Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At their FCPS high school, my kids gave a thank you note with a $10 gift certificate to each teacher who wrote an LOR (2 for 1 kid and 3 for the other).

MCPS gift limit is $20 per gift, or total of $100 per year.

Mine is MCPS. We did $25 GCs. Figured that was close enough! Love our teachers who are never paid enough!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC wrote a thank you note and gave merch from the college they are attending.

Why do you think someone would want that? Do adults typically go around wearing or using items emblazoned with a school’s name/emblem that they have no connection to?

The teacher is a sports fan and likes the school so it worked out. DC didn't give merch to the GC because as you so rudely pointed out, they might not like it. DC has enough common sense to also include the gift receipt if the teacher wants to return.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A nice letter goes a lot longer, recounting details of how nice it was to be taught by the teacher.

I’m not sure I understand your point. Are you suggesting those are the letters worth money?

ALL letters are long, recounting specific details. That’s the norm. We don’t write a generic paragraph and send it in.

These letters take a lot of our personal time, meeting with the students and then crafting personal letters.

And we still don’t expect to get paid for them. That’s just gross.

NP - you are confused. I think she meant a nice thank you note from kid to letter of rec writing teacher is very much appreciated.

Anonymous wrote:A nice letter goes a lot longer, recounting details of how nice it was to be taught by the teacher.

I’m not sure I understand your point. Are you suggesting those are the letters worth money?

ALL letters are long, recounting specific details. That’s the norm. We don’t write a generic paragraph and send it in.

These letters take a lot of our personal time, meeting with the students and then crafting personal letters.

And we still don’t expect to get paid for them. That’s just gross.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gift card is expected at our private….

Gross.

If there's a culture of giving gift cards at the end of the school year for certain/fav teachers, I think this is probably just the same. That's how its viewed at least at our school.

For my recommenders, after acceptances came out, I did a nice note along with something small from the college I ended up going to. My English teacher was always using sticky notes to mark up books, so I think I got her a set of sticky notes and pens.

Anonymous wrote:Gift card is expected at our private….

Gross.

RVA. Large public. No GCs but a more detailed thank you note with a token (and would’ve given anyway) Christmas gift senior year. But DC1 also took the time during their freshman year at college to write back, with a photo, again thanking them not only for the LOR but the lessons they learned in that teacher’s class (which wasn’t always all about academics/the “subject”).

DC2 attends the same school and says both teachers have that photo displayed in their classroom.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does nobody think this is crazy unethical??

I do. A card is appropriate and appreciated. Money feels wrong.
- teacher who posted above

I’m actually surprised schools don’t have a policy against it. Also, how is it not part of the job when it’s such an integrated part of the college application process? Our private school carves out specific teacher workdays for them, which I think makes sense.

That's lovely, but not the norm. Most of us do them at night and on weekends.

A nice letter goes a lot longer, recounting details of how nice it was to be taught by the teacher.