National Commission on Writing Features Student Letters to the President
This year, the College Board’s National Commission on Writing for America’s Families, Schools and Colleges is celebrating the power of student voices with a series of three collections of students’ writing, the first of which, released in March, contains letters from middle and high school students to the newly elected president of the United States. "Letters to the President: Students' Voices" contains a selection of submissions from the online publishing project "Letters to the Next President," co-sponsored by National Writing Project and Google, which featured 6,466 letters from 212 schools across the country on topics
such as global warming, the economy, health care, education
and immigration.
According to commission member Gene Budig, past president of Major League Baseball's American League and former president of three major universities, these are significant reports, “showing all the importance and beauty of writing. Through these student voices, we are reminded of the essential role writing plays in self-expression, civic responsibility and the power of communication in all areas of life. Without a doubt, they make a powerful case for writing in our schools and in our lives.”
The urgency of these letters is palpable, evoking strong reactions in both writer and reader, and demonstrating effortlessly the power and importance of writing. The following are a few excerpts from these letters:
The region of Darfur in the country of Sudan is home to many racially mixed tribes. There is ongoing genocide throughout the region of Darfur. The genocide in Darfur has claimed 400,000 lives and displaced over 2,500,000 people. More than one hundred people continue to die each day; five thousand die every month. The leaders of this genocide are the Janjaweed, a government supported militia group. The Janjaweed come into civilians’ towns and stun them for life. Forms of torture they use are rape, displacement, starvation, and mass murder. America needs to sit down with the leaders of these groups and we need to make a stand, for the future of Africa lies in international countries’ hands. It all depends on how much we care. Our government has done some things to help Africa, but not as much as they need. African civilians have no form of protection against these violent people other than themselves. … Would you really sit back and watch hundreds of the children you know and love die every day because you didn’t have the will to even try and save them? If you could look into the eyes of these children, I know you wouldn’t rest until this violence
is stopped.
— Claire T., Dubuque, Iowa
… Now, only if you’ve been living under a rock all your life would you not know about the economic crisis. Let me explain it to you, in a 13-year-old regular eighth-grader’s point of view. The economy effects [sic] us all, not just the citizens of this country, not just the people with jobs, not just the people who work in the government, but EVERYONE. I find this rather obvious, but I thought I’d explain it anyway. Someone has to fix this economic crisis, and it’s not going to be me, because there’s only so much I can do. It’s not going to be my parents, because there’s only so much they can do. In fact, no one in my entire family can do anything about it. All they can do about it is to learn to live with it, which is nearly impossible, or they can vote for a person who will do something about this. And if you haven’t already done something about this, then I suggest you stop reading this right now and go do something about it. But if you want to keep reading, then be my guest. I really don’t know what I would do about the economy if I were you, but then again I’m only thirteen and politics really aren’t my best subject, so I’ll just leave that part to you. Hopefully, you can make the changes we need in this country.
— Shadowmax, Southgate, Calif.
Every month I have to have an MRI to watch for the return of a malignant brain tumor I successfully had removed twice before. I drive up to Lucille Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University in California and the moment we step inside the door the feelings of desperation and anxiety are almost tangible. I hear the low voices of parents discussing, arguing, and praying for some way to pay for their child's health care. The horrifying reality is, if they cannot afford it, which is too often the case, they are turned away and forced to watch their children suffer and sometimes slowly die before their eyes. How can we ask these parents to do this?
…
As I walk through those halls, I am able to put the faces to the issue. Their tears reflect nothing but hopelessness. Please, Mr. President, something needs to change. The failing economy has left your citizens struggling to provide for their families, to provide health care to those they love, to send their children to college. You must save this economy, or be left with the cries and desperation of these people on your hands.
— Sarah W., Cupertino, Calif.
The words of these students, and of countless others who participated in this project, capture eloquently the hopes, concerns and recommendations the writers have about the current state of the world. The commission also illustrated through this project the importance of writing. Modern technology requires everyone to communicate in writing, making it more important than ever. Believing that writing is central to education, to the workplace, to civic engagement and to personal expression, the commission has worked for more than six years with K-12 education, higher education and policymakers to improve writing in the United States.
