Letter from Dr. Alfred E. Stearns to Commander H.K. Tu, January 5, 1925
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Dr. Alfred E. Stearns to Commander H.K. Tu, January 5, 1925
Subject
Letter from Dr. Alfred E. Stearns to Commander H.K. Tu, January 5, 1925
Description
Typed letter from Dr. Alfred E. Stearns to Commander H.K. Tu. Acknowledges receipt of check for son. Attempting to sort out son's financial situation. States son accumulated bills almost equal to check. Paid most pressing such as tuition and board. Believes son would do better in another school, as lack of English made advancement at Andover impossible. Explains placement in smaller school will work better than the current arrangment of a tutor.
Transcription
Commander H.K.Tu
Admiralty House
Nanking, China
My dear Sir:
I am in receipt of your most friendly and courteous letter of November 26. With it comes your check for 600.00 in behalf of your boy. This amount I have deposited to the boy’s account am endeavoring now, as requested by you, to straighten out his financial affairs and induce him to meet the situation in a business-like way and with the determination to limit all expenditures to absolute necessities. This I hope to accomplish in due season.
The boy has been on a very awkward position because of lack of funds, and I find that he has already contracted bills, largely for tuition, board, and room, amounting,as nearly as I can figure, to almost the sum of your remittance. This means that he will have very little to go on for the next few months and without further remissions from home will have to run up additional bills, something which none of us likes to contemplate. I am paying at the moment those bills which have been longest overdue and seem most pressing, such as board, tuition, etc., and will pay the others so far as the funds permit. I shall hope to enclose with this letter a brief statement showing the extent and nature of disbursement to date.
It is my strong conviction that the boy would do much better for the balance of the year to enter some school rather than to attempt to go on as he has been doing here. As ha has doubtless advised you, his lack of English made it impossible for him to continue the Phillips Academy connection for he couldd make no progress in his classes with us owing to this deficiency. His case is very similar to the cases of many Chinese boys we have had to recent years. Always under such circumstances these boys have been advised to invest their first year in America in a small school, where they could place all the emphasis on the English language and receive special and personal guidance in their work. This is practically impossible in a school as large as ours. Such a plan your son vigorously objected to for some reason, and he has consequently been living here in town and taking special instruction with a most reliable man, for many years principal of the high school at Groton, Mass., and during the war a regular instructor on our own force. The arrangement is a good one in many ways, but I can’t help feeling that the atmosphere and regular environment of a regular school would be better.
I appreciate your thoughtfulness in sending me as a token of your friendship the image of the God of Happiness to which you refer. The gift has not yet arrived, but I am sure that I shall value it most highly when it does come, both for itself and for the good will which lies behind it.
Trusting that the New Year may bring you health, prosperity, and happiness in fullest measure, believe me
Very sincerely yours
Admiralty House
Nanking, China
My dear Sir:
I am in receipt of your most friendly and courteous letter of November 26. With it comes your check for 600.00 in behalf of your boy. This amount I have deposited to the boy’s account am endeavoring now, as requested by you, to straighten out his financial affairs and induce him to meet the situation in a business-like way and with the determination to limit all expenditures to absolute necessities. This I hope to accomplish in due season.
The boy has been on a very awkward position because of lack of funds, and I find that he has already contracted bills, largely for tuition, board, and room, amounting,as nearly as I can figure, to almost the sum of your remittance. This means that he will have very little to go on for the next few months and without further remissions from home will have to run up additional bills, something which none of us likes to contemplate. I am paying at the moment those bills which have been longest overdue and seem most pressing, such as board, tuition, etc., and will pay the others so far as the funds permit. I shall hope to enclose with this letter a brief statement showing the extent and nature of disbursement to date.
It is my strong conviction that the boy would do much better for the balance of the year to enter some school rather than to attempt to go on as he has been doing here. As ha has doubtless advised you, his lack of English made it impossible for him to continue the Phillips Academy connection for he couldd make no progress in his classes with us owing to this deficiency. His case is very similar to the cases of many Chinese boys we have had to recent years. Always under such circumstances these boys have been advised to invest their first year in America in a small school, where they could place all the emphasis on the English language and receive special and personal guidance in their work. This is practically impossible in a school as large as ours. Such a plan your son vigorously objected to for some reason, and he has consequently been living here in town and taking special instruction with a most reliable man, for many years principal of the high school at Groton, Mass., and during the war a regular instructor on our own force. The arrangement is a good one in many ways, but I can’t help feeling that the atmosphere and regular environment of a regular school would be better.
I appreciate your thoughtfulness in sending me as a token of your friendship the image of the God of Happiness to which you refer. The gift has not yet arrived, but I am sure that I shall value it most highly when it does come, both for itself and for the good will which lies behind it.
Trusting that the New Year may bring you health, prosperity, and happiness in fullest measure, believe me
Very sincerely yours
Creator
H.K. Tu
Publisher
Phillips Academy
Date
January 5, 1925
Rights
All Rights Reserved By Phillips Academy
Language
English
Type
Correspondence