forgot one...
This can't go unsaid...
Dear Friend's Old English Teacher,
I feel it would be unfair to blame you, and you alone, for her complete and utter lack of understanding of the English language. I'm sure she had other teachers who failed to teach her as much as you did. I give you some of the blame, but not all.
But, ma'am, when my friend meets you again and tells you that she's having trouble with college-level English, the best advice you could give her is not "focus on your creativity." I am trying to help her. I do not appreciate trying to give her the grammar and punctuation help that she badly needs, only to have her tell me that a figure of expertise and authority has told her to "focus on her creativity." I will tell you straight: She could be creative enough to construct a whole alternate dimension, complete with alien races, strange beasts, and a wildly complex political system, and it still wouldn't be enough to make up for her bad punctuation and sentence structure. If this is the kind of advice you were giving her in high school, then I understand how she got through it without learning what she had to learn.
Really, it's hard enough trying to help her. My own understanding of grammar rules is not perfect, and I acknowledge that. That makes it no easier to teach her. If you're going to take up tutoring her yourself, please do it right. I would really like to see her get past this.
Very Sincerely,
Trying Hard to Help