Mom Stands Up To High School Spanish Teacher Who Refused To Stop Calling Her Daughter Alejandra Instead Of Alexandra
"Her argument is if these kids ever went to a Spanish speaking country, they’d be called by that name.”
Jacob Lund / Shutterstock After a woman’s teenage daughter came home from school one day after a teacher repeatedly mispronounced her name, she decided to stick up for her by emailing the teacher requesting that she work on her pronunciation.
However, the woman’s husband believes that she blew the entire situation out of proportion and that their daughter needed to grow a thicker skin. Now, the mom is wondering if she truly did her daughter any favors by emailing her teacher.
The mom stood up for her daughter after her Spanish teacher continued to call her ‘Alejandra’ instead of ‘Alexandra.’
Sharing her story to Reddit, the mom wrote that her 14-year-old daughter Alexandra does not like it when anyone shortens her name or calls her by a nickname such as “Lexi” or “Alex.” “The family respects it, and she’s pretty good about advocating for herself should someone call her [those names],” the woman wrote. “She also hates when people get her name wrong and just wants to be called Alexandra.”
When she was in middle school, Alexandra took Spanish. Her teacher preferred to call the students by what their names would be in Spanish, and for Alexandra, it would be “Alejandra.” “Alexandra corrected her and the teacher respected it. She had the same teacher all 3 years of middle school, so it wasn’t an issue,” the mom wrote.
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However, once she went on to high school, her new Spanish teacher insisted on calling her “Alejandra,” no matter how many times she attempted to correct her.
Alexandra's dad thought his wife blew the whole thing out of proportion.
My daughter came home upset after the second week,” the mom shared. “I am not the type of mom to write emails, but I felt I had to in this case.” She went on to note, “If it matters, this teacher is not Hispanic herself, so this isn’t a pronunciation issue. Her argument is if these kids ever went to a Spanish speaking country, they’d be called by that name.”
The mom thought the Spanish teacher’s argument was “weak” because Alexandra’s middle school teacher was Hispanic and still made an effort to pronounce her name correctly.
“The teacher tried to dig her heels in, but I said if it wasn’t that big a deal in her eyes that she calls her Alejandra, why is it such a big deal to just call her Alexandra?” she wrote. “Eventually, she gave in. Alexandra confirmed that her teacher is calling her by her proper name.”
However, the woman’s husband thought that she blew the entire situation way out of proportion. “[He believes that] Alexandra could’ve sucked it up for a year (the school has three different Spanish teachers, so odds are she could get another one her sophomore year),” she wrote.
Now, the mom wondered if she truly did right by her daughter or if she could have used the opportunity to prepare her for the real world, where people may mispronounce her name.
Most people backed up the mother, believing that the teacher’s argument did not make sense.
“The teacher's reasoning was off. If I went to a foreign country and told them my name was Anthony and they started calling me Antonio, I would tell them it was Anthony and that's what they'd call me,” one Redditor commented.
“John can be John in any country, no one would call him Hans, Juan or Giovanni against his will, just because there is a local version of his name… Good for you for having your daughter's back. Too bad your husband didn't,” another user wrote.
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However, some people argued that the mother made an unnecessarily big deal out of something minor.
“I mean, every Spanish teacher I ever had did this. I don’t get the outrage here. Not one kid ever argued about it, usually people just laughed,” one user shared. “Yes, the teacher’s reasoning is stupid, but it’s Spanish class. They’re just referring to things and people in Spanish. I don’t understand why such a stink was made in the first place.”
“I wish I had the kind of "problems" some of these people have. Imagine if the biggest conflict or drama in your life was that your Spanish teacher used the Spanish pronunciation of your name in SPANISH CLASS. I'd give my left arm for something so trivial and insignificant to be my biggest struggle in life,” another user wrote.
The fact still remains, however, that this mom missed an opportunity to teach her daughter to pick her battles. Teachers are allowed to make rules for their classrooms that students must follow. Using a Spanish name during Spanish class was the rule. It wasn't that deep. The mom should have used this instance to teach her daughter that there will be countless times in life when issues arise, whether in friendships, romantic partnerships, or even work, where it's best to take a step back and ask yourself if the end result is truly worth raising the issue.
It's okay for Alexandra to dislike when her teacher calls her Alejandra. That's not the issue. The issue is she made a big deal over something that didn't warrant that much stress and attention. As one commenter aptly put it, "You're teaching your daughter that the world will cater to her every need and want, and that in the teacher's classroom, the teacher isn't the one in charge, mommy is, and she is. The teacher standing her ground was silly, but you actively undermined the teacher. It's gonna be hard for the teacher to remain neutral towards your daughter now. I know I wouldn't be. It's a silly thing for your daughter to get worked up about, and you could have taught her that."
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.