by Tori Newby ‘22

“There are 30 of you, and only one of me,” many teachers say the first day of school, implying that it will take them a little while to learn names. That makes sense. Sure, there are always a few teachers who will know everyone’s name by the second day. But for most, it takes about a week. Maybe two. And other teachers … well, they never learn them at all. Some teachers have to call out names for attendance every day of the semester. Others lay out graded papers at the front of the class and let the students come up and collect their own because the teacher doesn’t know which name belongs to whom. Students who come in for lunch or email a teacher often feel the need to explain who they are.

It’s one thing to be bad at learning names. It’s an entirely different situation when teachers don’t put in effort to begin with. While having a more personal relationship with the students makes learning easier and more fun, it isn’t required to memorize names. Teachers that don’t bother to learn names the entire semester exude serious disrespect towards their students. It’s offensive to expect students to try their best in class when the teacher doesn’t even try to learn their names.