Student/pupil

[Theyreeatingthedogs]

When did we start referring to children at school as students? I absolutely hate it. They were always pupils in my day, which I'll admit wasn't yesterday. It doesn't improve anything just causes confusion. There was a post on MN where someone said they had taught a student. I automatically thought of college or uni. Someone asked if it was a schoolchild or an adult. If we didn't refer to school children as students the world would be a much easier place to navigate.

Pupil at primary and student at secondary has always been the case in my area (I was born in the 80s!)

Oh LOL! Didn’t see it was Pedant’s corner :D

FWIW, always pupils in primary and a mix for secondary plus x

When we started calling the sixth form ‘college’ instead of school.

I've also noticed that children have become 'young people'.
(Unless they commit a crime and then they're children again.)

My younger sister has a school aged child and she goes out of her way to refer to them as pupils. For some reason the teachers don't like it!!!!

Children in nursery and reception class

Pupils for all other year groups up to Y11

Students for 16+

That’s how the DofE refer to them

I was a pupil at school and a student at college. It will always be thus.

@Theyreeatingthedogs , I've just noticed your username. That was such a good song 😍

Why does she do that?

I absolutely hate it too, OP.

Anyone at school (so up to age 18 if taking A-Levels) is a pupil.
Anyone at university or at a post-16 college doing a vocational subject (such as hairdressing) is a student.

IT'S NOT HARD!

ETA: And I don't care if they're taking A-levels at a sixth-form college. A-levels are a school qualification. Anyone doing A-Levels or lower is a pupil. 🤬 It aids understanding to use the properly assigned names, instead of mixing them all up. If everyone is a student, I have no idea if someone is referring to a five-year-old or a PhD candidate when someone says, for example, that they had to have a word with a student.

Our local academy trust calls them all learners.

Ugh.

I am a senior lecturer at a university. It annoys me too. Agree.... pupil should be used for schools but it isn't..... And I hate 'learners'. Don't mind occasional use but I don't like it as a substitute for students (at HE). I have found colleagues that come from a FE background usually use learners.

What song? Never heard of it. It was a quote from the bestest, most magnificent and absolutely the most wonderful President of the Majestic States of America.

Because she agrees with me. They are pupils!

Worse still is “young adults”. To me, a “young adult” would be someone who has only just become an adult, not someone who is not yet an adult.

I work in schools and we’re supposed to call them all learners now. I still call them pupils though most of the time, can’t see the issue with the word!

This is bizarre - I’ve never heard this. “Primary school students”, “high school students”, “uni students”. What is you basis for fining this inaccurate? Pupil sounds like something out of Dickens! Not sure I’ve ever heard anyone use the word in real life!

This is a very British thing. In Australia, NZ and America they are mostly students.

You are probably too young! When us old farts were at school we were pupils. If you went on to FE or HE you became a student.
The march of American speak is relentless!

I work in a large school.
i can assure you I don’t care if they are called students or pupils. How is your blood pressure, if something so trivial annoys you?

@cityliving99 This is pedants’ corner! We ALL have high blood pressure from all the terrible grammar and spelling on Mumsnet!

Don't get me started on High School 😉 Seriously though, I didn't go to High School. It was secondary school and I was a pupil.

When people talks about students they do not prefix that with university. Students in general terms means they are university. E.g. a press article about Student Finance or Student Accommodation...
It means over 18 and at university.

That's why I dislike students for children. I quite like precise language. That's why I'm in Pedants' Corner!

Very many people do go to high school in Scotland. My school was called Town-name High School as were all others I was aware of in the council area. I suspect the American usage came from parts of the UK originally.

As a teacher, student confuses me because I think they mean a student teacher. In my area, primary children are never called students, only pupils (mostly children though in day to day conversation). It's the secondary schools that seem to use student.