Dear Professor,

I feel sorry for you, you gave up on me. I'm sure you didn't lose any sleep over giving me a lower grade on a presentation for talking about challenging topics, or that failing grade on a reading quiz that I stayed up 3 hours studying for, I'll bet you didn't even give my reading response another glance after you marked D+ on it. I now understand why you have an attendance policy because there were multiple days when I wanted to skip, I even questioned dropping my major just because your class was a requirement.

You took the easy way out, and that's why I feel bad for you. You didn't take the time to ask me about why I said what I did. You didn't question my beliefs, you just disregarded them. You had no problem telling me my opinions and viewpoints were 'invalid' all over my reviews in red ink, but you made your thought process the only one that was to be accepted, and for that exact reason, I intend to be a better teacher because of the way I was conformed into a letter grade, as if I had no intellect.

I read the material and I analyzed and wrote condensed versions of what was discussed in class, yet that was never good enough for you. I even read more than your favorite student who said everything you wanted to hear. I could've given you the news updates, but I just didn't see where that fell underneath the grading scale of the syllabus.

So, to that one teacher who told me, 'You better take your rough draft to the writing lab, because your writing level isn't well enough produced', here I am, writing. Not because I'm being forced to, and not in the robotic manner that you so fondly obsess over, I'm writing freely. I'm writing for all of those other students who have felt manipulated by a professor who shunned their work because it wasn't what tickled their ears. We have voices that deserve to be heard too.

To the teacher that couldn't understand my intelligence, thank you. As a future educator myself, I look forward to the day when I get to read what my students create, I hope it challenges me to question my own stances and even build off of them. No, I won't slap an F on the first paper I disagree with because that teaches a student that what they have to say means nothing and will not be rewarded. This is where you and I disagree because the delicacy in education is that there are infinite possibilities of excellence. When you take the poise out of the writer's eyes, you get structured paragraphs about the same material you lectured on, and nothing more than that. I will never apologize for writing freely and with an open mind, because if I wanted to see the same answers formulated, I'd pay a visit to my 9th grade Algebra class. I cannot simply leave out pieces of my identity in order to modify to your version of what is correct. As a student, I want to explore in the depths of my heart and bring my relationships to the topics we discuss and watch the ideas grow. I don't want to sit back and ramble over a theory and grab a definition from dictionary.com, I want to feel with what I'm writing.

To the teacher who ignored my emails, downgraded me, and called me out in class, I will no longer be upset with you. I will thank you for teaching me how to never treat my future students because education is something I will allow them to engage in passionately, not shy away from.

Luke 6:40- let's remember the opportunity and example as teachers, and future educators we have.