Letter from Alfred E. Stearns, Home Camp, Pittsburg, New Hampshire, to Alfred Tsai, July 11, 1928
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Alfred E. Stearns, Home Camp, Pittsburg, New Hampshire, to Alfred Tsai, July 11, 1928
Subject
Letter from Alfred E. Stearns, Home Camp, Pittsburg, New Hampshire, to Alfred Tsai, July 11, 1928
Transcription
Dear Alfred,
Your letter reached me yesterday.
While I am sorry to hear that you are unhappy at the camp I am sure that you will appreciate the fact that it is of course impossible for me to make other arrangements for you at this late date. Further I know of no better arrangements for you at that could have been made for you even earlier, unless possibly at Long Lake Lodge where you would have been required to work hard all summer on your studies. I have asked Mr. Sanborn to see that you do some steady and needed study at your present camp for your Andover examinations were terribly disappointing and indicate clearly that it is a serious question whether without a good deal of further study you could hold your place at Andover even in our first and lowest class. On the basis of the Andover exams you have very little to show for your two years at Mt. Vernon and it is time that you realized that you are no longer a child with play and a good time your chief interest in life.
Frankly, I should be inclined to regard your appeal to be near Helen with more seriousness if you had shown, when you were with her, a greater brotherly interest. You will not have forgotten, I am sure, how constantly you left her alone in Andover while you went to the movies or did other things that happened to please you. Helen was the lonely and homesick one then, but my repeated requests to you to consider her interests and do more to entertain and make her happy brought little if any response. Your plain duty now is to buckle down to some hard and conscientious work and prepare yourself as best you can to meet the Andover requirements in the fall. Otherwise we shall have to give up the Andover plan altogether and seek another small school that has a reputation for hard work and exacting discipline. If we have to do this it will be an admission to the world that you were either unable or unwilling to meet the standards of Phillips Academy; and that would be little less than disgrace and a cause for real pain to your father.
Unless I hear that you are ready to accept my instructions and get down to hard and serious work at your present camp I shall feel it necessary to send a copy of this letter to your father in order that he may understand the whole situation and the real nature of the problem. Naturally I wish to save him this distress if possible.
Faithfully yours,
Your letter reached me yesterday.
While I am sorry to hear that you are unhappy at the camp I am sure that you will appreciate the fact that it is of course impossible for me to make other arrangements for you at this late date. Further I know of no better arrangements for you at that could have been made for you even earlier, unless possibly at Long Lake Lodge where you would have been required to work hard all summer on your studies. I have asked Mr. Sanborn to see that you do some steady and needed study at your present camp for your Andover examinations were terribly disappointing and indicate clearly that it is a serious question whether without a good deal of further study you could hold your place at Andover even in our first and lowest class. On the basis of the Andover exams you have very little to show for your two years at Mt. Vernon and it is time that you realized that you are no longer a child with play and a good time your chief interest in life.
Frankly, I should be inclined to regard your appeal to be near Helen with more seriousness if you had shown, when you were with her, a greater brotherly interest. You will not have forgotten, I am sure, how constantly you left her alone in Andover while you went to the movies or did other things that happened to please you. Helen was the lonely and homesick one then, but my repeated requests to you to consider her interests and do more to entertain and make her happy brought little if any response. Your plain duty now is to buckle down to some hard and conscientious work and prepare yourself as best you can to meet the Andover requirements in the fall. Otherwise we shall have to give up the Andover plan altogether and seek another small school that has a reputation for hard work and exacting discipline. If we have to do this it will be an admission to the world that you were either unable or unwilling to meet the standards of Phillips Academy; and that would be little less than disgrace and a cause for real pain to your father.
Unless I hear that you are ready to accept my instructions and get down to hard and serious work at your present camp I shall feel it necessary to send a copy of this letter to your father in order that he may understand the whole situation and the real nature of the problem. Naturally I wish to save him this distress if possible.
Faithfully yours,
Creator
Alfred E. Stearns
Publisher
Phillips Academy
Date
July 11, 1928
Rights
All Rights Reserved By Phillips Academy
Language
English
Type
Correspondence