THCD and the use of initials and acronyms

[Father Bill]

Yup. THCD's actually one of the ones I've come to recognize.

...but there are a lot of others!

Here's an excerpt from a memo I gave my teachers when they were getting ready to do report cards:

"2. Please do not use initials unless they are extremely well known outside of education circles. Nobody knows five years from now that the CAC is the Ingersoll Creative Arts Centre. If the child transfers to another town, the teacher won't know what it is next week. Many parents do not recognize "I.E.P.s," "L.D.s," or "A.D.H.D." On the other hand, there are few Canadians who do not know what the "R.C.M.P." is (or sadly, to be nationalistic for a moment, the "F.B.I." or the "C.I.A." ) Similarly, when you refer to "Keys" the teacher in a school in Saskatoon won't know what you mean if the child transfers. Please speak generically of "our remedial reading program, ‘Keys' " or "our Keys to Literacy remedial program," or something like that. The same can be said of other programs. The public and the media often accuse us of "edu-babble." This is one guilty reason."

I think this is a similar situation. It has to do with the audience for whom it is intended.

After several other points of coaching, I ended with this:

"And finally, thank you, not only for keeping your sense of humour as I outline my pet peeves, but more particularly for the work you do, over and over again. This is not the most pleasant part of our duties, but it is one that you generally do well."

The same comment applies about keeping your sense of humour here on XMarks.