Un examen de talento muy creativo en clase

Why do Mexican teachers and students both use “usted” with each other?

In many Mexican classrooms, teachers and students address each other with usted, the formal “you” pronoun, in both directions. The teacher says “muestre su talento, chico” (“show me your talent, kid”) to a child; the student replies “profesora, usted dijo que demostráramos nuestro talento” (“Professor, you [usted] said we should show our talent”). This bidirectional formality marks classroom respect on both sides.

The pattern is shared across Mexico and parts of Colombia and Costa Rica. In Spain, classrooms tend to default to tú; in Argentina, vos. Mexican teachers can also use usted as a soft disciplinary tool, since switching to tú often signals warmth instead.