Am I ready to be called "Miss"?

"NO!" I laughed. Yet I wasn't kidding.

That's an excerpt from a recent phone conversation with my uncle. I was telling him that I'd decided to apply to teachers' college. Currently, I'm volunteering at my old high school.

I don't know what it is. There are certain things in the form and formality of the teaching profession that rub me the wrong way.

Like the "Miss" issue. I wouldn't be offended in the least if a student called me by my first name. However various adults believe that students should address all adults as "Mr./Ms./Miss/Mrs." or else. They think it demonstrates respect.

I say this is an old standard, from the days when teachers used to wrap their students' knuckles for misbehaving.

So many things about today's schools seem designed to put students in their "place". It sickens me.