Why Teachers Should Ask Students Their Pronouns

By: Gabriella Ingargiola

Many teachers on the first day of school like to get to know their students a little bit. But lots of them forget to ask one basic question- “What are your pronouns? Mine are ____/___”.  Now I know you might be thinking, that’s crazy, doesn’t everyone use she/her or he/him?! The answer is quite simply, no. Some people use they/them or neopronouns, but we will not get into the big discussion of neopronouns right now. Now yes, I will give the school credit for making gender neutral bathrooms, but that is what should be expected. Asking students their pronouns will make the students that use they/them, she/they, and he/they pronouns a lot more comfortable. A lot of students at our school most likely use she/her or he/him, but it still will make a better environment for the students that use other pronouns. Now let’s get into the topic about how to use they/them, she/they, and he/they pronouns. All pronouns are used the same way as she/her and he/him, but all you do is just replace them with other pronouns. So let’s show an example- She has a fluffy dog, isn’t her dog cute?. Now let’s do this sentence with they/they- They have a fluffy dog, isn’t their dog cute?.  See, it’s the same sentence in all the same contexts, just different pronouns. Now you might be thinking, what is she/they and he/they? They are the same as the other pronouns but you use them interchangeably. She has a fluffy dog, isn’t their dog cute? or They have a fluffy dog, isn’t her dog cute?- and it’s the same for he/they. See, it wasn’t that difficult. And it’s okay if you mess up and by accident use the wrong pronouns, just apologize. But if you purposely do not use the person's correct pronouns, that is completely disrespectful and extremely rude. If you get upset and annoyed by how other students use these pronouns, then you need to step back and ask yourself why you get annoyed by someone’s pronouns. A person choosing how they identify is up to them and you should support them for who they are.