Parenthood
Fifth Grader Gets In Trouble For Calling Teacher Ma'am
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D.G. Sciortino
08.30.18

Most children would be praised for calling their teacher ma’am. The child would be seen as “polite.”

That’s why Teretha Wilson and McArthur Bryant raised their 10-year-old son to greet his elders with respect.

But they say their son Tamarion was punished for calling his teacher ma’am.

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Twitter

“I asked him what happened. He said he got in trouble for saying ‘yes ma’am’,” explained Wilson.

According to People, the North Carolina parents said that Tamarion was moved to a different classroom at North East Carolina Preparatory School in Tarboro after his punishment.

North East Carolina Preparatory School
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North East Carolina Preparatory School

Wilson said she knew something was wrong with her son when he got off the bus.

Tamarion came home with a piece of paper with the word “ma’am” written on it over and over again.

The teacher made him write the word down multiple times and take it home to have his parents sign it as a punishment for repeatedly calling her ma’am when she asked him not to.`

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ABC

“He had a look on his face of disappointment, shame,” his father, McArthur Bryant, told ABC 7.

The North Carolina parents said their son meant no disrespect and that he was just acting in accordance with how he was taught to speak to adults.

“At the end of the day as a father, to feel kind of responsible for that…knowing that I have been raising him and doing the best that I can, it’s not acceptable,” said Bryant

ABC
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ABC

Wilson says she is upset that he wasted his time writing these words down in class when he could have been learning or getting work done.

Her son also told her that the teacher said: “if she had something, she would have thrown it at him.”

“It wasn’t right. It wasn’t professional. As a teacher, it wasn’t appropriate. And I asked her why she thought it was okay to do that,” said Wilson.

ABC
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ABC

Wilson eventually met with Tamarion’s teacher and principal. The teacher admitted to making the remark and said she believed Tamarion knew that she was joking.

Wilson asked that her son be moved to a different classroom and the school agreed.

Wilson said she was happy with the outcome but hopes that it won’t happen to anyone else’s child.

ABC
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ABC

“If it happened to my son, I’m pretty sure if not a week, a day, a month, a year, it will occur to somebody else’s child,” said Bryant.

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