It’s one thing to set classroom rules, but it’s another to try and rewrite someone’s identity.

When a new teacher insisted that a young student stop using his real name in favor of one she chose, she didn’t realize who she was up against.

His parents were not about to let that slide.

Read on for the full story!

This Is Your Name (Malicious compliance by passive resistance.)

Midway through the school year when I was in the second grade, we suddenly got a new teacher. She went around the classroom and asked each of us to stand up and say our names.

Now, my name is Fredric because my maternal grandmother was named Frieda, and she passed away a few days after my birth. But neither of my parents wanted to call me Fred, so my nickname became Ric.

When asked, I stood up and said my name is Ric.

Little did he know, this was absolutely unacceptable in the teacher’s eyes.

“WE DO NOT USE NICKNAMES IN MY CLASS! YOUR NAME IS RICHARD!”

When I attempted to use my correct name, I was shut down and told there were no exceptions — I was to use the name Richard.

To this day, I have no idea why she didn’t look at any paperwork to see my real name, but I simply obeyed her demand and answered to Richard.

Luckily, his parents straightened her out pretty quickly.

A couple of weeks later came PTA night, and my parents went to meet with her. I was told things went wrong the moment she said she was happy to meet Richard’s parents.

My mom was a very formidable woman who didn’t suffer fools gladly. My father was a delegate in the teachers’ union, so he had some pull of his own.

After that, Ric was just fine, thank you.

What a weird hill to die on.

What did Reddit have to say about this?

Teachers often make a big deal out of the smallest things.

Aren’t teachers supposed to like kids?

Sometimes the irony is too good to ignore.

Why do teachers refuse to accept the fact that students know what their name is better than anyone else?

And that’s the tale on how this teacher never called him “Richard” ever again!

Turns out, nothing clears up confusion faster at the parent-teacher conference than an angry mom and a union-backed dad.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.