. I believe they want the word Youth expunged from the lexicon.

What's wrong with students? Doesn't annoy me.

you may be right that they want to eradicate the term 'youth'. My fear is that they will replace it with 'yoof' in their relentless drive to dumb down and get down with the kidz.

Because by calling the children students not pupils you are viewing them as something slightly different to what they are: children who need specific teaching and guidance, rather than young adults who can adopt a more independent role in their learning.

abride, I'm not sure about that. I think a pupil is taught by someone else, a pupil is under the pupillage of a teacher. But a student is just someone who studies. A student can be a self-taught student studying a subject at home, not under the instruction of a teacher. A student implies more independent learning than a pupil. You can be a student of human relations, an interested observer watching the world go by from you cafe table.

Or you can be completely unhung up on semantics and use the words 'pupil' and 'student' interchangeably meaning ostensibly the same thing....

If you put the word 'pupil' into a word document and select thesaurus, then hey presto, 'student' comes up.

AS I SAID PREVIOUSLY - IN AMERICA PUPIL AND STUDENT ARE USED INTERCHANGEABLY! WE DO USE PUPIL TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes on forums, you have to repeat yourself, or your every word has not been read that carefully. That's just the way it is.

thesauruses give words with similar meanings. No-one said the terms were not similar did they?

YABU, thinking about it more, I like the use of the term 'student'. To me a pupil is more suitable for a young child who relies on the instruction of the teacher. So a 6 year old child is a pupil, because they rely completely on the teacher and they are not capable of challenging the teacher's knowledge. But an 18 year old studying philosophy 'A' level is no longer a pupil. At this age they are a student, because they can come up with independent ideas that challenge the teacher, they no longer rely on the teacher for all of their knowledge.

We were pretty much agreed that it's different for A level. Those of us who did think younger ones should be called pupils, that is.

sorry I didn't read the whole thread. Then I agree with you, young children are pupils and older ones are students.

specialsmasher, you are right when you say
"It doesn't matter that much, clearly, but it is a symptom of something wider, IMO - hopefully it will stop somewhere before schoolchildren are referred to as clients or customers commonly."

it is symptomatic of the loss of confidence and undermining of authority that is prevalent in society. They bend over backwards patronisingly pretending that the child is in charge with child-centred learning. The new dictat is that all the children should be called 'learners'. Soon the word 'teacher' will become a dirty word and be replaced by 'learning partner', 'learning buddy' or 'learning pal'. The only word that suitably describes whoever dreams up these dictats, is twat.

Hee! Well said.

I agree with the o p too, i hate the term student for a youngish child and make a point of calling all the children I know "children" until at some point they become "teenagers" and for me, a student is at university or college. If a driving instructor teaches you to drive, aren't you his pupil? Or if you have music lessons, aren't you a pupil? Children at school are pupils and that is that.

Hey Claig good to see you again. I have seen a sign on our Festival Hall referring to 9-13 year olds as young adults!!! Bloody ridiculous as if my 11 year old "young adult/student/non-youth/client of educational services" is going to take offence if they don't use the pc terminology.
he couldn't give a FF he is just happy being a child.