Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to Dean M.A. Harris, Elmira College, April 10, 1928
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to Dean M.A. Harris, Elmira College, April 10, 1928
Subject
Letter from Alfred E. Stearns to Dean M.A. Harris, Elmira College, April 10, 1928
Transcription
My dear Miss Harris:
I have your formal notice of the Dean’s warning given to my ward, Mary Sun. I am wondering if you would be willing to write me frankly just what Mary’s difficulties seem to be and what advice you have to offer that would perhaps aid us in contributing to their remedy.
Naturally I feel a pretty big responsibility for these foreign wards of mine, and Mary has always been a problem. On the whole, though, when she was here she worked hard at her studies, but I have never been able to feel that she had given her best to the work at Elmira, and largely, I judge, because of no real interest in it. She has pleaded for several years now to be allowed to study nursing, a plan of which her father has never approved. On the other hand, she has often expressed her lack of enthusiasm for the work which she is doing, and I am afraid that it is the reflection of this attitude that accounts in large measure for the poor results. I am anxious, however, to do everything I can to help the girl avoid a real disaster, for a failure to meet the college requirements would, as you know, be far more seriously regarded by upper-class Chinese parents than it would by American fathers and mothers.
Very sincerely yours,
I have your formal notice of the Dean’s warning given to my ward, Mary Sun. I am wondering if you would be willing to write me frankly just what Mary’s difficulties seem to be and what advice you have to offer that would perhaps aid us in contributing to their remedy.
Naturally I feel a pretty big responsibility for these foreign wards of mine, and Mary has always been a problem. On the whole, though, when she was here she worked hard at her studies, but I have never been able to feel that she had given her best to the work at Elmira, and largely, I judge, because of no real interest in it. She has pleaded for several years now to be allowed to study nursing, a plan of which her father has never approved. On the other hand, she has often expressed her lack of enthusiasm for the work which she is doing, and I am afraid that it is the reflection of this attitude that accounts in large measure for the poor results. I am anxious, however, to do everything I can to help the girl avoid a real disaster, for a failure to meet the college requirements would, as you know, be far more seriously regarded by upper-class Chinese parents than it would by American fathers and mothers.
Very sincerely yours,
Creator
Alfred E. Stearns
Publisher
Phillips Academy
Date
April 10, 1928
Rights
All Rights Reserved by Phillips Academy
Language
English
Type
Correspondence