Prophecy 31508
© Melina Magdalena (2008)
Dear Mr Sam-I-Am*,
I demand an answer from you.
What is your problem with my daughter?
What is it about her that frightens and threatens you so much?
I do not know what your reading age is,
But YOU are Professor Snape to my daughter’s Hogwarts**
And if you were her employer
She would have grounds to make a serious complaint against you
For your malicious, discriminatory behaviour
and your ruthless vilification of her
She has done nothing to deserve this
And I demand that this behaviour cease immediately
You are a teacher of long experience
Surely my daughter is not so unusual
Why does she stand out as one 16-year-old girl among so many?
What is your problem with my daughter?
I cast about, seeking answers,
Conjuring up fantastic tales of bewitchment and curses
Which I shall not dignify by repeating them here
Because I want to know from the horse’s proverbial mouth
What is your problem with my daughter?
I want your cruelty against her to cease immediately.
I’ve had enough of hearing
From her classmates and from the parents of her classmates,
That you hate and mistreat her in your classroom
It is not funny to say “Good” when she tells you she is leaving early.
It is not funny to refuse her feedback on writing she is keen to improve.
It is not funny to blame her for ruining your lessons
when all that she did was to read from a variant edition of the classroom text.
If you were any kind of teacher
You would have used that opportunity
To elucidate to your audience
The differences between editions
And why it makes life easier
In the classroom
When everyone is reading from the same page
Not that everyone should read from the same page
Indeed – the texts my daughter chooses
Are a reflection of her intense curiosity, openness and inquisitive mind
She has a thirst for knowledge and a keen intelligence to match
That you are steadily draining from her, drop by drop
Do you seek to turn her into some kind of a mindless zombie?
Is that the kind of student you enjoy?
What kind of teacher are you, Mr Sam-I-Am?
And what makes you think
That I will stand by
And allow you to do this to my daughter?
What is your problem with my daughter?
I want an answer – NOW!
I want your childish, churlish behaviour to turn around.
Grow up, Mr Sam-I-Am.
When I met you at our interview you had only negative things to report
About my straight-A daughter student
You seem to be intent
On destroying not only her confidence
But her chances for the future
Where is the justice in this?
What is it about her that warrants and attracts your utter disdain and derision?
I want your answer.
Your behaviour is unjust, unethical, unprofessional, unnecessary and cruel.
I feel you teetering on the edge of some profound unknown
A chasm you will never master
If you persist in shovelling blame onto those
Whom you are causing to suffer
Have you bothered to register in your own psyche the damage you are inflicting?
I cannot imagine that you are an evil person
But your behaviour borders on evil
I tried to say to myself that my daughter
Cannot get along with everyone she meets
That perhaps this experience
Of enduring one year in your classroom
Will help her to know her own strength of character
Will help her to learn where to seek support when she needs it
Will help her to understand in her heart
That she is OK despite what some other people may think of her
But my daughter
Who is bright, studious, motivated and witty
Despite being a sixteen year old teenager of her time
Would rather sit on a bench outside in the cold
Than endure long minutes of humiliation and misery in your classroom
How DARE YOU destroy her joy in learning?
How DARE YOU limit and deride her reading ability?
How DARE YOU question her intelligence?
How DARE YOU threaten her success with her studies?
How DARE YOU put her down in front of her peers?
That is unacceptable.
I want your answer.
What is your problem with my daughter?
And I will not cease
My demand that you stop this terrible behaviour
Until you do.
Get over yourself, Mr Sam-I-Am.
Stop mistreating my daughter.
I warn you
Do not take my words as a challenge
That is not their intention.
Let me tell you something about my daughter
Her spirit is strong
Her integrity was threatened when she was only 2 days old
Since then, she has taught me to be a fighter
As she has fought on her own behalf
In addition,
Her spirit is beautiful
It does not call to be broken
To do so would be a crime
Of unspeakable and unforgivable significance
I warn you once more, Mr Sam-I-Am,
I will rise to my daughter’s defence
Like a rabid dog
Because she has taught me to be strong
And she does not deserve this treatment from you.
No one should suffer such abuse.
Lest you disregard my bark
Know that my bite is much, much worse.
*Dr Seuss (1960) Green Eggs and Ham (Random House Publishers).
** J.K.Rowling (1997) Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Bloomsbury Publishers).
