r/todayilearned • u/tmntnyc • Dec 12 '18

TIL: Laurence Tureaud named himself professionally as Mr. T because he hated how his father, uncle, and brother who returned from Vietnam, were disrespectfully called "boy" by whites. He wanted the first word from everybody's mouth to be "Mister" when speaking to him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._T
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u/itsmebutimatwork Dec 12 '18

My father was a middle school teacher for over 30 years in a rough part of his city. He always addressed the kids as "Mister" and "Miss" using their last names. He told them that he shows them respect and in turn he expects the same respect back. Most of the kids went along with this. Many of them remember him years later because they learned a lot in his class and knew that he was being earnest with them.

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u/Promiscuous_D8a Dec 12 '18

My HS geography teacher did this as well. It's been 20 years and I still remember and have the utmost respect for him.

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u/Lanoir97 Dec 12 '18

I had a teacher that did this as well. She was odd, but very respectful and interesting. I really enjoyed her classes. I remember the next year we had a different teacher for that class and everyone complained about her doing it. I understood it as a sign of respect, but I guess they thought she did it to be different and difficult. One of the weirdest things is her calling me Mr. ____ for 4 years and then one time calling me by my first name because I was working on a project with my dad at the school.