The article was entitled, "23 Baby Names Parents Say They Regret Giving Their Kids." As a teacher, I have had many a conversation concerning baby names. What teacher has not had this conversation? A particular name forever ruined for you because of your experience with a particular name. A particular name being impossible for a student to spell (when you are teaching the youngest grades.) Possibly you have heard in the teacher's workroom, "Why would you give that name to a child?" Nonetheless, this is why the article caught my eye.
Interestingly, 20% of parents regretted giving the child a name considered to be too ordinary. Names like Daniel, Charlotte, Thomas and Anne all made the regret list. Studies show parents have regret after 5 weeks. Conveniently enough, in the United Kingdom, as long as your regret shows up before the one year mark, 11 pounds will rectify your misgivings so you can name your child, "Uniquer-than-your-ordinary-child". (Yes, I know it should be more unique, but since it is a name, uniquer will do.) :)
As soon as I saw "studies show", I remembered reading the exact opposite of the aforementioned study. Yes, you guessed it, 20% of all parents regret naming their children with a unique moniker. Just read this article from the Daily Mail, "Nearly a fifth of all parents regret trendy names they gave their children, survey finds". The story delineates the unfortunate name of Jediah for the Jedi in Star Wars, and the boy's chagrin at the unusual name. Then, we are treated to a psychologist talking about the ramifications of an odd name. Certainly, the odd name will limit ones' chance to get into a good college. Yes, studies show that the regular name will be more successful than the unusual name.
Well, we can certainly conclude that either 20% of the parents have vacillated so much that they are double represented, or that 40% of parents are sleep deprived and unsatisfied, or that 40% of parents are indecisive. Or, whatever way you want to read the information, you can draw a reasonable conclusion.
Sometimes we as teachers just need to think. We can spend so much time looking at this study, and that research and all of the variant ramifications that we lose the ability to hear our own voice and opinion. Yes, read all you can read. Consider new ideas with an open mind. However, an open mind does not mean that your mind is a blank slate upon which others may write. Use the sense with which you were born and consider and evaluate what you are reading and hearing. This may seem silly, but haven't you attended educational conferences where you or a colleague makes the following claim, with glee, "I am going to do this with my class starting Monday!"? Of course, the new idea just as given could be helpful, or it could be harmful. It may derail your original plan or it may enhance your direction.
I taught with someone who was unable to successfully and consistently manage her class. Regularly, you could hear her lose her composure and yell at the class. She would complain about how poorly behaved the students were. Every single weekend she would find a new management plan. She would introduce it every Monday. It would be out the window by Wednesday. (Thursday if it was a really amazing plan.) She asked me why those same students did not struggle with behavior in my classes. Any time I would tell her the truth, she would reply, "Well, I already do that." The truth was that I was consistent. Boring reality was not what she wanted to hear. I wish I could tell you that she figured it out. She never did. Part of her issue was that she loved new ideas, she was frustrated and felt out of control and she just wanted to be a teacher in control and believed the next Class Dojo, or Skittles on the desk, or tickets and treasure box would be the reason students behaved. Now that I'm thinking about it, I wonder if she had regret naming her child something ordinary?
Don't be an impulse buyer with ideas. (Not even my ideas!) You need to give consideration before you put your class through the idea of the week, whether in a behavioral management arena or an academic arena. Be confident that you are a professional who has been trained and has a good mind. We always push our students to be on the highest level possible in Bloom's Taxonomy. Do no less for yourself. Work to evaluate the usefulness of an idea before implementation.
Don't regret what you are doing with your class within the first five weeks. Pick something, go with it, do it well, and tweak when it is truly necessary.
First published September 19, 2017
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