I was appalled by the letter by the anonymous senior in the Sept. 9 issue of The Lowell [“Senior questions counselor vacation schedule”]. The student’s expectation that faculty members should be available at all times, including during a one-week vacation, is unrealistic and a bit degrading — we do have lives apart from our work; we are not your beasts of burden.

The student’s assertion that a counselor’s one-week absence could leave students “at an unfavorable position in the eyes of [their] desired colleges” is, frankly, laughable. Generally, I have observed during my 14 years of experience at Lowell that last-minute “urgent matters” during the college admissions process result from students’ procrastination. I understand that such procrastination often speaks to the anxiety the admissions process creates rather than to work habits. But a student who cannot pull things together in a reasonable manner, given a warning at the beginning of school, will struggle with many of the tasks and deadlines that adult life will soon present.

When I later discovered the actual details of this vacation, I was beyond appalled. This counselor’s one-week vacation is the third week of October, five weeks before UC apps are due and at least two months before regular private admissions apps are due. Furthermore, the counselor informed students at the end of last year! Clearly, if this entitled student is in an “unfavorable position,” it is a position that he has created for himself.

— Jennifer Moffitt, English teacher

This letter originally appeared in the Oct. 7, 2011 print edition of The Lowell.