In the manuals of the German Spelling Council, which is referred to in the Ministry of Culture, there is not a word that in the name of “gender equality” it is necessary to use cumbersome and indigestible constructions like “dear teachers*nits” or “dear students*tsy”on the letter. But such “verbal monsters” flooded educational materials, school announcements, as well as correspondence between teachers and parents. However, the ministry still recommends that teachers strive for “language neutrality” and, if possible, use female and male forms in appeals every time, just less sophisticated. For the teachers themselves, these requirements have become a nightmare.
A few years ago, a letter came to the editorial office of Spiegel online – a real cry of the soul-from a teacher of one of the schools in the north of Germany. “Dear readers and readers! How should teachers and teachers address schoolgirls and schoolchildren so that students do not feel violated? … I’m sure you won’t want to continue reading the writings in this spirit. Fortunately, you have the opportunity to scroll through it. And I have to listen to and use these bureaucratic phrases every day. It got to the point that I can’t just notify my class: “Dear students, come to the first lesson tomorrow.” If I write like this, the girls will stay at home, and I will get a scolding from the director and will be known as a chauvinist, a retrograde, an oppressor of women and a supporter of the dictatorship of borscht and diapers, ” the teacher laments.
