Pupil vs Student

Pupil and student are words used interchangeably which is unfortunate as it would be useful to treat them distinctively in keeping with their roots.

Pupil comes from the Old French pupille  which comes from the Latin pupillus  which means orphan child ward/minor.

Student comes from the Old French estudiant  which means “one who is studying” which comes from the  Latin studiare  which means “to study”

Someone who is being uneducated unwillingly — which would be just about all those in primary schools and most of those in secondary ones — would be best  called pupils.

It is not demeaning and there is no shame in it — we were all there after all — but it is an honest description and the young sense hypocrisy and insincerity better than most, we think.

Involuntary education is necessary but calling first graders and such students, debases that word. An opportunity is missed that they are one day going to find something they wish to study without compulsion. Even worse, by doing so a demoralizing implication is made that this will never happen.

That, of course, is a tragedy.

It is important that there are basics that everybody knows and understands. Once those are out of the way, though,  compulsion starts to develop the stench of indoctrination.

Pupil vs Student