Literal-mindednesss and academia

[rainbow_goddess]

A couple of nights ago I was at a party, and one of the other people at the party was a university professor. She said that the first assignment she gave her students was to send her an e-mail. In the e-mail, they were supposed to include their name, their hometown, and their major. That's all she told them. She didn't say to include anything else

Comments

[wolf_shadow]

While I would (probably) have done all that she asked, because I usually err on the side of overly formal, I think she's also a bit of a dick about it. As others have said, I also can't see the point unless she'd A) Been teaching about how to compose appropriate emails, and/or B) Had a "teachable moment" concept in mind for the marking. Outside of that, she's just being a dick and I'd advise her students to formally complain if I was there!

[glasshouses]

Sounds like plain old passive-aggressive behavior to me. There are social assumptions and there's mind reading, and a professor (or a sister) should know the difference.

[ertla]

Both of your professor's magic formulae are, I was taught, appropriate for a business letter - on paper. They aren't used _for email_ among software engineers in Silicon Valley.

Perhaps your professor fails to "just know" what is appropriate in a professional email.

I use email routinely as part of my job. In that context - and pretty much any other - no one ever says "Dear ". Most common is probably "Hi " or "". No one ever signs of with "Sincerely, ". The most common signoff is just "--"; next most common is possibly "Hope this helps, That said, there are books explaining this kind of ritual formatting. At least, there were for written letters, back when I was learning these rules, and I presume they (or web pages)? also exist for academic emails. They will tend to produce a degree of formality you may or may not in fact desire - but they are a good start. And people who are (in their minds at least) underpaid/undervalued (such as professors) generally feel flattered when addressed formally, and will be more forgiving of

[christhawk]

First, I have to agree with ertla. I was in high school in the late 90s when email etiquette was getting sorted out, and then college in the early 2000s. I was explicitly taught never to use business letter language in an email; if it needed to be that formal, you should attach an actual document of a proper business letter. I have never had any professor or employer ask for that before. "Dear ___ " is an acceptable salutation, but I have never seen "Sincerely" in an email, at least not since high school.

Second, I just HATE when people expect you to "just know" things. My mom is like that. She'll ask you to do something, and regardless of whether you protest that you don't know how, she'll just leave you to do it. Sometimes it can be figured out, sometimes not, but it's always something that should be "common knowledge." Even among neurotypicals, common knowledge is not always that common, even when they do understand the contextual clues.

[xxgross]

That was wrong on her part. Seriously, what a bad instructor. Is she angry at the world so she marks down students to make herself feel better? It would be a sure sign I should drop the class before any other "mistakes" happen.