Fifth Grade Boy Punished for Calling Teacher ‘Ma’am’

A fifth-grader in North Carolina is being punished over his decision to call his teacher “ma’am.”

A 10-year-old boy in North Carolina has been punished by his teacher for calling her “ma’am” according to report. The student, Tamarion Wilson, was asked as a punishment to write the word “ma’am” over and over again until he had filled the front and back of a page of notebook paper. According to reports, the teacher told Tamarion that she wanted to throw something at him after he called her “ma’am” one too many times.

A report from the Daily Mail theorizes that the teacher may have rejected the label “ma’am” because it is often reserved for married women. The teacher may have viewed “ma’am” as a sign of disrespect when used to address a non-married woman.

Tamarion’s father, McArthur Bryant, said that he raised his son to address adults with terms of respect like “sir” and “ma’am.” “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,” Bryant said in a comment to a local news outlet.

Wilson, who had recently been hospitalized for a seizure disorder that can cause memory issues, has requested to switch out of the teacher’s classroom. Last week, the school principal granted his request to transfer classrooms.