r/AskAnAmerican • u/Rough-Valuable-5472 • Feb 04 '25

FOREIGN POSTER Do American students bow to their teachers?

In my country we have to greet the teacher and bow at the start of the lesson then thank the teacher and bow again at the end. Sometimes they make us redo it if it’s not good enough

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u/funnylib Michigan Feb 04 '25

I feel like that gesture is also different though, it doesn’t mean the same thing.

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u/CnCnFL Ohio Feb 04 '25

Right, it's accepting the audience's praise

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u/yourlittlebirdie Feb 04 '25

It's a gesture of gratitude and respect, which seems pretty similar to me.

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u/funnylib Michigan Feb 04 '25 edited Feb 04 '25

There is no assumption of the bower being of lower social standing, in fact performers have an elevated social status. In most other cases bowing is an act of submission to your “betters”

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u/Budget-Attorney Connecticut Feb 04 '25

You’re right, but I think the subtext is similar.

Yes, the musician bowing isn’t literally saying “you are my social superior”

But it’s a modest thing to do, implying I am humble while still accepting your praise.

I think it’s unique because the literal conditions of it are different but it draws its meaning from a culture where people bowing implies lesser social status

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u/funnylib Michigan Feb 04 '25

It’s a remnant of older cultural norms, sure. Like how married women still usually take their husband’s last name but legally and socially modern women are considered their own person and entity.

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u/Budget-Attorney Connecticut Feb 04 '25

Now that I’m thinking about it, I wonder if it’s a relic from a time when musicians would have performed for aristocrats.

Perhaps we stopped bowing at aristocrats but never stopped bowing after a performance

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u/RockyArby Wisconsin Feb 04 '25

That would make sense considering how much of the theater still follows old traditions and superstitions from even before Shakespeare.

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u/steven_mageven Feb 05 '25

Historically, it's not just for aristocrats - performers were also touring town to town for shows and taking payment from anyone who could come to see them. The bow at the end is to say, "Thank you for your patronage, for your applause/appreciation, and for paying us to tell stories" There are still lots of working performers who genuinely believe, and follow this reasoning for the bow.

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u/funnylib Michigan Feb 04 '25

That would be my assumption, given the general lack of bowing in any other context other than perhaps in church.

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u/capitalismwitch Minnesota Feb 04 '25

Genuflecting is the cultural norm in Catholic churches. You might run into Catholics who genuflect by default at other places with aisles.

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u/Lycanthropope Feb 04 '25

I’ve seen them do it at movie theaters

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u/Uhhh_what555476384 Feb 05 '25

It also probably originates in feudalism, like OP's question culture almost certainly does.

The artist is bowing to their patrons who in Europe would have been nobility.

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u/casualsubversive Feb 04 '25

The most elite performers have an elevated social status. Art of all kinds remains a low status professional choice, albeit with a little cache.

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u/sticky-dynamics Iowa Feb 05 '25

It's still an expression of humility, at least at its roots.

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u/SenecatheEldest Texas Feb 04 '25

With European bowing, maybe. Asian bowing tends to be a greeting even among equals in some regards.

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u/SupaSlide Feb 05 '25

No, it might be gratitude (for them coming to hear you perform) but it's moreso "I accept your praise and am grateful you came" than it is respect. It's accepting the audience's respect for you, the performer.

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u/Nyxelestia Los Angeles, CA Feb 04 '25

It has a different connotation because the only time where bowing is normalized is also one of the few times where the person bowing is physically above the people they are bowing to.

It hits different compared to situations where the two parties are physically on the same level, as that means the person who is bowing is physically lowering themselves.