Albert Camus won the Nobel Prize in 1957. Days later, he thanked his childhood teacher.
19 November 1957
Dear Monsieur Germain,
I let the commotion around me these days subside a bit before speaking to you from the bottom of my heart. I have just been given far too great an honor, one I neither sought nor solicited. But when I heard the news, my first thought, after my mother, was of you. Without you, without the affectionate hand you extended to the small poor child that I was, without your teaching and example, none of all this would have happened. I don’t make too much of this sort of honor. But at least it gives me the opportunity to tell you what you have been and still are for me, and to assure you that your efforts, your work, and the generous heart you put into it still live in one of your little schoolboys who, despite the years, has never stopped being your grateful pupil. I embrace you with all my heart.
Albert Camus
(Thanks to Bertis Downs for finding this lovely gem.)
Diane Ravitch's blog 
John, This (short) letter from Camus to his teacher is so touching. Just wanted to share it with you.
Sent from Christie’s iPhone.
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Sorry. Thought I forwarded this to someone else and hit send before I realized my mistake. 😖 But since I’m writing, I’ll just let you know that I enjoy your blogs very much, as well as your books. I’m a retired teacher from the Detroit Public School system. (I should write a book…but I’m too tired!) Your insights and those of others that you post are inspiring and help me to remember the good parts of my career, despite being disrespected and pushed out at the end by the system. Thanks!
Sent from Christie’s iPhone.
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A teacher like the one that Albert Camus thanked? A teacher like Rafe Esquith [see recent postings on this blog]?
One of those very dead and very old and very Greek guys knew the type:
“The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.”
Plutarch.
😎
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Extremely moving.
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As the father of the absurdist movement in modern French literature, Camus would probably find the insanity of the privatization movement very entertaining. Despite his interest in the randomness of life, he always work to highlight the problems of outsiders and marginalized people. He was a member of the Resistance during World War II fighting against the absurd regime of the Nazis. After the war he became a vocal supporter of social justice. His family and his former teachers would have been very proud of him. As an undergraduate French major, I had the pleasure of reading three of his novels.
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Camus in this simple letter embodies what we are so lacking in the neoliberalism world we live in. In a moment of honor for great achievement, a moment when far more of us would have let our egos rule, he thanked the thankless. The man who extended a hand to a poor child when no one else did. This teacher embodies what is not written into Common Core, what cannot be written into a test, and what our educational policies fail to honor. The small roots of goodness that teachers instill in their students. This is what makes teachers come back to the classroom each day. It is not the paycheck. It is not the stacks of papers to grade. Nor is it the blame that is bestowed upon them for the ills of society. What Camus remembered and so many of our students remember is the affection, generosity, and the character that teachers provide.
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Beautifully stated, Sonya. No matter how the media and the ‘deformers” falsely characterize teachers and the teaching profession, the truth about the good teachers do will live on in the hearts and minds of their students.
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Reblogged this on Creative Delaware and commented:
Teachers have an awesome job. What teacher changed you life?
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