hjmick
04-08-2014, 09:31 PM
This is a fantastic story about a dedicated teacher, even after his "retirement.'
For nearly 40 years, Bruce Farrer has been part teacher and part detective, tracking down thousands of his former students to give them a blast from their pasts.
From 1977 until 2002, Farrer, who is now retired, had his 14-year-old English students write 10-page letters to their future selves.
The 72-year-old from Saskatchewan, Canada then hung on to the letters, so that students wouldn't lose them or succumb to temptation and open them before 20 years had passed, and mailed them back after two decades.
"This is an assignment that they are anxious to get back,'' Farrer told TODAY.com. "It's an assignment that makes them think at 14, what do I want to do and am I on the right path? I think the main thing is just the enjoyment of finding something old. Most of them have remembered writing the assignment, although a number of them told me they didn't remember the details they put in."
He first tried the assignment in 1961 while teaching at a one-room rural school for children grades one through eight. In 1977, he began assigning it every year while teaching at a high school in another rural area...
Farrer does his best to find every student in order to make sure they get their letter, using Facebook and other means to track them down.
And many former students have come to eagerly expect their letters once they hit the 20-year mark. Former student Kate Marchildon has two older sisters who received theirs in recent years and hers will be coming shortly...
Farrer's last year teaching full time was the 2001-02 school year, but he still substitutes at various schools near his home. He said his last letters are due to be mailed in 2026, as he carried out the assignment for a few years after his retirement while substitute teaching.
"A lot of times my students' first reaction was, 'What if you're dead in 20 years?''' Farrer said. "Hopefully my wife would look after them."
Farrer has also discovered several students who died in the 20-year span before he mailed the letter.
"Sometimes I've contacted parents and said I had the letter, and it becomes a little part of that person that they've lost that they're able to keep,'' Farrer said. "Recently I was very disappointed after finding out a student died last year because I thought, if I had only sent that letter a year earlier..."
http://www.today.com/news/blast-past-teacher-mails-letters-students-wrote-themselves-20-years-2D79496258
I can't say that I ever had a teacher that creative or dedicated. Cheers to Mr. Farrer!
For nearly 40 years, Bruce Farrer has been part teacher and part detective, tracking down thousands of his former students to give them a blast from their pasts.
From 1977 until 2002, Farrer, who is now retired, had his 14-year-old English students write 10-page letters to their future selves.
The 72-year-old from Saskatchewan, Canada then hung on to the letters, so that students wouldn't lose them or succumb to temptation and open them before 20 years had passed, and mailed them back after two decades.
"This is an assignment that they are anxious to get back,'' Farrer told TODAY.com. "It's an assignment that makes them think at 14, what do I want to do and am I on the right path? I think the main thing is just the enjoyment of finding something old. Most of them have remembered writing the assignment, although a number of them told me they didn't remember the details they put in."
He first tried the assignment in 1961 while teaching at a one-room rural school for children grades one through eight. In 1977, he began assigning it every year while teaching at a high school in another rural area...
Farrer does his best to find every student in order to make sure they get their letter, using Facebook and other means to track them down.
And many former students have come to eagerly expect their letters once they hit the 20-year mark. Former student Kate Marchildon has two older sisters who received theirs in recent years and hers will be coming shortly...
Farrer's last year teaching full time was the 2001-02 school year, but he still substitutes at various schools near his home. He said his last letters are due to be mailed in 2026, as he carried out the assignment for a few years after his retirement while substitute teaching.
"A lot of times my students' first reaction was, 'What if you're dead in 20 years?''' Farrer said. "Hopefully my wife would look after them."
Farrer has also discovered several students who died in the 20-year span before he mailed the letter.
"Sometimes I've contacted parents and said I had the letter, and it becomes a little part of that person that they've lost that they're able to keep,'' Farrer said. "Recently I was very disappointed after finding out a student died last year because I thought, if I had only sent that letter a year earlier..."
http://www.today.com/news/blast-past-teacher-mails-letters-students-wrote-themselves-20-years-2D79496258
I can't say that I ever had a teacher that creative or dedicated. Cheers to Mr. Farrer!