Teach & Serve V, No. 31
Guys? And Other Difficult Adjustments
March 4, 2020
I try to choose my words very carefully when I communicate in print, in digital form, in person. I try to think critically about the words I use.
I am a high school principal. My school’s website tells me so. This year, however, I have been so very happy to have been assigned two English classes (to be fair, I asked, cajoled, demanded to be assigned them). Long before I was in administration, I was teaching English classes and I am only too excited to have groups of students know me again in that manner.
As an English teacher and an avid reader, I have ever been a lover of words and I have also ever been aware of their power. At the core of my philosophy – such as it as – as an English is the idea that words do count, and they do have power. If I succeed in helping students think critically about words, those they use and those they ready, I will be most pleased.
A significant part of my job as principal is communication: communication to teachers and staff, to students, to parents. I try to choose my words very carefully when I communicate in print, in digital form, in person. I try to think critically about the words I use.
Which brings me to “guys.” Of the goals I set for myself when this school year started, eliminating the use of the word “guys” to refer to a mixed-gender group of people was one of the most practical and one that I suspected would give me the most trouble.
It has.
Having used the word for decades, breaking myself of the habit has been a challenge. Developing a suitable replacement has, likewise, been difficult. I typically land on “folks” which is close but not quite there. It has been surprising to me that I have not been able to generate a better word, but I keep working it.
What has not been surprising is that some people have noticed the change in my language. It has not been difficult to do so. I sometimes struggle and pause, tripping a bit over filling in “guys” with another word. Unfortunately, it has also not been surprising that some have taken a bit of offense with my efforts here.
At least it has not been surprising to me.
Last school year, I received some negative feedback when I began to interchange words for “freshman” and “freshmen.” When one is concerned with precision in speech, it is challenging to use these words to refer to groups of students consisting of both boys and girls and not have some pause.
I spent a decade in an all girls school and, in that context, the term “freshmen” seemed out of place and potentially offensive. It was in that setting that I began to substitute “first years” or “9th graders.”
When I began doing the same last year, I rubbed some people the wrong way. In fact, I received emails about my word choice wondering when I had changed the long-held term “freshman” to something else, why I had not informed the broader community of my decision and, by-the-way, did I know that some faculty were upset about the change?
Some may consider my personal alteration of these terms bothersome or off putting or offensive, and I do not doubt their feelings on these matters. I make it a point not to talk people out of their feelings. Some may think this is an example of the triumph of a particular brand of political correctness. Some may think I am out on a limb here.
Respectfully, I disagree.
My use of “folks” or “9th graders” or “first years” is not policy. It is choice. My choice. It is the preference of an English teacher who appreciates and loves exactness in language.
Love of language is what I hope to inspire in my students. I hope to motivate them to think critically about it.
I do. I do think critically about language. Hence my choices.