Letters to the Editor: A reader remembers the advice she got from influential L.A. teacher Robert Docter
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To the editor: Robert Docter was my third-grade teacher at Vanalden Elementary School in May 1957 (“Robert Docter, L.A. schools leader who opposed spanking, fought for integration, dies at 97,” Dec. 5).
A favorite unit he taught us was all about the post office. Docter had us build and decorate our own personal mailboxes, which we subsequently set around the classroom. During the week, we practiced the fundamentals of writing a good letter under his watchful eye. It was fun to deliver our missives to our classmates at the end of the week and take theirs home for the weekend.
The one rule Docter emphasized was, “Never write anything in your letter that you wouldn’t want to see printed on the front page of the Los Angeles Times!”
Excellent advice. I have passed it on to all the elementary school students I taught in my 32 years of teaching locally and in two overseas schools. Oh yes, and my children and grandchildren heard that same advice many times.
Patricia Carrelli, Westlake Village
