How do you feel about correcting authority figures?

Always, always question authority. Just, you know, don’t be rude about it. :)

Of course. I’m always ever so polite =)

I have to agree. I have no problem correcting anyone, no matter their status. Doesn’t mean I’m rude about it, but I will do it and I will question authority. No one is perfect and unquestionable.

I try to only correct people in authority, if by doing so, someone will benefit.
If I feel the person of authority’s ego cannot handle being corrected and there will be no positive result of my correction, then I usually just keep quiet.

Unless an atrocity is being committed, in which case I think shaming is a responsibility.

I correct whoever needs correcting. Doesn’t matter if they’re “higher up” or not. I just make sure I’m absolutely right in whatever I’m correcting so I don’t make a fool out of myself!

When I hear something that doesn’t make sense to me, I ask questions. It doesn’t matter to me who they are, if I have misunderstood, or – heaven forbid – they were wrong.

Politely, and in private.

The same way I feel about correcting non-authority figures…except more nervous.

What do you mean by “correcting?” Is it like when they are factually wrong? Or is it when you disagree with them? And how does judgment enter into it?

Authority figures are people just like the rest of us. The problem with allowing them to be wrong and uncorrected is that they are influential and teach those who look up to them to be wrong. However, it’s hard to judge right from wrong on many issues. If it’s something like a teacher making a spelling mistake or math error, it’s my opinion that it should be corrected.

I got in trouble in 7th grade Spanish once for writing the word “be” as an example of a verb. My teacher told me it wasn’t and I said that of course it was and to ask any English teacher. She said, “Then, let me see you ‘be’.” So, I said that I was being. She didn’t like being shown up and she wouldn’t let me participate in the rest of the exercise. There was no disrespect and she brought it on herself. There was also a time I had to correct my 11th grade English teacher’s spelling. I don’t remember the word but she spelled it some crazy phonetic third grader way that couldn’t have been any farther off. She actually appreciated me saying something to her and we had a respectful conversation about it. If I hadn’t said anything, then my classmates could’ve ended up thinking that was the proper spelling.

Correcting someone when they’re wrong is a good thing if done correctly, courteously and preferably in private so as not to expose them in front of others. It’s a hard lesson i learned in medical school which is hard enough as it is without having the teachers gunning for you.

@ubersiren

Kinda like in 9th grade when we had these vocabulary lists every week. Somehow I had gotten the job of reading the list out loud every week with my friend George while he called on someone to read the definition they put down. One week the word “implacable” came up and my teacher kept pronouncing it “implasable” and since most people had never heard it before, they were all imitating her and so one time she said it again and I said “isn’t it pronounced ‘implakable’?” and she thanked me for correcting her. I think if a person is mature, they’ll appreciate knowing the correct way/answer rather than getting pissy about it.

Stephany wears a black leather bra and pants, carries a whip and chains, and is very much a correcting authority figure.
But she doesn’t let me feel about her.

I had a run in with a Latin Teacher. We were doing translations and I had read about people that had translated writings from Latin and French into beautiful flowing English prose. That is what I tried to do with my Latin homework. The argument ensued as to whether we should translate what it says as opposed to what it means. I won the argument and was summarily thrown out of Latin. Too bad, I really liked that class.