And since I've been on a writing kick lately here's another one.  I wrote and mailed this last week.  Sadly I had all these all these f-bombs planned and they didn't happen. I think I made my point though.  I will go into why the f-bombs didnt happen at a later date b/c it's pretty significant.  For me anyway.

It has been over 30 years since you were my 1^{st grade} math teacher. It is ok if you do not remember me. I would be surprised if you did. However, I have not so easily forgotten you. I suppose it says something when a woman of 37 has memories as strong as I do about you. I would not get your hopes up, though. This is not to thank you for a fond memory of math or your teaching abilities or anything even close.

What I would like to address is your treatment of me as one of your students. Rather than help, you yelled. Rather than try a new method, you yelled. Rather than switch me to another math class, you yelled. Rather than have me tested to find out if I had any learning disabilities, you yelled. I will also mention here the more, how shall I say, favored, a child was all the help and cheery smiles in the world went to them. You yelled at a 7 year old too scared at this point to understand ANY math-let alone any math being taught by you. You are just lazy, Jennifer.  Ring any bells? My personal favorite was making me such a nervous wreck I peed my pants in class.  Nothing like being bullied by both my teacher AND classmates.

I will not trouble you with my life-long tale of being scared to death of and horrible at math. I certainly would be remiss, though, if I forgot to mention I graduated with honors from college and attended an Ivy League school for my graduate program. My career has allowed me to make a difference with people. You know… HELP them. In case while you are reading this you should sit back and wonder did I really behave in such a manner? Yes, you did. Did I actually make fun of a child that had difficulty understanding? Yes, you did. In front of OTHER children? Yes, you did. Did I really not help this child? No, you did not. In fact you made a problem much, much worse than it had to be. I doubt I was the only one.

For your sake and the sake of all the children you have taught I hope at some point something or someone forced you to take a long hard look at your cruel behavior. More so what that cruelty does to children. I have lived with my outrage at your behavior for over 30 years. My time of carrying this around is finished. And as much as I would like to say I hope you are a miserable, I will not. I do believe, though, that if someone is as cruel to a child as you were, even just one… they have enough ugly in them to last their entire life. You are probably stocked for a few lifetimes.