Dear Mark,

As an immigrant, the first year in elementary school (6th grade) they took me & all the other immigrant kids & we spent hours learning English & forgetting everything else. I never learned inches & pounds, but forgot the metric system, but I can sure write in the past present future participle without a single dangling modifier! So I can relate.

• Also, if I had a million dollars for every time I started a reply with “As an immigrant…” I’d have a bunch of millions of dollars. At least three. Did I mention I forgot all math? No matter. Let’s lift a glass of milk to the teachers who used to say, “No, you can’t use a calculator on this test. It’s not like you’re going to walk around with a calculator in your pocket later on in life.” Thank you, cell phones!