Fellow academics,

I need urgent help from you. Remember the worst student you ever had. Then one who made you think, “God, please, not again” whenever you saw his name on the course roll. The one who was completely hopeless in every single class she took with you. Whose dog ate his homework so often that you started suspecting he lived in a kennel. Who, time and again, disturbed your teaching by snoring (seriously, I’m not exaggerating) in the middle of your lecture. Who was so bad that you and your colleagues expressed your condolences to each other whenever she took a course with one of you. The one whose knowledge seemed to diminish with every course he attended. The one who did not participate a single time in any of the class discussions.

Can you see this student in your mind’s eye?

Now imagine that this student asks you for a letter of recommendation to graduate school. What would you respond? If you could give me the actual words you’d use, I’d be very very grateful.

P.S. Imagine also that this student is the nicest person in the world and you really don’t want to hurt their feelings.

On the one hand, people with low self-esteem have a very poor opinion of themselves. But on the other hand, they believe that the entire world is permanently concentrated on them, observing their every move, trying to catch them in some gaffe.

I find it impossible to comprehend how they can simultaneously hold the belief that they are worthless pieces of rubbish and that the rest of the universe has nothing better to do than obsess about them all day long.

“The Muslim people in Spain built beautiful synagogues. Everywhere else they build mosques but in Spain they built synagogues because of how tolerant they were.”

” Unlike in Latin America, in the US there is no racism.”

“While the US did eliminate most of the indigenous populations, that wasn’t such a big deal.”

“Lope de Vega’s poetry shows a lot of self-hatred. I’d hate myself too if I belonged to a culture that was destroying the indigenous civilizations in the New World!”

“It is not surprising that the US supported Franco’s dictatorship in Spain. It isn’t the first dumb thing we did internationally nor the last. You’ve got to be real smart first to arm the Taliban and then to fight against it in Afghanistan!”

“As early as 1891 Jose Marti warned that the United States might invade Cuba. He was right because the US had been invading other countries for centuries.”

“Unlike Latin American identities, the US identity was formed with no European influence.”

“Everything bad in the world happens because of religion. “