AUTHOR LETTER

From: Oliver Kim
Date: September 26, 2010 5:17:44 AM EDT
To: fitzhugh@tcr.org
Subject: Thank you from Singapore


Dear Mr. Fitzhugh,

Thank you for publishing my essay on the Maginot Line in this year’s fall issue of The Concord Review. Receiving your letter was at once joyous and humbling.

From the rise of the standardized test as a measure of academic success, to the subordination and disappearance of the long-form essay in the high school curriculum, the humanities appear to be losing ground in education. In light of the numerous competitions and accolades available to students of math and the hard sciences, options for students of the humanities, especially history, are comparatively few. The Concord Review stands alone as an exemplar for quality writing by lovers of history.

Thanks to your hard work, my school has all freshman students write a long-form historical essay based on the model of the essays that appear in The Concord Review. All students of AP European History are required to do the same, and, even in those classes that do not require long-form essays, The Concord Review is employed as a standard of quality and academic rigor. Though I cannot speak for my whole school, I can say that, anecdotally, this project has sparked historical curiosity and illuminated unexplored talents in my classmates.

Again, thank you for publishing my essay. I hope that the Review will find a solution to its financial woes and continue inspiring future generations of historians.


Warm regards,

Oliver Kim
Singapore American School
[Class of 2011]

AUTHOR LETTER

Mr. William Fitzhugh, Founder
The Concord Review
730 Boston Post Road, Suite 24
Sudbury, Massachusetts 01776


May 17, 2006


Dear Mr. Fitzhugh,


Thank you so much for publishing my essay on the Irish Ladies’ Land League in the Spring 2006 issue of The Concord Review. I am honored that my writing was chosen to appear alongside such thoughtful work in your journal.

When a former history teacher first lent me a copy of The Concord Review, I was inspired by the careful scholarship crafted by other young people. Although I have always loved history passionately, I was used to writing history papers that were essentially glorified book reports. A week before a paper was due, I would visit the local university library, check out all available books on my assigned topic and write as articulate a summary as possible. Such assignments are a useful strategy for learning to build a coherent argument, but they do not teach students to appreciate the subtleties and difficulties of writing good history. Consequently, few students really understand how history is constructed.

As I began to research the Ladies’ Land League, I looked to The Concord Review for guidance on how to approach my task. At first, I did check out every relevant book from the library, running up some impressive fines in the process, but I learned to skim bibliographies and academic databases to find more interesting texts. I read about women’s history, agrarian activism and Irish nationalism, considering the ideas of feminist and radical historians alongside contemporary accounts.

Gradually, I came to understand the central difficulty of writing history: how do you resurrect, in words, events that took place in a different place and time? More importantly, how do you resurrect the past only using the words of someone else? In the words of Carl Becker, “History in this sense is story, in aim always a true story; a story that employs all the devices of literary art (statement and generalization, narration and description, comparison and comment and analogy) to present the succession of events in the life of man, and from the succession of events thus presented to derive a satisfactory meaning.”

Flipping through my note cards, the ideas began to fit themselves together in my mind. I was not certain, but there was an excitement in being forced to think rigorously; in wrestling with difficult problems I knew I could not entirely solve. Writing about the Ladies’ Land League, I finally understood and appreciated the beautiful complexity of history.

In short, I would like to thank you not only for publishing my essay, but for motivating me to develop a deeper understanding of history. I hope that The Concord Review will continue to fascinate, challenge and inspire young historians for years to come.


Sincerely,
Emma Curran Donnelly Hulse
Class of 2009, Columbia University
North Central High School, Indianapolis, Indiana 2005

HARVARD COLLEGE
Office of Admissions and Financial Aid

September 15, 2010

Mr. Will Fitzhugh
The Concord Review
730 Boston Post Road, Suite 24
Sudbury, Massachusetts 01776 USA

Dear Will,

We agree with your argument that high school students who have read a complete nonfiction book or two, and written a serious research paper or two, will be better prepared for college academic work than those who have not.

The Concord Review, founded in 1987, remains the only journal in the world for the academic papers of secondary students, and we in the Admissions Office here are always glad to see reprints of papers which students have had published in the Review and which they send to us as part of their application materials. Over the years, more than 10% (103) of these authors have come to college at Harvard.

Since 1998, when it started, we have been supporters of your National Writing Board, which is still unique in supplying independent three-page assessments of the research papers of secondary students. The NWB reports also provide a useful addition to the college application materials of high school students who are seeking admission to selective colleges.

For all our undergraduates, even those in the sciences, such competence, both in reading nonfiction books and in the writing of serious research papers, is essential for academic success. Some of our high schools now place too little emphasis on this, but The Concord Review and the National Writing Board are doing a national service in encouraging our secondary students, and their teachers, to spend more time and effort on developing these abilities.

Sincerely,

William R. Fitzsimmons
Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid
WRF:oap

Administrative Office: 86 Brattle Street • Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

ST. MAUR INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

From: Glenn Scoggins
Date: September 5, 2010 7:44:12 PM EDT
To: Will Fitzhugh
Cc: College , Timothy Matsumoto
Subject: RE: Singapore Emerson

Dear Will,

Thank you for sharing this letter with me. I enjoyed [Ms.] Wei Li’s paper immensely and learned a lot from it that I had never known, even though I have been teaching about this time period in medieval Spain as part of the middle year in the three-year World History course at Saint Maur (Grades 8 through 10) which I oversee. I will be able to use this information in class to make more sense of the era and its impact on modern Spain and relations between Islam and the West.

Kaya Nagayo [Ainu Trade, 1650-1720, Spring 2010 issue] graduated with honors from Saint Maur in June and is entering her first year at Waseda University in Tokyo, where she will major in History with a concentration on Russia and other Slavic countries of central and eastern Europe, as well as Russian relations with Japan. She has been interested in this area for several years, and wrote about 2000 words of her Extended Essay (on trade relations between the Ainu and the Wajin of Tokugawa Japan) on Ainu trade with Russians and other people of Siberia, Sakhalin, the Kurile islands, and the Kamchatka peninsula—all of which had to be cut out to make the IB 4000-word limit. This was a valuable experience for her in editing her own work and sharpening her focus.

I continue to support and congratulate you and The Concord Review for your valuable work in maintaining and raising standards and expectations for young scholars around the world. It has a ripple effect—when Kaya’s paper was published, every student at Saint Maur realized that the hard work they put into their research and writing in History, English, the Sciences, and other subjects can be recognized by a worldwide audience. I hope there is another budding student in a lower grade whose work will be worthy of publication as well.

Thank you again for keeping me abreast of the impressive work of which our students are capable!

Sincerely,
Glenn Scoggins
College Admissions Counselor
Social Studies Department Head
Saint Maur International School
Yokohama, Japan

SIINGAPORE AMERICAN SCHOOL

From: Wei Li
Date: September 4, 2010 5:06:38 AM EDT
To: fitzhugh@tcr.org
Subject: Thank you from a very grateful student

Dear Mr. Fitzhugh,

I am writing to thank you for publishing my paper (“Convivencia in Medieval Spain”) in the Fall 2009 issue of The Concord Review and for also choosing me as one of the Ralph Waldo Emerson laureates for this year. It is a huge honor and one that although I’d dreamed about, never quite expected to be realized.

Getting my paper published and then winning the Emerson prize have been two of the greatest highlights of my high school career. When my teacher, Mr. Bisset, recommended me, a sophomore in his AP European History class, to submit for publication the research paper that I wrote in his class, I did so without ever expecting a response. The news I received a few months later shattered all my expectations. Mr. Bisset was quite right in pulling out a chair for me before breaking the news! (In retrospect, I wished he’d done that again this year when he told me about the Emerson Prize!)

In writing my paper, I have learned so much more about myself—my interests, capabilities, and passions. I have enjoyed every minute of the months I spent researching. Reading articles and books on topics ranging from Hebrew poetry in the 11th century, to Islamic architecture, expanded my knowledge, horizons, and tastes and allowed me to discover that I was genuinely interested in all of these eclectic topics. And the long process of drafting, editing, and revising allowed me to discover that I was truly capable of producing an extended piece of work—something that I had never tried before—of high quality.

My experiences with The Concord Review inspired me to continue writing history academic papers. Last year, I wrote another serious research paper on China’s One Child Policy for a different history teacher and am looking forward to writing another one of equal caliber for AP Art History this year. Most importantly, working on my Convivencia paper made me realize that my interest in history was a true passion—something I want to pursue for the rest of my life.

The Concord Review, by honoring me with publication and then with the Emerson Prize, has made me confident in my own abilities. With it, I was able to persuade my parents, and now I am planning to follow the passion that it inspired in me by majoring in History in college.

I cannot thank you enough for your efforts over the past 20 years in providing students like me with the opportunity to explore writing a scholarly history paper. The Concord Review has provided examples of quality writing and excellent history topics as well as asking students to rise to those high standards you have set. Thank you for allowing me to find my passion in life and for believing that all high school students can rise to the challenge you have set for us.

Best regards,

Wei Li
Singapore American School
Class of 2011

HARVARD COLLEGE
Office of Admissions and Financial Aid

September 2, 2010

Mr. Will Fitzhugh
The Concord Review
730 Boston Post Road, Suite 24
Sudbury, MA 01776

Dear Will,

I very much enjoy receiving your emails. You continue to stand for the highest ideals in education.

If there is an easy way for you to send us the names and addresses of the winners of your various awards, we would be happy to send them a “search letter” assuming we have not already contacted them. Such an accomplishment is a clear indication of their love of learning and the real possibility that they would be competitive applicants at Harvard.

Take care and I hope everything continues to go well for you.

Best personal regards,

Sincerely,
Bill
William R. Fitzsimmons
Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid

WRF:cap


Administrative Office: 86 Brattle Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138