Letter to the Editor

Dec. 2, 2009

Since we’re hitting the season for recommendation-letter requests, I feel moved to let students in on professors’ thoughts about this issue. Several years ago, after grinding my way through a lot of lukewarm letters, I decided to refuse recommendation requests unless I can write a letter that’s not only very positive but very specific. This isn’t just about protecting my own time and energy – it’s about respecting the realities of the world beyond Luther. Graduate school is too demanding, and the professional fields beyond it too crowded, to send on students who might not succeed there – especially since my own professional reputation is also on the line in recommending a student. Attempting to protect someone’s self-esteem by writing a letter now can set the person up for much bigger damage down the road. Therefore, I don’t write letters for students unless I can write glowing ones, rich with specific details about the student’s work ethic and intellectual life (as demonstrated not just by papers and class participation but also by the elusive “geek-out factor,” also known as intellectual curiosity). The burden of “making a case” in an application is on the student, not the professor. And the student should be aware of that burden from the moment she sets foot in her first college class.

Therefore, thinking about recommendation letters leads me to the hard reality of college itself: your behaviors as a student are a sign to your professors of your real attitudes toward intellectual life, not just in your subject field but as a thinking, learning, inquiring human being. It’s not enough just to show up for class, smile politely, scribble a few notes in your notebook (if any) and slouch off back to your room to play Guitar Hero. You can do that back in high school, in your hometown. You came to college for a reason: what is it? Connect with that passion, nurture it and let it grow – because it’s what’s going to carry you on beyond college into adult life. Regrettably, we’re not often taught that success in “school” is about more than just checking off boxes of Successful Student Behaviors. It’s about finding and nurturing a real intellectual interest, something you pursue and want to learn about for its own sake – an art, a craft, a discipline in which you can make your life.

It’s my hope that professors who don’t write recommendations unless they can write very good ones are doing students a favor by giving them a reality check, prompting them to think more productively about what they’re doing before it’s too late. We care about you; the big world out there does not. Some students see recommendation letters as a right conferred by their tuition payments and grumble if they’re refused. But since you’re investing so much time and money to get a degree, why aren’t you doing more to position yourself as a future colleague we can send out into the world without reservation, bearing that degree? When I see students sitting in class without taking notes, nodding off to sleep, Facebooking during Paideia lectures or skipping appointments with professors – or even when I see students who are “doing everything right” but not putting in more effort than they have to, students who “have the words but not the music” – I think several things. One: it’s sad they have thought so little about what college really is, what it really means and why they’ve chosen to come here – especially since this is such a great opportunity and privilege. Two: they’d better learn to act more like professionals while still in the safe nest of college, because employers sure won’t tolerate it. Three: I hope they ask someone else for a recommendation.

Assistant Professor of English Amy Weldon