An Unexpected Response

Tabitha Orr wrote:

Mr. Abraham, I want to thank you for your interest in our community. Unfortunately, I have decided that until your intentions become more clear I would like to ask that you no longer attend our meetings or our events. I gave this a lot of thought and although I understand you wish to tutor I need you to be specific in what you want to tutor in and I need at least three references of past tutoring experience before I can add you to our tutor list. Please understand that while you might have the best of intentions I have to protect the families that depend on my network.

I replied:

Ms. Orr,

My intentions are clear: I wanted to learn more about the Home School movement in New Mexico. I believe that ignorance ought not to be encouraged in a democracy, indeed it needs to be very seriously discouraged. To the extent that the movement encourages ignorance, it could expect active hostility from me; to the extent that it truly supported education for its young charges, it could count on me to be more than a supporter.

Attached is a flyer that I prepared.

You need to "protect" the families, do you? From what? From a perspective that isn't paranoid? I was going to look into the matter of the city's bias against Home Schooling but I guess you won't need me to perform that service.

David Abraham

An Aristotle for your Alexander / Alexandra

Aristotle, 384 – 322 BCE, without question the most learned man of his time and place, the Golden Age of Greece, and arguably the most learned man of any time and place, was the tutor of Alexander the Great’s youth. While we think of Alexander as “merely” a conqueror, he spread learning, literacy, libraries and Hellenic rationalism wherever he “came, saw and conquered” (spoken by C Julius Caesar, a big fan of Alexander).

While I, of course, do not claim to be an Aristotle reborn, if you are the parent of a would-be Alexander the Great, or Alexandra the Magnificent, I am your man. That is, if you believe that your child is capable of big things but is not living up to his or her potential, you should call me. No matter what I tutor, my aim is to make your child confident and proficient in whatever academic skill we are involved. My aim is also to make your child independent of the need for further help, and for you to refer me enthusiastically to other parents. Every academic discipline has its own “way of thinking.” That is what I teach.

I specialize in:

• Mathematics: 800 Math SAT, 820 Math GRE
• English (reading & composition): MA, English Literature, UCSB, 1976
• Computers: PC Consultant, 20+ years
• Astronomy: “Explainer”, Rose Center for Earth & Space (New York City)
• History: Mentor, GED High School (Math, History, English, Science)

David Abraham 505-715-6663 (leave a msg) DavidinABQ@gmail.com