A (kinda, sorta) friendly letter

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June 14th, 2015 · 35 comments

Our submitter, a teacher in North Carolina, received this from one of her students at the end of this year. I think my favorite part of this letter is the part that got erased — which, as far as I can make out, says, “I thought were kind of nice” and “P.S. I think you were nice sometimes.” Way to dial it back there, Faith.

Dear Mrs. Benner, I kind of liked <a href= no credit check loans 3rd grade and I kind of didn’t. Some of the worksheets were pretty hard. If I got to be better and good at math I probably would like 3rd grade more. How I liked you was a four-out of ten. Love, Faith” alt=”Dear Mrs. Benner, I kind of liked 3rd grade and I kind of didn’t. Some of the worksheets were pretty hard. If I got to be better and good at math I probably would like 3rd grade more. How I liked you was a four-out of ten. Love, Faith” src=”https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/491/18804535912_a974dc102e.jpg” width=”500″ height=”378″ />

Sure, she failed you, Mrs. B, but she signed it with love!

FILED UNDER: kids · schools & teachers · signed with love

35 responses so far ↓

#1 Belaani

Fix me a martini, Mr. Benner. Make it a double.

Jun 14, 2015 at 5:49 pm rating: 90

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#2 Lita

Heh. Gotta love kids of that age.

Jun 15, 2015 at 1:51 am rating: 90

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- #2.1 FeRD
  
  The hell I do!
  
  Jun 15, 2015 at 8:13 pm rating: 90
- #2.2 Lita
  
  Oh FeRD. Think of the children. Erm, when it’s polite to do so, mind.
  
  Jun 15, 2015 at 9:34 pm rating: 90
- #2.3 The Elf
  
  Pretty sure that’s a crime, Lita.
  
  Jun 16, 2015 at 12:15 pm rating: 90
- #2.4 Lita
  
  I said nothing.
  
  Jun 16, 2015 at 6:04 pm rating: 90
- #2.5 Belaani
  
  Yes. With fava beans and a nice chianti.
  
  Jun 18, 2015 at 7:58 pm rating: 90
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#3 Dane Zeller

Two out of ten on your note to your teacher, you little unappreciative tot. (I said “tot”.)

Love,
Dane

Jun 15, 2015 at 8:51 am rating: 90

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#4 Pants Go Brown

Faith has a lot to learn math-wise because 4 out of 10 should really be expressed as 2 out of 5.

So hold yer head up high Mrs. Benner.

Jun 15, 2015 at 9:09 am rating: 90

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#5 The Beast Among Us

She erased: “I thought you were kind of nice” and “I said that you were nice sometimes.”

She could have saved all that trouble with a note like this:

“Dear Mrs. Brenner,

Meh.

Love, Faith.”

Jun 15, 2015 at 9:42 am rating: 90

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#6 Lil'

This brutal honesty reminds me of a Thanksgiving essay my son wrote for his first-grade teacher’s class. He wrote about how thankful he was for his kindergarten teacher because she was the best teacher in the whole wide world. The first grade teacher was a good sport and passed it on to his kindergarten teacher and the kindergarten wrote a letter to him telling him how much she loved teaching him. Awkward but adorable.

Jun 15, 2015 at 10:55 am rating: 90

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- #6.1 Poltergeist
  
  My note to my 5th grade teacher would read:
  
  Dear Mr. R,
  
  I know it was your first year out of college so you were kind of a mediocre, inexperienced teacher who made groan-worthy jokes all of the time, but you were pretty hot, so I forgive you.
  
  Love,
  The student who you didn’t remember 2 years after graduation despite the fact that you said you’d never forget all the special kids in your first class ever.
  
  Jun 16, 2015 at 9:28 am rating: 90
- #6.2 The Elf
  
  Yeah, kids that age have figured out how to communicate, but not how to do it tactfully. Nature of the beast.
  
  Jun 16, 2015 at 12:14 pm rating: 90
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#7 havingfitz

For young kids, sometimes it’s hard to reconcile the lessons on always being honest
with being tactful and polite. I had a really hard time with that. “You get mad
when I lie, but you also get mad when I tell the truth!” I don’t think Faith
was trying to be rude (even if to adults it come across this way), I think she was just trying to be honest and isn’t old enough yet to dial it back a notch. I know a couple of kids this age who are the same way: they are really great children but if you ask them their opinion they will give it to you no holds barred. It’s actually kind of endearing: at least you know where you stand with them.

Jun 15, 2015 at 11:27 am rating: 90

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- #7.1 FeRD
  
  It’s actually kind of endearing
  
  It’s actually totally not.
  
  Jun 15, 2015 at 8:15 pm rating: 90
- #7.2 sockpuppet1984
  
  truth hurts
  
  Jun 15, 2015 at 8:54 pm rating: 90
- #7.3 havingfitz
  
  Adults can be underhanded. You never know if someone is being nice to you because they like you or they’re just trying to get something out of you. If a kid thinks you look like you slept in a blender they’ll tell you so: I like that they don’t hold back at that age. In time they’ll learn to lie just like the rest of us, but in the meantime at least I know I’m getting honesty.
  
  Jun 17, 2015 at 9:48 am rating: 90
- #7.4 Rivkatheaspie
  
  It’s nice when kids tell you that they like you a lot, because you know it’s true. As a preschool teacher, I experience their sincere sweetness a lot.
  
  When adults compliment you on the other hand, it’s not always as sweet. I’ve been stabbed in the back by too many adults who were nice to my face.
  
  Jun 19, 2015 at 8:58 pm rating: 90
- #7.5 Kelcha
  
  It’s even better when little kids try to be polite. I was getting ready for an interview one day, and I asked my mom and baby brother how I looked. I forget my mom’s answer, but the four year old said, “Well, you’re my sister and I love you, so I’ll say you look very pretty. Do you have a different dress?”
  
  Jun 25, 2015 at 11:36 pm rating: 90
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#8 YoTeach

I got a note that declared me the student’s “second favorite teacher.” Umm… thanks? Haha… kids and their honesty… so great.

Jun 16, 2015 at 10:06 am rating: 90

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#9 Kasaba

I liked a teacher once. Then her estranged husband came to school and shot her in the head, and then shot himself in the head in front of a class of primary school kids.

Jun 16, 2015 at 11:25 am rating: 90

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- #9.1 Haterade
  
  Words aren’t sufficient to express how sorry we are for the kids who experienced that, you (especially if you were one of them), and those who truly cared about her (which certainly includes you). Nor are they sufficient to describe how far from human his act was.
  
  Time doesn’t necessarily heal all wounds, but I hope that it at least brings (or has brought) some solace.
  
  Jun 16, 2015 at 2:16 pm rating: 90
- #9.2 Kasaba
  
  I was not in that class at the time; it was at an after school study class. She was actually a close friends of my parents though. It was grim to say the least.
  
  Jun 16, 2015 at 4:34 pm rating: 90
- #9.3 AP
  
  I heard about that case! I’m sorry you were involved.
  
  A lot of schools now terminate teachers involved in domestic disputes for this reason. It’s sad, but the children and all.
  
  Jun 17, 2015 at 6:50 pm rating: 90
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#10 JoDa

I have nothing intelligent to add. Just came here to say this apparent rising 4th grader (maybe, it sounds like) has better handwriting than me. And, like, 90% of the adults I know.

Jun 17, 2015 at 6:29 pm rating: 90

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- #10.1 The Beast Among Us
  
  Oh, it will get worse. Mark my words, it WILL get worse.
  
  Jun 18, 2015 at 9:38 am rating: 90
- #10.2 Haterade
  
  I don’t doubt you, Beast. I’d give even odds that in two more decades, we won’t be able to tell if the average American’s handwriting is in English or Thai.
  
  I enter people’s staff registration forms as part of the work I do for an anime convention… most only have a few stumpers, but I swear some look like they were written by a someone clenching a pencil between their buttocks.
  
  Jun 18, 2015 at 4:57 pm rating: 90
- #10.3 Jami
  
  They say that the smarter you are, the messier your handwriting is – because your thoughts are going through your head faster than you can write.
  
  Jun 18, 2015 at 6:01 pm rating: 90
- #10.4 The Elf
  
  I am so smart! S-M-R-T!
  
  Jun 19, 2015 at 9:00 am rating: 90
- #10.5 The Elf
  
  Haterade…. anime convention. Don’t rule that out.
  
  Jun 19, 2015 at 9:01 am rating: 90
- #10.6 The Beast Among Us
  
  I can type faster than the average person can speak. However, my handwriting is so atrocious, even I have trouble deciphering it.
  
  Jun 19, 2015 at 2:39 pm rating: 90
- #10.7 JoDa
  
  I guess I should clarify, I can write neatly if I *need* to. It’s possible, and I take pains to do so when there’s a high chance of someone screwing up if they mis-read something (:DMV COUGH:).
  
  I blame Catholic school. We barely learned to print coherently before we were introduced to the Palmer method. So now I have this awful mish-mash of sloppy printing and formal cursive (and no one recognizes some of those letters unless they were similarly drilled), usually dashed off at high speed.
  
  I also blame, in equal measures: (A) computers. I type *nearly* as fast as human speech…I’ve topped 90 WPM in testing (I worked, briefly, for a staffing firm, and had to take a couple of typing tests for idiot clients who didn’t realize they were hiring young people who grew up around computers and bested their old-school 45 WPM “standard” before high school), and know I type faster than that when taking notes where minor typos don’t matter. And (B) having a math-heavy degree. I spent college and grad school mostly writing numbers and single letters/words, typing instead when I had to explain myself in papers. I write numbers very neatly and clearly (PROOF! ).
  
  As for intelligence, the smartest person I know has impeccable handwriting, both cursive and printing. Take that as you will (his mother is an elementary school teacher, that might have something to do with it)…
  
  Jun 19, 2015 at 8:06 pm rating: 90
- #10.8 JoDa
  
  Oh, oh, story time. I rarely use my computer on planes unless I’m watching video for entertainment. Some of my work contains proprietary information, so I can’t work on it in public, and I’m usually done with the work before I get on the plane, for work or pleasure, anyway. However, one time, I had been given a case a few days before I was scheduled to go on vacation, and got everything but the public report done before I left. Since I knew my “coverage” wouldn’t do it while I was gone and it was only a few pages, I decided to write it on the plane and send it in when I arrived, getting that item totally off my mind before relaxing like a boss.
  
  I typed it up rapidly, read it over, and put my laptop away after about an hour of work. I then noticed the woman next to me staring. I smiled a little at her and said “I hope my work didn’t bother you, I’m done now, and we still have 3 hours to sleep!” She said “I wasn’t bothered, I was transfixed by how fast you were typing! Were you using some kind of short hand?” (I use one of those privacy filters on my screen when in public, so she probably couldn’t see what I was typing). “No, just typing up a report. We use standard English. I guess I do type somewhat fast…again, I hope I wasn’t bothersome.” Her: “where do I learn to type like that?” Me: “at home or work, with lots of practice, I suppose?” Her: “you never took lessons?” Me: “um, sure, we had typing exercises in elementary school, but I guess they just assumed that we’d improve with use after that, since typing was an elective in high school. I feel like my typing speed went *way* up in college when I took notes on my laptop and had lots of long papers to write.” Her: “I gotta learn to do that! It would make my life so much…FASTER.”
  
  As an aside…those privacy filters are the bomb. Not so much because people can’t see what you’re doing, but because they block the light from your screen to those around you. I’ve lent mine to people working next to me on planes so their laptop screen isn’t blaring in my face while I try to sleep.
  
  Jun 19, 2015 at 8:37 pm rating: 90
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#11 Cecilia

Kids and their honesty …

Jun 19, 2015 at 12:50 pm rating: 90

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#12 Jason Thorn

God bless the children. They have honesty down, but have to be TAUGHT guile.

Jul 9, 2015 at 11:37 am rating: 90

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