I saw a video where most of the (probably high school) teachers totally flipped out when the guy called them on their first name.
My first impression was that it must be staged because here they would maybe just be a bit confused, but certainly do not care much. I remember some of my teachers even encouraged us to call them on their first name.
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I did that once just to see what the reaction would be. Teacher indeed flipped the fuck out.
Depends on the teacher
Yes. You call them by their last name. If I run into any of my old teachers I still call them by their last name.
One of the most realistic cultural depictions of this was Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad who always called Walter, “Mista White”. Never at any point, even he wanted to kill him. as Walt or Walter. Even though at this point he was a grown man and they were business colleagues.
As a teacher, I would find it situationally but not inherently disrespectful. That is, the convention is that you call teachers “Mr. Lastname” (or whatever the correct title is.) So *not* doing so is definitely deliberate. If a former student, or a student who is a relative or a child of a friend, slipped up and called me “Optatus” instead of “Mr. Cleary” I wouldn’t care that much. But if a student who has never had reason to call me “Optatus” called me that I would be surprised and think the student is probably trying to be disrespectful.
First names are used as a sign of hierarchy and less formal familiarity. In high school, students and teachers are not peers.
It would be inappropriate to use a teacher’s first name in a high school class. It’s basically a child signaling, “I’m the same as you,” in social structure. I can’t imagine a teacher freaking out, but the student would certainly be corrected.
In college undergraduate, it’s typically Professor something.
By the time I reached grad school, I was drinking with the dean and calling him by his first name. At that point, you have demonstrated your ability and are close to being a peer.
I once called a teacher their first name completely by accident and they were SO confused. And then I was confused because I hadn’t even realized I called them that and was wondering why they were acting weird!
So yeah, I’d say in general, it’s a *deal*. Not every teacher will react negatively but it’s also just not something that’s ever expected!
Calling them Mr/Mrs/Ms Lastname is the default. Some teachers will request that the students call them by their first name.
It is culture here to use last names for teachers. But some teachers prefer you use their first names.
For the video you saw my guess is the student had been repeatedly told to stop doing it and it built up to the inappropriate response which was recorded.