I write in response to the Feb. 26 article “Teacher letters become headache for all,” in which the author portrays a deceitful and deplorable college recommendation letter system replete with students composing and embellishing their own recommendation letters, letters that teachers have a professional and moral responsibility to write and sign.

Over the years, I have written many recommendation letters for students whom have earned my word with diligence, respect, integrity and dedication. I have also had to turn some students away who did not fulfill their obligations. Not every student deserves a teacher’s blessing.

Yet I have never been a senior class homeroom teacher responsible for nearly 40 students and their recommendation letters. I find the policy onerous and illogical. Students are not entitled to a recommendation from one specific teacher. This institutional and systematic demand puts those teachers under an avalanche of work that forces them to seek some shortcuts and, for some, ultimately, to engage in unethical behavior.

There are three central factors at play in this particular issue: 1) impractical approaches by many schools to evolving college application requirements 2) class sizes that are still too large here; there’s a vast difference between 30 and 40 students 3) nearly nonexistent measures to vet and verify recommendations.

High schools should be both blamed and sympathized with. There’s no tenable excuse for fake or fabricated recommendations; these documents represent the integrity of the teacher and school. However, the Ministry of Education’s policies sometimes seem to change like the weather. Moreover, colleges engage in their own goalpost moving. That leaves high school administrators, teachers, parents and students scrambling to figure things out on the fly. This benefits no one.

Still, I commend the government and college system for moving emphasis beyond one test (and standardized testing in general) and placing more emphasis on extracurricular activities, and with that, academic freedom, exploration and creativity. Our students need this but, like everything, with moderation, pragmatism and time. As teachers, we often look at new policies and the subsequent problems that accompany them and ask, “didn’t anyone in the room imagine this when they came up with it?”

In this case, there should be a rule that does not permit senior homeroom teachers to write recommendation letters for all their students (perhaps 50 percent); schools should strictly enforce this. There should also be a clear message to students early on that one earns a recommendation through studious comportment; no one is entitled. Lastly, colleges should start random follow-ups on recommendations to show that this is not just a sign and submit process.

In the end, this process should serve to inspire students to excellence through working hard, being honest, taking academic risks, showing respect for others and, in the end, feeling proud enough of their established reputation to approach a teacher to ask for that recommendation letter, a letter that their teacher will be more than happy to compose.


John Rodgers, Teacher at a prep school in Korea