letters to my class

Dear Humans,

Each day you return your book bins to the counter. And I’m always harping on you to make sure they’re lined up straight and stay within a certain area. But, of course, words don’t usually work with humans once we’re used to doing something a certain way. And the book bins are all in disarray.

So earlier this week I put a single strip of duct tape on the counter. I didn’t tell you anything about it or explain its purpose. And, suddenly, your book bins were lined up the way I’d like them.

Humans need boundaries. The lines on a basketball court. The markers on the road. The invisible lines on our maps. When we let those boundaries solely define us, they become a problem, but if we use them as a tool to be better humans in the world, then we’re doing it right.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

The national Spelling Bee pronouncer Dr. Jacques Bailly said something interesting in a video I was watching the other day. He said his job is not that difficult because there’s only 44 sounds in the English language. He just has to put them together.

And it’s true, there are only 44 separate sounds (or phonemes) in English. That doesn’t seem like that many. There are 53 players on the Broncos team and there are a lot of people who know their names, stats, and alma maters.

But the thing about sounds is that they work together to create language. So those simple 44 sounds can turn into an unfathomable number of words. Like acorns that grow into massive oaks at the speed of sound.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

You can’t predict the future. But you can prepare for it. Because the things that will be most important in the future are the same things that are most important now: learning about the world, taking care of the people around us, and leaving things better than we found them. 

Of course, we don’t always do those things now. But it’s not because our fear of an uncertain future keeps us from doing it. It’s because we’re humans and we’re far, far from perfect. 

And maybe instead of predicting the future, we ought to be more focused on creating the future. And living our lives towards that future. And doing those things that have served humans (imperfect though we are) well throughout history–learning about their world, taking care of the people around them, and leaving things better than they found them.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

Knowing words and their synonyms is a good thing. It is admirable and agreeable and meritorious and ducky and copacetic. But synonyms are tricky things. Because they obviously don’t mean exactly what other words mean. If they did they wouldn’t be necessary. 

So figuring out just the right word is a whole lot harder than memorizing lists of synonyms. Because words don’t have definitions, words have uses. And the way to learn how to use words is to listen and watch how other humans have used words. It’s to read. And then read some more. And then reread the books you read a long time ago.

The more you read the more you’ll learn, about the world and about the language that makes that world move.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

Wordle is all the rage. It’s the first thing I do each morning. And, for the first few hours of my day, every time I blink, I see those little gray boxes.

Wordle is all about patterns. And that’s because words are all about patterns. There’s a lot of five letter words in English, but not that many patterns. If you know the patterns, you’ll do pretty well.

I talk about patterns all the time in class. “Do you see the pattern?” “Look for the pattern.” You’re probably sort of sick of it. And I don’t just talk about patterns in math class. It’s also inherent in our language and history and science.

If you can see the patterns, then you can see the future. If you can see the patterns, then you know how things work and can make those things work for you.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

Yesterday I hurried home after school to shovel my driveway before the sun got too low in the sky. Because the most important thing about shoveling your driveway is that you give your shoveled driveway some time to soak up the sun and become completely dry. 

We can only do so much with our dinky plastic shovels and weak backs. The best we can hope for is to move the snow around a little. The sun is what actually takes it away–with a little help from us with our dinky shovels and weak backs.

There are things in this world that are much more powerful than us. The best thing we can do is align ourselves with them.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

Yesterday we learned about Casmiri Pulaski and Thaddeus Kosciuszko and other American allies during the American Revolution. And maybe you’re wondering why we’re learning about two guys from almost 250 years whose names we have a lot of trouble pronouncing.

Well you only have to look at the front page of any news website to see that there are troop build-ups at the Ukrainian border. And the United States is trying to figure out the best way to ally with Ukraine without causing too much harm. 

And when nations face problems, history matters. Because we don’t just think about our interests and practical goals and act accordingly; we also act according to who we think we are as a country and people. And that is created by how we understand our history.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

I bought donuts yesterday morning and I had a vocabulary problem. I wasn’t exactly sure what you call all those variations of fried dough and sugar and I was left doing a lot of pointing, grunting, and gesturing. 

I knew long john, of course. (Though I think some people call them bars.) But there’s a variety of long johns. Cream filled or not cream filled. Chocolate, vanilla, or maple icing. And I knew the twist, but there was a cinnamon twist, glazed twist, or raspberry twist. 

We live in a rich world of abundance. Variety is the rule. To navigate that world–to fill our box with the donuts that we want–we have to have the words to describe it and communicate it with others. So we use precise language, not to be right, but to be clear.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

If you only know one way of doing something, you might be able to get by. You might be able to get a good job and do your taxes and get dinner on the table. Because oftentimes knowing how to do it one way is good enough.

But humans aren’t meant for just good enough. We’re meant for more. We’re meant to create new ways of doing things. And the only way you’ll ever do that is if you know the old ways very, very well.

So get the right answer. But that’s just the start. Also think about how you got the answer, how others might get the answer, and any other undiscovered ways of getting it. 

And then you can start asking if we’re even asking the right questions.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

Ken Kesey has my favorite quote: “We can count how many seeds are in the apple, but not how many apples are in the seed.”

You have to believe that you’ll be more than your inputs: more than the houses you were raised in, the schools you were educated in, the cultures that surrounded you. Those things are important and instrumental, but they are not destiny.

Because there’s something special in each person. Some people call it a spark or a personality or some people even call it a soul. I call it an apple seed. But it doesn’t really matter what you call it. It’s something inside of you that can grow beyond the limits that exist outside of you.

If you let it.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt