Class- conscious teachers spot the potential troublemakers on the first day of term - by looking at the names in the register.
Researchers claim more than one in three teachers 'expect' children with certain names to be more of a handful than others.
YOUNGSTERS CALLED Callum, Connor, Jack, Chelsea, Courtney and Chardonnay are seen as the most likely to disrupt the class.
Nearly half of teachers, 49%, admitted making assumptions about a child when they first look at the register in September. The study formulated a TEACHER'S PET And PEST NAME CHART to show how children can expect to be pigeon holed. It reveals how pupils called Alexander, Adam, Christopher, Elizabeth, Charlotte and Emma are reckoned to be the brainy ones.
Faye Mingo, of parenting club, http://www.bounty.com/, who carried out the survey of 3,000 teachers said yesterday, "It's only natural for teachers to make judgements based on the behaviour of former pupils with the same name.
"But I'm sure they are happy to be proved wrong. After all there is always an exception to every rule."
Eric Webster, vice-chairman of Family And Youth Concern said "I would hate to think that teachers treat children differently based on their name or address."
A children's support group said there was "clearly a risk" if pupils were judged by their names.
Tim Burke of the National Youth Agency said "In some teachers minds it could literally be a case of give a dog a bad name but they most recognise this and instead judge people by the things they do and who they are."
The study also found the naughtiest children are the most popular.
SOURCE: Richard Smith, The Mirror.
Being called Tracy, I have heard all the jokes. Like Sharon's, we, Tracy's, are of loose morals, wear extremely short skirts with white stilettos and, like blondes, are of low intelligence.
Are you/have you a child named Callum, Connor, Jack, Chelsea, Courtney, Chardonnay, Adam, Christopher, Elizabeth, Charlotte or Emma? If so, were they treat any differently because of their name?
7 comments:
That's certainly interesting.
There is a Jack and a Courtney (male) in my husband's family... both probably the kind the teachers based their future assumptions on!
My kids' names didn't fall on the bad list. But, they weren't on the bright list, either. Ah, well. There are exceptions to every list!
Hope you were able to get into the freerice.com site. It really is clever and fun.
We also have 'an exception to the rule' in our family, Kelly.
my sister is Margaret Elizabeth. She started using her middle name recently. i will ask her if she gets treated differently when she uses her middle name.
i am a mary...everyone assumes i am a goody goody. it is one of those names.
Never knew the teachers make assumptions related to names. Don't think it happens over here.
When I was teaching I never made assumptions by name. I always made assumptions according to who they were related to in the school. That is just as bad isn't. Assuming all members of the same family would be naughty.
It may well be just as bad but I'm afraid it is, sadly, so often the case. I (as a once upon a time teaching assistant) tried not to generalise but all too often found if we had major problems with a child, we were more than likely to have problems with other members of that family. There were, of course, some exceptions to the rule but unfortunately not very often.
The longer you teach, the more pupils you come across with the same name. If I were to make any sort of assumption based on most of the names you list, I've taught so many completely different characters by each of those names - so many Bens and Jacks, Callums, Connors - it makes the idea of judging by a name a bit silly, doesn't it? Those who are not teachers are far more likely to make such judgements, as most people don't build relationships with up to 100 new people every year.
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