I am writing to object to Coco Khan’s suggestion that “six‑seven” could be “the most hopeful word of 2025” (Each year, word of the year gets darker. ‘Six-seven’ may be annoying – but it’s bucked that trend, 20 December). As a primary school teacher and promoter of logic and understanding, I was intrigued to find out the root of this so-called “craze”.
Rather than a sinister cult, as promoted by scaremongers in the US, or some kind of secret code that only children understand, I discover the root of the “phenomenon” to be the embracement of idiocy. A badly cobbled together mishmash, promoted via social media in order to get children to click on links that gain the influencer more attention and therefore, potentially, money.
None of the children I asked understood where it comes from or why it is funny. The mantra that I have taught my pupils over the past few years is “If you don’t know why you’re doing something, don’t do it”.
Six-seven is not banned from my classroom, but I am very clear with the students that when we do stupid things without any understanding of what or why we are doing it, we reduce ourselves to idiots. Hope is fostered in our school by the promotion of kindness and honesty, not by enabling social media giants to make even more money.
Marlon Minty
Reading, Berkshire
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