A Response to Their Response
Today, we offer something somewhat different from the powerful, heartfelt letters we’ve been sharing for nearly a month now. Oftentimes, in response to one of the letters you’ve had the pleasure and privilege to read as a subscriber to this Substack, a dean will write back to a student to explain why they think this decision to future-fire 23 teachers makes sense. You may recall the incredible letter we ran a few days ago by Katherine Ho (Letter 25). Today, we are proud to publish Katherine’s response to the response she received from the dean. It is clear to us, as it is clear to Katherine, that the employment of term-limited teachers will have a deleterious effect upon the undergraduate experience, an experience that few seem to have considered in making this decision, but an experience that this Substack project has sought to highlight. And so, we are proud today to run this response by Katherine Ho (‘24). And, just a note while I’m writing this - we will be transitioning soon from featuring student letters solely to sharing creative work our students produced in our classes, the very classes that this decision will drive into extinction.
Hi Gabriella,
Thank you so much for your thorough reply.
I understand that you believe inexperienced instructors can provide the same quality of education to undergraduate students as experienced ones. While I appreciate your perspective, I think we can agree that experience plays a crucial role in teaching effectiveness. My concern is that this decision does not prioritize the best possible education for our undergraduate students, and that is what saddens me.
The more experienced creative writing lecturers were the ones that really impacted me. Not that the newer ones didn’t. But the more experienced ones, the ones who knew Stanford and their place there, who had really thought about how to reach students, were the ones that deeply impacted my life. That’s why I’m writing this letter, and I hope you understand that the approach of having a revolving door of lecturers will simply not produce the same experience to the undergraduate experience.
I have experienced this model of lectureship during my year in the Structured Liberal Education program, and to be quite frank, the quality of education simply wasn’t there. The program doesn’t live up to its potential, and I’m confident that comparing course evaluations between creative writing and SLE might lend some helpful perspective.
Best,
Katherine