A Naming Dilemma: What Do You Call Your Former Teacher?

I was at a work function a few nights ago when I ran into (of all people) my 11^th Grade history teacher. Miss McCarthy retired the same year I graduated from high school, and until Wednesday night I hadn’t seen her in almost a dozen years… yet there she was making her rounds at the cocktail party, donning a “Hi My Name Is” lapel sticker that said in handwritten letters: “Elisa”.

Situations like those always cause me to wonder: at what point, exactly, can and/or should you call your former teachers or professors by their first names?

Part of the answer lies with age.  A 17-year-old high school senior can most certainly have a 23-year-old coach or teacher; and the paltry 6-year age differential likely wouldn’t cause any awkwardness in addressing said coach/teacher by first name. But for obvious reasons, the older, more distinguished figures are unquestionably more susceptible to titles.

Demeanor has a lot to do with it too. The laid-back journalism professor or the happenin-ly hip baseball coach usually insist that you call them by their first names while you’re their students, let alone after. But the more staid, traditional authority figures tend to (consciously or not) send out a vibe that just screams: “that’s MR. Jenkins to you, kind sir.”

For me, though, the biggest factor always tends to be the extent to which I liked and respected the person. Like all professions, there are some teachers who have had such an influence on your life that you often think of them even in adulthood… and then there are those who weren’t worth a warm bucket of spit. The ones who impacted your life for the better deserve to keep their title – a sign of respect, an acknowledgment of a master-apprentice relationship. And the ones who didn’t? Eh – they probably don’t remember any of their students anyway.

So for every Barbara (9^th grade geometry), John (11^th grade Spanish) and Ray (undergraduate Shakespeare) in the world, there are plenty of people like Mrs. Sahadi (12^th grade history), Dr. Reiter (undergrad poly sci) and Professor Gilmour (grad school)…

And Miss McCarthy will always be Miss McCarthy.