Parent-School Complaint Letters

By Richard (Age 13.5, Chinese International School)

Editor's note: The following letters were written in response to an incident where a teacher told a 6th-grade student to "go shoot yourself." 


Dear Mr. Headmaster,

I am shocked at the behavior of one of your school staff, who apparently said to my son a few irresponsible, uncalled for and most extremely rude words. "Go shoot yourself." I mean, really? We as the parents are paying the school fee to go to your school, just to have our child abused and put down? My wife and I are shocked, and as for my darling son, I believe he is in a state of trauma. His self-esteem (or whatever is left of it after one of your teachers cursed at my child in such a vulgar manner) has not skyrocketed, as it should have done going to such a privileged school, but crash-landed in such a way that in its current state its dim light could be compared to that of a dwarf sun. To have (may I repeat) one of your teachers, who has been teaching at this school for 32 years so maliciously injure my child - well, it will not stand. I am suggesting - demanding - that you fire such an undisciplined "member of staff" or at least suspend such an evil mind from pay for at least one month. He is the snake and my child is the innocent mind of Adam, exploring the garden until it came in contact with such a dark and crippling soul. If such reprisals are not made, we shall bring the hurt down on you. This would, admittedly, make news.

                   Mr. and Mrs. Annoying

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Annoying,

I see your reason for frustration! However, let us not come to any dire situations or conclusions yet. It is to my understanding that one of our staff has offended you and possibly distressed your child. However, I personally beg of you to see it from the school's point of view. The teacher was under a lot of pressure and the whole class in general was being loud and hard to handle. Everyone has their fragile twig known as patience, and although some are made of finer woods than others, eventually they both snap and situations like such will arise. And when such situations arise, it is the duty of the staff and the parents to duly and patiently support the school. This school is well-known and I as the headmaster intend to keep its reputation skyrocketing. Including the media and press on this issue is really unnecessary and I urge you to reconsider your actions. I am sure that a compromise can be made. For example, how about moving your child into a different class? It is understandable that the child might feel certain pressure when working with someone who has so recently undermined them and like I said, a compromise can be made. The possible solutions that I have suggested cannot possibly scrape on the surface of the great universe of solutions, remedies, and compromises. Think about yourself. Everyone loses their temper sometime, and it's up to everyone to control it. Please reconsider your actions.

Mr. Headmaster 

Privacy Story 2020

By Richard (Age 13.5, Chinese International School)

I reached for the roll of black tape by the side of my desk. It was placed there since the hackers on the internet have discovered a way to access the webcams on computers. The little green light, that was on my computer which signaled that the webcam was on, was blacked out by a small strip of tape. I sighed, leaning back onto a chair, which was probably the only private part of my world growing up. My curtains were closed as usual - the hackers around the world had long since discovered how to hack into government satellites, and although the police and the UN have tried hard, not one hacker has been caught.

I didn't use Facebook anymore, after an incredibly scary episode including me, a hacker from the internet with a picture of me outside my door and a sick smile. I wasn't really missing out on much, anyway. No one used Facebook anymore, except a few "daring rebels" who simply thought using Facebook was like a game. Google had recently tried to put up a "safe" Facebook replacement called GoogleCommunicate, but considering how easily the hackers broke into Google satellites, no one really bothered to try it out. New anti-virus programs had been released with the added function to prevent key-logging (a method by which a hacker records all the keys that you press) and my parents had bought me the program to install on my Mac. It was time for school, and comparing this world to that of eight years ago, it's incredible how things have changed.

I walked out. I waited outside my house, staring at the sky. It was unnerving to know the number of satellites up in space. There were probably two satellites watching your every move. The school bus came, and along with my surrounding environment, consisting of modern grey buildings and tinted windows, the bus had changed. The whole bus was painted a shiny black, and the windows were tinted. Why? I was lucky to go to one of the higher-end schools of this little town and the school was worried about student privacy. Two of this city's most powerful men had sons or daughters in this school. The whole bus being a big piece of shiny black metal on wheels made it harder for satellites to distinguish what was the window and what was just the side of the bus. The school was not so different from before. However, the once open corridors were walled up and the sports field and basketball court each got a roof. It was scary the amount of money that people spent to keep their identities safe from some creepy stalkers.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Even as the bus trudged along the road, security cameras swiveled to face the vehicle. The corporate sign "Google" was written in bold blue letters along the side of the camera, and "for your personal safety" was inscribed underneath. I didn't believe it. At first, Google was the hero of the cyber privacy crisis and by 2015 Google even had a military force designated to stop such cyber criminals. However, Google began to realize that these military forces were not producing satisfying results, and although the military scheme was not abandoned, the soldiers were increasingly showing behavior that of a hitman or assassin. Innocent people were killed and the UN forced Google to stop the scheme. Since then, they have been working on safer, newer methods that could be like our original life, such as GoogleCommunicate, but the results haven't turned out too well. Who knows: perhaps by 2060 computers might be banished.

As I slowly doze off to the rhythmic bumps of the wheels, I do not notice a little red light on a satellite, hundred of miles away in space from me, flash. A little red dot. And I do not notice a man, plugged into a huge computer, wires spreading across his desk, connecting antennae boxes, two keyboards, and three screens. He starts to smile.