You Are A Tyrant.
Dear Performing Arts Teacher,
What you did to my son is just plain mean. You are supposed to be teaching him, helping him to grow, giving him a love of performing arts – and all you did was squash his interest in something he adored when he started the year with you.
You are a tyrant. You demand things from children and young adults that are totally unrealistic. You demand hour upon hour of rehearsal for even the smallest scene. Perhaps this was the way you were taught – and indeed, we all know that rehearsals have a solid and important purpose to improve performances. But your methods for teaching such an important rule are ancient and cruel.
My son has ADHD. He can’t sit and focus the way you want him to. He can’t bow down to your screams for silence and stillness while the same scene unfolds over and over and over again. He was incredibly bored in your classroom, and learned more on his own at lunchtime than he did from you. He has immeasurable talent and he will not learn from being forced to sit still.
You have no understanding of ADHD. So you had the audacity to team up my son with two other students with ADHD – and then to demean and demote them all when they couldn’t perform independently and by your rules. You had no patience, no tolerance, and certainly no caring. And no one on earth should teach without those three invaluable qualities.
You shouldn’t be teaching at all. Luckily, your class only meets twice a week and you teach at a school so small, you really don’t count for much in this world. You are old enough to retire, though, and you should – or go elsewhere, where they are seeking someone to militarize rehearsals and demand greatness from all performers. Perhaps you should try Broadway. I hear they are looking for you. Meanwhile, now that I have written this – even though I have no intention of sending it – I will rest easier, knowing I have said my piece.
Mom