A Father’s Letter To His Son’s Teacher

During the enrolment period for school year 2006, while buying textbooks for my sixth-grader son at the library of his school in the Philippines, I saw a wall poster whose message touched me deeply not only for its timeless wisdom but also for its felicitous English. Here, I thought, was something I wish I could have written myself and sent to the teachers of my daughter and two sons when they were still in grade school. What a difference it might have made on the content and quality of their teachers’ instruction!

 

The poster was entitled “Abraham Lincoln’s Letter to His Son’s Teacher” and carried the familiar photograph of the American president who led his nation during its devastating Civil War from 1861-1865. The letter that graced the poster was as follows:

  “He will have to learn, I know, 
   that all men are not just.
   But teach him also that
   for every scoundrel there is a hero;
   that for every selfish politician,
   there is a dedicated leader...
   Teach him for every enemy there is a friend.   

   “Steer him away from envy, if you can,
   teach him the secret of quiet laughter.  

   “Let him learn early that the bullies
   are the easiest to lick...
   Teach him, if you can, 
   the wonder of books...
   But also give him quiet time
   to ponder the eternal mystery
   of birds in the sky, 
   bees in the sun, 
   and the flowers on a green hillside.

   “In the school teach him
   it is far honourable to fail than to cheat...
   Teach him to have faith in his own ideas,
   even if everyone tells him they are wrong...
   Teach him to be gentle with gentle people,
   and tough with the tough.

   “Try to give my son the strength
   not to follow the crowd
   when everyone is getting on the bandwagon...
   Teach him to listen to all men...
   but teach him also to filter
   all he hears on a screen of truth,
   and take only the good
   that comes through.

   “Teach him if you can,
   how to laugh when he is sad...
   Teach him there is no shame in tears,
   Teach him to scoff at cynics
   and to beware of too much sweetness...

   Teach him to sell his brawn
   and brain to the highest bidders,
   but never to put a price-tag
   in his heart and soul.

   “Teach him to close his ear
   to a howling mob
   and to stand and fight
   if he thinks he's right.
   Treat him gently,
   but do not cuddle him,
   because only the test
   of fire makes fine steel.

   “Let him have the courage
   to be impatient...
   let him have the patience to be brave.
   Teach him always
   to have sublime faith in himself,
   because then he will have
   sublime faith in mankind.

   “This is a big order,
   but see what you can do...
   He is such a fine fellow, my son!”

Impressed as I was by the letter, I found it strange that something so well said and memorable could have escaped my attention all this time. Could it be part of some long lost Americana that surfaced only recently? It was also odd that the letter’s English sounded too contemporary for something written in the 1860s. I am not entirely a stranger to Lincoln’s prose style because many decades ago, as a high school student, I had to painstakingly memorize his famous “Gettysburg Address” for class recitation. I was therefore sure that the letter’s language patterns were significantly different from those of the address, so I decided to check the letter’s authenticity by sending e-mail to people knowledgeable about the American president and his writings.

Roger Norton, a retired American history teacher who maintains a very comprehensive web site on Lincoln, gave me this assessment: “I have been asked about this letter before, particularly from folks in India where the letter seems to have the widest circulation. There is no source for it. It is bogus. I have over 280 Abraham Lincoln books, including The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, and this letter is in none of them. It’s a thoughtful letter but it wasn’t really Lincoln who wrote it.”

James Gindlesperger, author of two American Civil War books, Fire on the Water and Escape from Libby Prison, made this appraisal: “Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it looks like this is one of those things falsely attributed to Lincoln. Most historians agree that this letter was never written by Lincoln. The style of writing is not Lincoln’s and there is no record anywhere that indicates that he could have written this. Its real author is unknown.”

Cindy VanHorn, registrar of the Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne, Indiana, gave a similar appraisal: “Thank you for verifying this before publishing it. Abraham Lincoln did NOT write or speak these words. These phrases are not 19th century phrasing and definitely not Lincoln’s language patterns.”

The letter being decidedly spurious, how come that it had been memorialized into an educational poster? How come that it ended up on display unchallenged in the library of my son’s school and perhaps in many other places around the world?

As far as I can gather, the letter’s first recorded appearance was in the web site of the National Council for Teachers Education in New Delhi, India. This was reported by Thomas E. Scwartz in a bylined article, “Lincoln Never Said That,” for the Winter 2001 issue of For the People, the newsletter of the Abraham Lincoln Association. That web site no longer carries the letter, but its appearance there must have conferred legitimacy to it in education circles, for two years later, on January 22, 2003, The Tribune of India reported that a university vice-chancellor in the Punjab region, in a circular to teachers and students, had quoted extensively from the letter to justify a controversial amendment of a language usage rule. Among the quotes he invoked in Lincoln’s name: “Teach him to have faith in his own ideas even if everyone tells him they are wrong. Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd.”

So what do we do with this untenable state of affairs?

I think we have to decisively put an end to the spurious authorship attribution. I suggest that all copies of the poster be removed from educational or public display. Its very sensible advice need not be consigned to total oblivion, however, so the publishers of the piece can perhaps reissue it simply as “An Anonymous Father’s Letter to His Son’s Teacher.” After all, its timeless words of wisdom about educating children could very well stand on their own without guile or Lincoln. (July 3 and 10, 2006)

From the weekly column “English Plain and Simple” by Jose A. Carillo in The Manila Times, July 3 and 10, 2006 issue © 2006 by Manila Times Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.