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I will always associate this essay with my all-time favorite teacher, an English professor at Skidmore College named Linda Hall. The piece was assigned reading

I will always associate this essay with my all-time favorite teacher, an English professor at Skidmore College named Linda Hall. The piece was assigned reading in the first of many classes I took with her, and to this day, I don't know how she found it. Professor Hall is generally well-read, but as far as I'm aware has no background in investing or startups. Professor Hall taught me how to write for pleasure. I'd known how to do that as a child, but I forgot at some point in High School, presumably while working on yet another paper on the symbolism of a book I disliked. It's past time we stopped doing that to students. I do believe that literature is good for the soul, and that literary analysis is a decent way to practice critical thinking, but it's a narrow slice of what writing can be. In Linda Hall's classes, I wrote essays on the implications of technological progress, and blurbs for a cookbook, and someone's termination letter. After turning in that letter, Professor Hall brought in a colleague to play the part of the woman we'd fired, interviewed her about the company's hostile work environment, and tasked us with writing her appeal to HR. Every assignment was different, the variety was fun, and I use the skills they taught me every day. Thank you so much Professor Hall.

zamfi 5y ago
This is fantastic, thank you for sharing. I used to wonder where my penchant for writing “Dear Administrator” letters came from, and reading your post reminded me that as a high schooler I was encouraged to write these by basically every student club’s faculty advisor, anytime we needed money or supplies or other resources, or had a conflict, or any number of other scenarios—which of course in retrospect is great practice for life. Or at least, great practice for being a lawyer—and probably not a coincidence that half my high school friends chose that profession.

zamfi 5y ago

This is fantastic, thank you for sharing. I used to wonder where my penchant for writing “Dear Administrator” letters came from, and reading your post reminded me that as a high schooler I was encouraged to write these by basically every student club’s faculty advisor, anytime we needed money or supplies or other resources, or had a conflict, or any number of other scenarios—which of course in retrospect is great practice for life. Or at least, great practice for being a lawyer—and probably not a coincidence that half my high school friends chose that profession.