A letter to the Head.

I have to admire my just turned 16 year old son who wrote this letter to the head after being suspended from his afternoon lessons.  He wrote while sitting outside the Head teachers office, with just pen and paper, nothing else!

Dear Head,

Since you have informed me that I am not to talk to you until "I do so properly" which you define as giving you optional honorific, regardless of my opinions on them, I am resorting to written form to present my case.

Firstly, although it is the usual thing to do, it is not a rule, or law, and you are neither an NCO or above, nor have you been Knighted, meaning said honorific IS voluntary.

I am not opposed to calling you sir, and I have many times, so this is not a personal slight, but a matter of principles. My opposition stems from being told/ordered to call you sir

I am a great believer in freedom of expression in all its forms, one of which is speech. Attempting to control and limit others speech through demanding titles, which skews a whole conversation in your favour is a restriction of my freedom of speech.

If, for expressing myself in a way which isn't even rude, I am to be suspended, the system we function in needs to be changed. For example, I "have to" refer to male teachers as sir, but no such equivalent exists for female teachers, who I must refer to by their marital status, as opposed to the female version of sir, which is Dame. This shows our school is patriarchal and even the rules on student-teacher relations are sexist.

I propose a middle ground. I will, if you deem it an acceptable alternative instead refer to you as Headmaster, in place of sir.


The head agreed, and lifted the suspension.