letters to my class

Dear Humans,

Sometimes people complain that schools don’t teach students enough useful stuff, like how to do your taxes, change a tire, and tuck in your shirt. 

And it must be true because we’re learning about moon phases. Which is about the most useless thing in the solar system. No one in a job interview will ever ask you about moon phases. And if people find out that you know the current moon phase, they might think you’re a lunatic.

But knowing how things work and recognizing patterns is an infinitely transferable skill. So if you can figure out what causes the moon phases and explain it to others, I think you’ll probably be able to figure out what to do with your W-2.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

Because the Moon has no wind or liquid water, Buzz Aldrin’s bootprint will probably be there for a long, long time. (Though a meteorite could smudge it.) Here on Earth, our footprints are often gone almost as soon as we make them. 

But imagine if they weren’t. Only 12 people have stepped foot on the Moon. Here on Earth, we’ve had somewhere around 100 billion people walking around on two feet. That’s a lot of footprints! Picture the mess we’d have if they hung around forever.

But do not fret. There are other ways to leave your mark here on Earth, long after all of your footprints have been erased.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

Last week we read about child labor in the United States. The Industrial Revolution was in full swing and factories and mines needed little hands to run them. Because kids were cheaper and less likely to complain (or organize) they were pushed into dirty, loud, and dangerous workplaces. 

It took reformers’ concerted efforts to convince the American people that this was wrong and the law should be changed. As we learned, changing laws is difficult and time-consuming. And making sure those laws remain in place can sometimes be just as hard.

Because a child’s “job” is to be a child–to learn and to play. And those things happen in the home, in schools, and in parks–not the workplace.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

Sometimes the worksheet just doesn’t have enough room on the answer line. So you have to go beyond it. You squeeze the rest of your sentence into the margin or cram it in between the line spacing below in a tiny script.

Perhaps we should be more succinct. Perhaps I shouldn’t give you worksheets in the first place. But I think this is a problem we’ll always face–not enough space for what we have to say.

Because one of our callings is to go beyond the template. To say more than is expected of us and say it in a different way. And the only way we can do that is to go beyond the lines that are drawn for us.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

I was driving to church the other day and there was a bit of traffic. And I had to remind myself that I was part of the traffic problem too. All these people were just doing the same thing I was–trying to get somewhere. And together we were part of the bigger problem.

But then in church we were singing a song together and I was also part of something bigger. And I sounded a whole lot better than I would’ve singing by myself. Perhaps it was just that I couldn’t hear myself quite as well. But I think it was more than that too.

We’re always part of something bigger than ourselves–for better and for worse.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

Tonight is a full moon. But not just a full moon, a supermoon. And a super harvest moon. And a super harvest moon in a partial lunar eclipse. So look up from your screen around 8:40. You’ll see something that you won’t see again for a while.

Which is the great thing about astronomical events–they show us something rare. And yet, a new, rare astronomical event seems to happen all the time. The next two full moons are also supermoons. And a full lunar eclipse will come in March.

That’s because we live in a complex solar system with different sized bodies dancing with one another at different speeds and distances. And it’s our sacred duty to look up.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

We’ve been talking a lot about cereal crops–corn, rice, wheat. It’s because they are the foundations of our civilization. About 10,000 years ago people started planting these grasses on purpose, harvesting more than they needed, and selling the surplus. And they completely changed the world.

Because then cities sprung up. And when people gather together in cities they share ideas and tools and diseases. And they come up with religions and writing systems and laws and punishments. And it’s a lot of good stuff and there’s some bad stuff too. 

And none of what we have today would be possible without it. Because we’re still part of that story. And we get a say in how that story continues.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

Today we’re going to create some beautiful similes. Metaphors and similes are like a human superpower. We take two seemingly unrelated things and insist that they are alike in certain ways.

And the best metaphors are like a breath of fresh air. Because they convince us that the world is a little more than we thought. Perhaps this world is more than just the flesh and blood where like things are alike. Perhaps there’s another world of the mind where unalike things are connected in deep and meaningful ways. 

Or perhaps we can create such a world. One simile at a time.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

Yesterday we read The Man in the Red Bandana about Welles Crowther, the man who heroically saved people on 9/11 while sacrificing his own life. And it got a little dusty in our classroom. Not just because it was a sad story–though it was sad and tragic. But because in the face of that tragedy, Crowther showed great courage.

Aristotle said courage was the first virtue. Without it, no other virtues are possible. No justice, no mercy, no wisdom, no hope.

But with courage, great things are possible. Perhaps not for us, but for others. Because courage–as the man in the red bandana showed–almost always begins with putting others before ourselves.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

Today we’re going to draft our informational essays. And I know that the blank page can be intimidating. That’s because there are an infinite number of ways to say a thing. That doesn’t mean that every way to say a thing is the right way to say it. Or that there is no wrong way to say the thing. But there’s never only one way to say a thing.

And if we get too worried about trying to find the one right way to say a thing, then we’re never going to figure out our own way to say it. And that’s the whole point of picking up a pencil in the first place: to scrawl out something in the way that only we can.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt