WWYD? Teacher using "themself" on the homework page.

[NotUrsula]

I've got a quandary. Not major, but it bothers me, nonetheless.

DS12's new 7th grade English teacher has posted her homework list for the first week on the school website. In it, she has used the non-word "themself" -- not once, but twice.

I have not yet met the woman, but this rather prejudices me against her. Once I would have thought was a typo -- a weird typo coming from an English teacher, but possible. Twice makes me think that she really meant to use it.

Would you say something to her? At this point I'm not sure if I should, but I do intend to double-check DS' returned papers for mis-graded grammar mistakes.

PS: I guess that it bothers me so much because this particular "word" was so heavily harped on by my own English teachers in school. I grew up in the South, where this is considered to be one of those usage errors that, when written, marks a person as poorly educated, right up there with ain't. Seeing it in official correspondence from an English teacher was a jarring thing.

 

[princessmom29]

Definitely NOT soemthing to call the teacher on. I looked it up and from what I understand it is coming back into usage and becoming more and more accepted. Some teachers are using it and some not. Still either way it is a really, really minor point and NOT something I would EVER contact a teacher about! Just my opinion.

 

[r1lissa]

This was written on the welcome letter from my son's math teacher.
"Pencils only. No work done in pen will be excepted."

I would be even more worried if it had been the English teacher.

 

[sweetmonkey]

:sigh: Do be kind and point it out to her gently if it bothers you enough to hurt your opinion of her. Teachers are fallible and it is likely she was typing in a hurry. It is something commonly spoken (though certainly not proper) so maybe that is part of the problem.

 

[kevschickee]

Definitely NOT soemthing to call the teacher on. I looked it up and from what I understand it is coming back into usage and becoming more and more accepted. Some teachers are using it and some not. Still either way it is a really, really minor point and NOT something I would EVER contact a teacher about! Just my opinion.

I agree. I found that it is popular in many different areas out of the US.

 

[sweetmonkey]

Common maybe , but OP is right. THEM is plural so it would be THEMSELVES. The singular form should be HIMSELF/HERSELF.

I taught high school and it is pretty easy to miss things when you are in a hurry. Math teachers make errors all the time (dropping a negative sign) but it doesn't disqualify them from being competent. So too with English teachers. I know that I made lots of errors and even rewarded students for pointing them out kindly. A teacher should not be above reproach or unapproachable. If it bothers you, mention it (preferably in passing).

 

[mommytoone]

Last year my daughters second grade teacher would misspell word's on her website just to see how many people actually read it. Maybe she did it on purpose to see if one of the students would catch it.

 

[MickeyMomTo2]

Last year my daughters second grade teacher would misspell word's on her website just to see how many people actually read it. Maybe she did it on purpose to see if one of the students would catch it.

Did you purposely leave the apostrophe off daughter's and add it to words? Normally, I wouldn't ask anyone about their grammar on the Dis, but if you did that on purpose when posting about someone making mistakes on purpose, that was clever.

And to the OP, I don't know if I would say anything yet, but it would really, really bother me, especially coming from an English teacher!

 

[LWatson]

Oh the one that kills me that I see at Wal-mart all the time is $0.10¢ or just 0.10¢ (etc).

Pizza Hut in our hometown was guilty of the "No Checks Excepted" one, and actually had to take a check from a college professor because they pushed the issue. They quickly changed the sign.

 

[Schmeck]

Last year my daughters second grade teacher would misspell word's on her website just to see how many people actually read it. Maybe she did it on purpose to see if one of the students would catch it.

I caught it! There's no apostrophe needed for the plural of word.

To the OP - yes, I'd let the teacher know, in a private setting.

 

[ireland_nicole]

I would also let the teacher know about the concern. Be gentle about it, but one does want to be sure that the English teacher is aware of proper grammar.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I wouldn't say anything (though I might watch the papers for a while, just to be sure.) But my guess is she's just trying to alienate the fewest people. - If she uses "himself", one group will think she favors boys; if she uses "herself", another will think she favors girls; "himself/herself" that she's too perfect and not approachable.....

(Or she may just have used "themselves" in the past and had students insist they thought the plural meant they could work together!)

I'd say try to laugh this one off. Keep your eye on the papers for a while, and if you don't see any more errors, let it go.



P.S. - I'm falling alseep at the keyboard here, so if I made any errors in the above, please forgive me too!

 

[Pirate1+Princess4]

My peeve: "mass exodus". "Exodus" by definition is the movement of people enmasse.

DH's English teacher's pet peeve: "first annual <insert event here>" It really isn't an annual event until it has occured at least twice. The proper term would be "inaugural <insert event here>".

I think we all have "those" words or phrases that just bug us.

 

[disneybound31]

My son's fourth grade homeroom teacher was notorious for weekly letter errors. They got so bad that I would 'proofread' them before showing to DH. I would circle every misspelling and grammatical error. Lots of circles on those papers! I made sure never to let DS see what I had done to those papers. But I worried all year that she would be his academic undoing. We did a lot of at home work to supplement.

 

[MickeyMom2Boys]

The owner of my son's pre-school would send email updates out when she had an announcement to make or when an event was coming up. EVERY email she sent out (and my son attended for 2 years) was in all lower case. It drove me crazy! It was difficult to read and I kept thinking "Lady, you own a SCHOOL! Use the shift key!!" It was a pet peeve of mine and I never said anything to her, but overall it did have a small impact on my opinion of her.

Overall, I think I would let this one go, but keep an eye out for things like this througout the school year. If there are multiple occurences, find a way to bring it up. Afterall, she is an English teacher.

 

[mom2aredhead]

My sons first day of kindergarten, he came home with a flyer from the teacher that said...

"Welcome to Kindergarden"

I knew then and there it was going to be a long year. And I was right.

 

[Tam1067]

Yes you should tell her. I'm a college English prof who has taught many students wishing to become teachers. Many struggle with aspects of writing. The fact that this one is teaching English makes the problem even more serious.

I suggest you email her and just say you saw some typos and point them out. Present it as if you know she knows the "right" way to write that word and that you thought she'd want the warning before someone assumed she actually didn't know and contacted the principal.

That way you're helping her in both cases. If she's unaware you're helping her learn. And if she's careless you're warning her and giving her a chance to fix the error while showing her that people do pay attention to what she writes. That's an important lesson for lots of people.

And just to clarify, "themself" is NEVER acceptable in why we call "Standard English." Never ever.

 

[brymolmom]

Luckily ours was a Kindergarten teacher. So I didn't worry so much because ds was still spelling things with a BUNCH of letters missing.

A couple of her examples:
"Have your child then right down the word"
"You're name:____________"


UGH - drove me nuts - there were several other examples throughout the year.

I did NOT say anything. Would I if it was an English teacher in an older grade?? MAYBE is all I can say. Depends on my child, the school, how we get along when I meet the teacher....lots of factors.

Oh and BTW- ds' K teacher was WONDERFUL in so many respects....just relied too heavily on spell check. All her words were always words - just misused words.

 

[perpetualplanner]

I probably wouldn't say anything YET. Some people really don't like being corrected and it is the beginning of the school year. You don't want your child to have a bad year because you pointed something harmless out. My DS had a very rough year with his English teacher last year after harmlessly correcting her (he was correct) while other children just laughed behind him. He was the one "punished" the rest of the year. She also responded to a question I had about a program and mis-spelled hungry as hungary. What amazes me is that I believe nearly everything has an auto-spellchecker anymore. Right now "hungary" is red and underlined as I type this???

 

[rgf207]

are you serious? This just seems so petty. I mean come on. Teachers are human beings too and they do make mistakes. But "themself" is not incorrect. Maybe not 100% accepted but not incorrect.