Dear Mr. Skaros,

When I walked into American Problems the first semester of my junior year, I hadn’t thought too much about the class. After all, I had taken the class at Arrowhead High School as an easy grade because I had no interest in social studies. What I hadn’t known is that the class would be one I looked forward to every day for the rest of the school year. 

The way you taught the class and talked about different subjects opened my eyes to so much more going on in my daily life. I don’t think people realize how close-minded we can be, especially when it comes to political and economical problems around the world. I envied how you presented many different perspectives to a side and wouldn’t agree with either, but instead you would ask more questions like, “why might they feel justified?” Or “what positives and negatives came from this?” Questions like this actually made me think deeply about an opposing viewpoint, and even if I still didn’t agree, I understood why they had that viewpoint. Because of these types of conversations you held, I was inspired to apply for similar courses in college. 

Your openness hadn’t stopped at the class material. You have also always been open to different types of people, one of them being me. I have consistently felt a different attitude towards me from teachers due to the way I dress and present myself. Many times, people like me with a more alternative style and “carefree” attitude are automatically stereotyped as troublesome and/or antisocial. You haven’t made me feel excluded in this way, actively including me in discussions and joking around with me like other teachers often do with only stereotypically popular-looking kids. 

This leads me to my next point which is your humor. Even if you had repeated jokes a few times in class after forgetting who you told them to, it still lightened the mood and was a positive to my day. I think teachers forget sometimes that they do more than just teach a class, but they also impact their students based on the environment they create in their classroom. You’ve only created a good environment for me and others in your classroom, which I am very thankful for. 

You are one of the only teachers at Arrowhead that I’ve felt comfortable with and uncriticized by. You may not have known any of this about me because I often keep things like this to myself, but I wanted to thank you for not only being a good teacher but also for being a righteous and open-minded person.

Sincerely,
Chloe Miller