A letter I received from a former student:

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39. Wow, that's some letter and I'm sure you were so touched to receive it.

I hate what this country is doing to teachers. I worked at an elementary school for almost ten years before I had to start caring for my dad. Many of my friends are teachers. My best friend died several years ago and her daughter is "mine" now and she's a second year teacher in a school that has absolutely no resources. I went to help her set up her classroom this year and I was truly shocked at the difference between her school and mine. Mine had every modern convenience; theirs looks as if it was the set of Welcome Back Kotter, the desks, floors, walls, curtains, everything, even in the office, all are left over from the 70's, if not the 60's. They don't even have phones in the classrooms, they still have an intercom system that doesn't work. If she needs copies, she has to use her own paper and do it herself. We had all the paper and supplies we could possibly ask for and an aide whose job was to make our copies. It is just shameful that two schools in the same county can be so different.

Anyway, sorry for the rant, but it makes me sick that schools and teachers don't get the support they should have and that they're being vilified at every opportunity. I know it must be wonderful to have one of your students tell you how much you meant in shaping his/her life and I am thrilled for you.