From the Barack Obama archives ...

NOVEMBER 17, 1967

Dear Miss Darmawan:

I'd like to thank you, Miss Darmawan, for having me in your kindergarten class. It's truly an honor--for both of us, I'm sure. Significant learning has taken place in all aspects of our time together, and as I've said from the beginning, there's room for all of us--all of us, Miss Darmawan--to grow and get better.

I can't tell you, though, how disappointed I am to have received your latest report card. Look, I know some people just aren't going to like me, just aren't going to like what I'm trying to do here in kindergarten. Entrenched powers like yours, Miss Darmawan, are going to push back against progress. I can take it. I'm a big boy. (Sort of.)

But your vicious personal comments--I "have trouble with paste" and "am sometimes restless in class" and "need to develop listening skills" and "struggle with colors"--have led me to an inescapable conclusion: You're not a legitimate teacher in any sense of the word. Your refusal to praise me and your insistence on "grading" my "performance" have created a toxic atmosphere of divisiveness and distrust.

Yours sincerely, Barry

DECEMBER 26, 1971

Dear Santa Claus:

As of close-of-business, 25 December, I had not yet received the Ready Ranger Fun-Pak Outdoor Adventure toy that I specifically requested in my previous letter.

Let's be clear: It was not a demand. I never "demanded" it--and yet, I can't help but note that other figures in my life, my grandparents especially, executed my wish lists flawlessly. Quite literally every single item I requested was delivered, wrapped as per my instructions, underneath our tree.

Perhaps it's time that I explore other options. The holiday Eid ul-Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, is a joyful occasion in which children receive, according to custom, many gifts, including those they have specifically asked for.

You would do well, sir, to think carefully about the possibility of getting me the Ready Ranger Fun-Pak Outdoor Adventure toy before the beginning of the new year.

Yours in disappointment,

Barry

APRIL 15, 1977

Dear Mr. Eldridge:

This is not an easy letter to write. I'm sure it won't be easy to read. Still, one of my deep personal philosophies is to hit back--hard--when I've been struck. To answer every injustice with a megaphone. Not to just speak truth to power, but to yell it. To holler. To say, "No More!"

I really should have gotten a "C" or higher on that last math test.

Your response, when I confronted you about this in the hall, that I simply "answered more than half of the questions wrong" and "clearly hadn't prepared," would have been fair enough, I suppose, had you not added, gratuitously, "You can't talk your way out of everything, Barry."

I think I'll be forgiven for detecting the whiff of racism in that remark.

Life, Mr. Eldridge, is not like a math test. One doesn't just sit oneself down to a list of problems and begin solving them. That is unrealistic. Let's be clear: I have nothing against math tests--or any other kind of test. And let's be honest: I prepared for the last math test as I prepare for everything--by reminding myself that deep within my core, I already have the knowledge and the skills to tackle anything, to prevail, to succeed, to soar. And by placing the appropriate text underneath my pillow, so as to allow the bits and scraps of knowledge that I don't already possess in my soul to waft upwards during my slumber.

In a nutshell: I was prepared, Mr. Eldridge.

And yet you insist on reverting to the old ways, the old problems. Atank can be filled by pipe A in 3 hours and by pipe B in 5 hours. When the tank is full, it can be drained by pipe C in 4 hours. If the tank is initially empty and all three pipes are open, how many hours will it take to fill up the tank?

Why is the tank empty, Mr. Eldridge? Who emptied it? Why did we inherit an empty tank? Why is one pipe considered faster than the other? And when we rate and rank the pipes, are we not, in a sense, rating and ranking ourselves?

I know the other students just put their heads down and did what they were told. They scribbled and scratched and came up with some "answer" that you found "correct."

Let's be clear. Let's be honest. I'm not asking you to just "give" me a "C" or higher because I demand it, or because I didn't bother to study for the test, or because if you don't I'll call you a racist. I'm asking you to ask yourself what grade you wish I had gotten on that test. What did you hope for, Mr. Eldridge? What did you dream, in your wildest dreams, I'd get on that test?

I'm not ashamed to say that I dreamed about getting an "A+" on that exam. Maybe your dreams aren't so lofty. Maybe you dreamed of giving me a "B" or "B+." That's okay. Maybe we can compromise. Why don't we say, "A-"? Why don't we just do that, declare it an "A-"? Can we do that, Mr. Eldridge? Can we do that? Or are you perhaps too busy preparing for your next Klan rally?

Your call, sir.

Barry