10-Year-Old Punished By Teacher For Calling Her Ma'am

Aug 29, 2018 by apost team

All parents want their children to give respect to their educators. While rude behavior has repercussions, parents of a 10-year-old boy were shocked to find their son was given a punishment for addressing his teacher as ma'am.

Any parent who has sent their child to school knows about the nervousness. You're worried about them making friends, about them fitting in, and about the respect they'll show to their educator. Everyone is familiar with the repercussions that students face if they exhibit rude behavior toward their teachers.

But what about polite behavior?

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According to McArthur Bryant and Teretha Wilson, their 10-year-old son Tamarion felt completely humiliated when he got off of the bus. When Teretha asked him what had happened, he told her that he had gotten in trouble with his teacher for saying, "Yes, ma'am."

Teretha asked her son what he meant, so Tamarion showed her the sheet of paper on which he'd had to write "ma'am" four times on every line, on both the front and back side of the page. He needed to have it signed by a parent.

Tamarion says the discipline occurred after he called his teacher ma'am several times despite her telling him not to.

This isn't just a case of a boy being snarky to his teacher, though. Tamarion received a recent hospitalization due to activity related to seizures. This activity had multiple side effects, some of which are hallucinations and memory loss. It's possible that he literally could not remember his teacher asking him to stop.

The teacher was not aware of the medical condition at the time of administering the punishment. However, Teretha says that the woman did express that she wanted to "throw something" at Tamarion. The educator in question has stated that it was not a serious threat and that Tamarion was aware it was not serious.

Tamarion returned the sheet with a signature, but his parents added a second page defining the word ma'am. Tamarion has moved to a different class since the incident. A spokesperson for the school told news outlets that the matter had been handled. But Teretha isn't sure it's over. Her concern, she says, is that something similar will happen to another student.

What do you think? Was the incident outrageous or justified?