When you were a student, how do you address your teacher? Many students would call their teacher “teacher”, “Miss X or Mr. X”, and others call them “Ma’am or Sir.” But have you ever heard of a student getting in trouble just because they call their teacher “Maam?” That is exactly what happened to a student from North Carolina.

A fifth-grader student from Tarboro North Carolina got in big trouble after calling his teacher “Ma’am” which is what many would consider a sign of respect.

The teacher already told her students not to call her “Ma’am.” But this student accidentally forgot her specific instructions. He is Tamarion and unfortunately, he accidentally called his teacher “Ma’am” before the end of the day. To teach him a lesson, the teacher made him write the word over and over again in a sheet of paper before he was allowed to go home.

When Tamarion got home with the punishment on hand, his mother was shocked. The child then told his mother that he got in trouble because he accidentally called his teacher ‘ma’am.’

What the teacher didn’t know is that Tamarion was just out of the hospital a month before for seizures after he suffered from hallucinations and memory loss caused by an accident.

During an interview with ABC News, Tamarions’ parents explained that they always raised their kids to have respect towards their elders. They also believe that it was unfair for the teacher to punish their son for something like this. The father also explained that he felt that his son was only doing the best he could to be the kind of child that they raised him to be. The boy’s mom, Teretha, decided to try to have her son transferred to another classroom instead to avoid this kind of incident in the future.

According to the laws of the North Carolina school district, decisions like these rely on the decisions of the school principal. And this school has students from kindergarten to grade 12 with a student population of nearly 1000 students.

Thankfully, the school agreed to the mother’s request. After what happened to Tamarion, more and more parents grew concerned for their children. They do not want their children to go through the same treatment as what Tamarion experienced with his teacher. And to appease the worry of the parents, the school district stated that they are doing their best to make sure that an incident like this does not happen again.

Students have to deal with a lot of things at school. They do not only want to get along with their classmates and school mates but with their teachers as well. But things happen at school. And the last thing that a child wants to be involved in, is a difficult situation with their teachers. That is why showing respect for others is the number one thing that most parents remind their kids to do before going to school. And in this environment, young minds learn a lot. Their brains are like sponges and they absorb everything they see and hear.

What do you think about the punishment that Tamarion received from his teacher? Do you agree and consider “Maam or Sir” as inappropriate to address a teacher?