Long before we master grammar or spelling, we learn whether our voice matters. Recalling a kindergarten teacher who withheld her red pen so a young writer’s spirit could flourish, this reflective piece celebrates the power of encouragement over critique—reminding us that true beauty lies in the courage to express what we mean, even when life itself is far from perfectly spelled out.
Do you remember the name of your kindergarten teacher? I do, mine. Her name was Mrs. White. And I remember thinking she must be some older relation of Walt Disney’s Snow White, because she had the same bright blue eyes, short dark hair, red lips and fair skin.
“I don’t remember much about what we learned in her class, but my mother once told me that we used to write a lot. And I would bring back what I wrote and she would look at it and see there were so many mistakes. But no red corrections. And always a star. Sometimes even a Good! scrawled in that would make my heart soar with happiness. But it worried my mother, so one day when she went in to meet Mrs. White for one of those Parent-Teacher meetings, and asked her why she never corrected my mistakes. Why she never red-pencilled in the right spellings of words or pointed out grammatical errors.
And my mother says Mrs. White said – The children are just beginning to get excited about using words, about forming sentences. I don’t want to dampen that enthusiasm with red ink. Spelling and grammar can wait. The wonder of words won’t…. And maybe she didn’t say it exactly like that. It was a long time ago. And what my mother gave me was the gist of what she could remember. The rest I added in. Because I grew up learning to use words with loving confidence like that.
And it occurs to me that if Mrs. White had used her red pen more precisely I probably wouldn’t be telling you about this now. Which is kind of obvious but also kind of not. I look back now and think she must have been a rather extraordinary teacher – to exercise such red-pen restraint. To allow the joy, wonder and excitement of expression flower – however faultily – like that. Because to bloom is better than not to bloom. And a bud once nipped never opens. May we all be so kind….
I used to misspell beautiful a lot. Never could quite remember that the e went before the a. It exasperated my teacher in high school no end. If I was going to employ the word with such lavishness, she figured the least I could do was spell it right. Eventually the e’s and a’s settled into their right places of their own accord. Am glad I didn’t wait on them though. Pretty is easier to spell but it doesn’t hold as much as you mean sometimes.
And thanks to Mrs. White, I had no qualms about writing what I meant even if couldn’t quite spell it out. Because Life isn’t Pretty. It’s Baeutiful.”
— by singlestep, posted Oct 29, 2008
https://www.kindspring.org/story/
Image above: A vintage 1957 U.S. 3-cent “Honouring the Teachers of America” postage stamp, issued on July 1, 1957, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the National Education Association (NEA). Image courtesy: Linns Stamp News Cartoon Contest Sept. 2022.
Postage stamps honouring women teachers of China, which celebrates Sept. 10 as Teachers Day. Image courtesy: https://www.youlinmagazine.com/
Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888-1975) was the first Vice President of India as well as the second President of India. He was a famous teacher and his birthday, Sept. 5, is celebrated as Teachers’ Day in India.
A postage stamp of Thailand commemorating the International Education Year (1970). Thailand celebrates Teachers’ Day every year on Jan. 16. Image courtesy: https://stampaday.wordpress.com/