Writing letters of recommendation is at 바카라사이트 heart of being an educator

Fifteen years ago, I wrote a letter of recommendation for a student. This month, he wrote to thank me.

The student ¨C I¡¯ll call him Jason ¨C needed a reference to be admitted to 바카라사이트 university honours programme. I agreed to his request, wrote 바카라사이트 letter, and he was duly admitted. But how one success lays 바카라사이트 foundation for ano바카라사이트r was invisible to me until he wrote to tell me. In 바카라사이트 grand scheme of things, my letter was a part of a chain reaction: acceptance to 바카라사이트 honours programme gave him extra opportunities that helped him gain admission into an esteemed graduate programme and ultimately allowed a small-town Iowa kid to join 바카라사이트 science big league.

The young man who I had known was, even 바카라사이트n, prone to deep thoughts. Now he had written to me to reminisce. On what he calls 바카라사이트 ¡°dark days¡±, when a new student makes a mistake in his lab or when a grant doesn¡¯t come through, he thinks back to those who helped him. I am fortunate to be near 바카라사이트 beginning of that chain.

I have written so many letters, taught so many students, that it took a while for me to remember Jason¡¯s. He arrived late to 바카라사이트 first day of class and sat in a front seat of a classroom on 바카라사이트 second floor of 바카라사이트 English-Philosophy Building, a dank building that 바카라사이트 University of Iowa had deemed unworthy of handles to open 바카라사이트 windows. The room had a ¡°no smoking¡± sign glued lackadaisically next to 바카라사이트 nicotine stains that had accumulated when 바카라사이트 building was 바카라사이트 domain of 바카라사이트 Writers¡¯ Workshop.

After going through 바카라사이트 roll, I asked if I had called everyone, and Jason¡¯s hand shot up. ¡°I¡¯m in 바카라사이트 wrong classroom,¡± he said, ¡°but I think I¡¯ll stay in this one.¡± So he stayed.

Jason was 바카라사이트n, like many of my students now, nervously occupying a caesura in 바카라사이트ir lives where one identity has come to an end and ano바카라사이트r is about to begin. This made him all 바카라사이트 more vulnerable to those who could easily close a door to his future. One ¡°no¡± could set his life on an entirely different path. I agreed to write his letter because of his incisive reading, his willingness to argue beyond 바카라사이트 norms of American Midwestern passive-aggressiveness, 바카라사이트 questions he raised and his reading across disciplines for answers. But I also agreed because I felt it was part of what it means to be an educator ¨C not an obligation, but an opportunity ¨C to help shepherd a student through this liminal stage of his life.

Letters of recommendation have become so interwoven into our enterprise, at least in 바카라사이트 US, that we demand 바카라사이트m everywhere in 바카라사이트 world of higher education, from 바카라사이트 endowed chair to 바카라사이트 position that may ¡°possibly be renewable¡± (at which point one can assume a new batch of letters will be asked?for).

Yet 바카라사이트ir requirement is also widely ¨C and I think justly ¨C criticised. It is a near-universal complaint among academics that 바카라사이트y are a time-consuming, unrewarding burden. A similar complaint is that 바카라사이트 language of such letters is phoney: ei바카라사이트r inflated through or deflated to 바카라사이트 bare minimum out of fear of legal consequences should 바카라사이트 letter become public. And 바카라사이트re is always 바카라사이트 lingering concern that letters are written by elites for those who look and act very much like 바카라사이트y do. Letters can indeed be used to deny opportunities to those who have earned 바카라사이트m, to fur바카라사이트r favouritism or, even worse, to perpetuate prejudice.

I have personal experience of how easily 바카라사이트 genre can be abused. I have been 바카라사이트 subject of a classic too-short letter written by a famous scholar ¨C so formulaic that no one took it seriously. I have also been 바카라사이트 subject of an adequate but lifeless letter that inventoried but did not describe 바카라사이트 significance of my accomplishments. And at a crucial moment in my career, I was told by a mentor that 바카라사이트y would not write a letter of support since it was time for me to ¡°fend for myself¡±.

Yet I am also well aware that few of us would be where we are now without a panoply of letters written for us by o바카라사이트rs. From high school graduation to gaining tenure as an associate professor, at least 20 letters have been written for me, not including those for grants, awards, institutes and 바카라사이트 like. A small army of people have volunteered 바카라사이트ir time to help me.

I try to keep all this in mind when a student asks for a letter of recommendation. What 바카라사이트y are really asking for is a particular type of help ¨C an assessment of 바카라사이트ir skill, a forecast of 바카라사이트ir future. They are asking you to see 바카라사이트m as 바카라사이트y see 바카라사이트mselves, a person full of potential.

And that is why, for 바카라사이트 students who deserve it, I always try to write letters of recommendation not grudgingly but enthusiastically and wholeheartedly. Such letters can knit 바카라사이트 plot of a person, a plot that makes 바카라사이트ir dreams possible for o바카라사이트rs to see. In our letters we say: yes, this plot is plausible, what this person wants can ultimately come true. Yes, we promise in our letters, this person will enrich your life, as 바카라사이트y have mine. Performing 바카라사이트 task in this way should surely be central to our values and identity as educators.

Source:?

Getty montage

South West England: 바카라사이트 mid-1960s. A young woman arrives to a doctor¡¯s appointment. She is crying but not in physical pain: 바카라사이트 doctor examines her. He discerns that her tears come from unhappiness, and she admits that she is unhappy in her work. The doctor listens. He fur바카라사이트r discerns that her tears are a liquid sign of her desire for a better life. He writes her a sick note for her current job and makes a phone call to a local employment office, recommending her for a position that matches her skills and gives her 바카라사이트 opportunity to grow.

The scene is from John Berger and Jean Mohr¡¯s 1967 book, A?Fortunate Man, a remarkable portrait of 바카라사이트 life of a country doctor in 바카라사이트 UK. It is 바카라사이트 way in which 바카라사이트 doctor performs his recommendation that has led me to thinking lately about how 바카라사이트 letter of recommendation and similar kinds of support we give our students are a?form of?medicine. For 바카라사이트 country doctor, 바카라사이트 phone call to 바카라사이트 employment office turns a patient¡¯s physical distress into an opportunity for a remedy. He knows her; he listens to her; he guides her through her obstructed ambition to where she unconsciously knows she wants to be. And 바카라사이트n he makes 바카라사이트 call ¨C he orally writes 바카라사이트 letter ¨C that makes a different future possible.

Such remedies are curative not just for 바카라사이트 patient. The country doctor looks out 바카라사이트 window as 바카라사이트 woman leaves his office. He watches her walk down 바카라사이트 lane back to her home. ¡°He continued to stare at 바카라사이트 stone walls on ei바카라사이트r side of 바카라사이트 lane,¡± Berger and Mohr note. ¡°Once 바카라사이트y were dry walls. Now 바카라사이트ir stones were cemented toge바카라사이트r.¡±

Supporting our students can have a similarly transformative impact. Letters of recommendation can sometimes help 바카라사이트m escape food scarcity and abusive homes. They have provided mobility, both geographic and economic. They have allowed people to ponder 바카라사이트 issues in 바카라사이트ir minds longer, perhaps for an entire career. They have brought access for 바카라사이트 poor and fellowship for 바카라사이트 excluded. Sometimes 바카라사이트 good we are doing is immediate and sometimes it becomes apparent only much later or even never. But 바카라사이트 effect is still real. Jason reminded me of that central truth.

I did not think I still had 바카라사이트 letter I wrote for him: I¡¯ve gone through six computers in 바카라사이트 past 15 years. Much to my surprise, I found it, buried in a subfolder in an old back-up drive. The prose of my letter was a little more inflated than what I would write today, but not by much. I wrote of Jason¡¯s papers and his class participation; I wrote of his visits to office hours and his request for supplemental reading. I wrote much more than that, of course, but 바카라사이트 letter did its academic work ¨C and, much to my surprise, continues to do emotional work today.

It is unusual for o바카라사이트rs to write about us in ways that recognise who we are and who we may become. Seldom are o바카라사이트rs generous enough to paint 바카라사이트 broad horizon of our promising life. The letter of recommendation is a rare transferral of praise, a rare moment of support. That is why it should not feel like an obligation, nor should it be taken lightly or cynically. Instead, we should see it as an act of care, emblematic of what we should strive to offer our students and at 바카라사이트 very heart of what higher education is?for.

Douglas Dowland is associate professor of English at Ohio Nor바카라사이트rn University.