what happened to the creative titles everyone?

Dear Daniel Borzutzky,

First off, thank you for your time and your inspiring words. It was a real pleasure and I'm very grateful to hear from such an interesting person.

In our question and answer session I stumbled over words about formal education and informal education. You righted the words and created the question along with the answer: "How does one balance informal education with formal education?" You continued by giving an example of requirements that you expect in your assignments. Like most professors you require the fundamentals of a good paper, however you also want the "wow factor." This "wow factor" could be anything that makes the paper stand out or interesting.

I feel the need to preface my original question. I hated my education in high school. There wasn't a single class that I actually enjoyed. Teachers did not seem to care about the student's opinions and they all had some kind of proverbial stick up their ass. It is because of this that I am very tentative towards teachers.

To combat my complete detest for the educational system that I grew up in, I read books. I read lots of books. I read lots of books by irascible old men who drank too much and died too soon. It was in these books that I found an education and within these men I found my teachers.

I have very little faith in formal education. The exception so far has been in college. There are a couple classes that I feel like I am actually learning and there are some that feel just like high school. Facts are one thing, but real knowledge comes from inquiry and self discovery.

I guess the reason why I asked my question was because I wanted to see if I could relate to you. With your poem, you reminded me of the teachers in my books. I wanted to see what kind of teacher you are. Admittedly a single question won't answer that but it could give me some insight on your position.

That's all I was trying to learn and I'm sorry if this comes across in bad taste. That was not the intent.

It was very nice meeting you and hearing your stories. I thank you for your author suggestions as well.

With sincerest gratitude,
Stephen