President Obama issued a hand-written note of apology to an art history professor after making an "off-the-cuff（即席的）" remark about the employment prospects¹ of students who choose to pursue a career in art history.

 

The professor, Ann Collins Johns of the University of Texas-Austin, told arts website Hyperallergic that she was inspired to write to President Obama after the he made a remark at a General Electric factory in Wisconsin last month, saying Americans could make "a lot more, potentially, with skilled manufacturing or the trades than they might with an art history degree."

 

Johns, who describes herself as a fan of the president, wrote a note to Obama focusing on all the positives of an art history degree. She told Hyperallergic that while she didn't save a copy of her original email, "I'm pretty sure that my email was not so much one of outrage²（愤怒） at his statement, but rather a "look at what we do well" statement. I emphasized that we challenge students to think, read, and write critically."

 

Obama sent Johns a scanned³ handwritten note after receiving her email. The note reads:

 

 

Obama seemed to know he might get some complaints after making the comment. At the factory, he said, "Now, nothing wrong with an art history degree -- I love art history. So I don't want to get a bunch of emails from everybody. I'm just saying you can make a really good living and have a great career without getting a four-year college education as long as you get the skills and the training that you need."

 

Johns told the New York Times that she's happy with the apology but she's still waiting for the actual letter to arrive in her mailbox. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't anxiously checking my snail⁵ mail every day," she told the Times.

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