Open Letter to Teachers and Students
This is applicable mostly to English teachers and students in college, but it's better to address this to English teachers and students in High School as well. It is during college that students are mostly required to look for resource persons outside of school for interviews, research and other similar activity.
It is during this time that they get in touch with someone like me. And for some inexplicable reason, what they write to me consist of the following or similar:
"gud pm poh pd poh kyo interbyu para klase namn plsss poh babagsak kmi pag di poh"
What the fuck is this? What the FUCK?!
Although I can understand this shit quite perfectly, I never entertain the request. I do either one of two things. One, I ignore the email completely. And if I'm in a particularly bad mood like I was tonight, I tell the student off and ask what the hell his school has been teaching him. Either way, you never get what you want from me. I do the latter more and more now as I get older.
I don't apologize for being too harsh. I think students need a wake up call, and if it comes from me (and they end up hating me all their lives), then so be it.
I remember my own wake up call when I was barely out of high school when I made a request inappropriately to someone I was asking assistance from. The person taught me a lesson on the spot in front of my other classmates, and I went home not getting what I needed. It was harsh and embarrassing, but I never forgot it. I still feel the sting of it today. But I learned, and I never made the same mistake again.
Teachers, please teach your students the proper way of communicating with potential resource persons. Back in school we were taught this. Is this still being taught now? And if it is, are your students listening? And students, are you taking all this seriously? Are you taking school seriously at all?
Capitalize the beginning of sentences, names and proper words. Spell your words right and write your letter well (or at the very least show some effort in writing your letter well). Introduce yourself properly. Write down your school and your purpose for writing. Be courteous and respectful. Never write anything like "please do this or we will fail" because that's blackmail and I don't respond well to it. Write your real name and not some stupid Internet handle.
Better yet, OK, don't learn it from school. Wait and learn it from ME. It is a lesson you will never forget ever again.
