President Obama scrawled a handwritten note to a professor in response to a remark he made about art history majors last month.

After hearing his jab in January, University of Texas at Austin Professor Ann Collins Johns emailed the president through the White House website with a note about the values of an art history degree, including how to think, read and write critically, according to the blog Hyperallergic.

Johns' reaction to the president's remarks echoed many others after his speech at a General Electric manufacturing plant in Waukesha, Wis.

“I promise you that folks can make a lot more potentially with skilled manufacturing or the trades than they might with an art history degree,” Obama said. “Now, there’s 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 training that you need,” he added.

President Obama wrote to Professor Johns:

Ann —

Let me apologize for my off-the-cuff remarks. I was making a point about the jobs market, not the value of art history. As it so happens, art history was one of my favorite subjects in high school, and it has helped me take in a great deal of joy in my life that I might otherwise have missed.

So please pass on my apology for the glib remark to the entire department, and understand that I was trying to encourage young people who may not be predisposed to a four year college experience to be open to technical training that can lead them to an honorable career.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama