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'U Can't Talk to Ur Professor Like This' (nytimes.com)
Millennial college students have become far too casual when they talk with their professors, reads an opinion piece on The New York Times. Addressing professors by their first names and sending misspelled, informal emails with text abbreviations have become common practices (Editor's note: the link could be paywalled; here's a syndicated source) among many students than educators would like, Molly Worthen, an assistant professor of history at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill adds. From the article: Over the past decade or two, college students have become far more casual in their interactions with faculty members. My colleagues around the country grumble about students' sloppy emails and blithe informality. "When students started calling me by my first name, I felt that was too far, and I've got to say something," Mark Tomforde, a math professor at the University of Houston said. Sociologists who surveyed undergraduate syllabuses from 2004 and 2010 found that in 2004, 14 percent addressed issues related to classroom etiquette; six years later, that number had more than doubled, to 33 percent. This phenomenon crosses socio-economic lines. My colleagues at Stanford gripe as much as the ones who teach at state schools, and students from more privileged backgrounds are often the worst offenders. [...] Insisting on traditional etiquette is also simply good pedagogy. It's a teacher's job to correct sloppy prose, whether in an essay or an email. And I suspect that most of the time, students who call faculty members by their first names and send slangy messages are not seeking a more casual rapport. They just don't know they should do otherwise -- no one has bothered to explain it to them. Explaining the rules of professional interaction is not an act of condescension; it's the first step in treating students like adults.
If you want to be taking just mildly serious, don't talk like that to anyone.
- Don't do what I do, it's probably not healthy nor safe. -
Y did u flunk mezzzzz?
The only person I know who uses "U" and "ur" in serious correspondence is over 50 years old. It's not a millennial problem. It's an idiot problem.
No. It is not the job of college professors to correct students unable to communicate correctly. That was the job of the high school teachers. Students unable to communicate correctly should not have been admitted to college, because they shouldn't have received their high school diploma.
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
This is basic stuff, and they graduate high school without learning it.
First day of Junior Engineering in the eighth grade, the instructor told us that "Yo!" wasn't an appropriate classroom response. We also got advice on brushing our tongue when brushing our teeth and using deodorant.
I'd never have used a professor's first name unless the age gap was minimal, and they had explicitly said it was OK... BUT... we walked half-way across campus in 95-degree heat in 90% humidity, to a temporary/portable building that sat maybe 30 students... Then we get told that unlike just about every other class we'd been in, this philosophy teacher (a condescending hippy, ironically, enough) didn't allow drinks... I watched an argument get pretty heated once, and started wondering, hey, who's paying who to be here?
I had a sucky sig.
When my grandparents were in college, they were addressed by their professors as Mr. and Ms. Now, professors address their students by first name. I'm all for insisting on correct spelling and grammar, and for respecting the use of Dr. or Professor, but perhaps the faculty could win support if they treated their students like the adults they are.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it dissolve.
This is basic stuff, and they graduate high school without learning it. What did they put on their college application, a plagiarized form letter?
Are you kidding?
40% of American High School GRADUATES (yes, graduates) can't read or write. They get graduated anyway. Front cover of Time Magazine.
These little assfaces get participation trophies for showing up and told that everyone is a winner. They think that they're ahead of their peers for knowing how to plagiarize a form letter.
And sadly, they're mostly not wrong.
I don't mind if my students (Cambridge) call me by my first name. Formality can be polite, but it can also be a barrier to free exchange of ideas and that has no place in a university. I'd be very surprised if MPhil or PhD students didn't call me by my first name.
That said, if you write me an email and can't be bothered to write in grammatically correct sentences then you've obviously decided that your time writing the email is more valuable than mine reading it and I'll respond accordingly, if at all.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Language doesn't just transfer direct meaning, but also signifies social status, politeness, education etc. Having a lack of social graces will make your boss hate you and your professors not treat you seriously. It just reflects that we live in a society with socially-enforced hierarchies, and that is not going away any time soon (nor should it)
This is about language.
My mother graduated from high school and swore like a French whore. My father graduated from the sixth grade, joined the Army and built buildings, swore less than my mother. I didn't learn language until I was in the sixth grade and my classmates taught me all the swear words to fill out a barnyard. However, behavior, politeness and desire to sit down prevented me from using language around adults.
Specifically, English; which is an evolving language and has been since it separated from the Latin language.
English was for commoners. Latin for priests. French for royalty. And drawings of penises for the illiterate.
It's so scary that university administration has so warped our students that they believe this crap.
http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/s...
"We've found by experience that people who are careless and sloppy writers are usually also careless and sloppy at thinking and coding (often enough to bet on, anyway). Answering questions for careless and sloppy thinkers is not rewarding; we'd rather spend our time elsewhere."
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Language does more than(1) transfer direct meaning, but also signifies social status, politeness, and(2) education(3). Lacking social graces will make social interactions difficult(4). It (5) reflects that we live in a society with socially-enforced hierarchies, and those are(6a) not going away any time soon (nor should they(6b)).(7)
1. Eliminate negatives in your writing.
2.The last point in a list should be conjoined with "and".
3. Reserve "etc" for lists where the points are already stated elsewhere
4. State only what you can prove.
5. Eliminate filler words such as "just" or "like".
6a & 6b. Singulars and Plurals in sentences must agree.
7. Remember to end your sentences with a period.
If you believe people who speak one way are better than people who speak another you are an uneducated person with outdated ideas.
Figure it out.
You can call people with their first names without implying very close familiarity because you still have the option of using a formal second person singular pronoun ("vos" in Latin, "Sie" in German, "vous" in French, "vy" in Russian or Czech, etc.)
Ezekiel 23:20
I know it's fashionable to have flat, zero-hierarchy organizations and brief communications styles, but I can tell you from 20+ years of working, clear spoken and written communication is not some irrelevant concept from a bygone age. I'm not one of those people who demands respect simply because of a rank or power dynamic, but I will have a lot more respect for someone who addresses others politely, states their opinions like adults, listens to others' points of view, and can write clearly. It also works both ways -- in my experience I have been able to get much further in having people see things my way than colleagues with more abrupt communication styles.
I am firmly in the introvert crowd, and not a salesy type in the least. But, no matter how introverted you are, learning a few common social courtesies is critical to being successful in any setting. I'm not even talking about ladder-climbing brown-nosing style success -- I know part of the reason I'm kept around and allowed to do interesting technical work is that my bosses know I'll make them look good and be professional; in short, they don't have to worry I'll say something stupid.
That is all true yet irrelevant.
There is polite or formal speech, which is what professionals should use unless they are certain that casual communication is appropriate.
If one of the primary purposes of college is to prepare young adults for employment, then enforcing "office manners" is a reasonable measure.
Using text shorthand in an email is on par with wearing a T-shirt to an interview. It's not illegal, and it may be acceptable in some circumstances---but in most cases it is not wise.
---
According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.
yo dawg that b phat n shit
ya feel me dawg
Words have two types of meaning, both connotation and denotation. Two words may have the exact same denotation, but quite different connotation.
The primary purpose of clothing is clothing is to cover the skin. Other purposes of clothing, such as "saggin" pants, dress shirts, and lab coats include communicating information about one's values, role in the current context, and standards of behavior. Certain clothing suggests that the wearer believes snitches get stiches, other clothing indicates the opposite.
Similarly, the tone of language communicates all of the above and much more. If you are unable to understand the difference between "yo dawg u b trippin" and "Sir, I believe your perspective may lack appropriate context", you may be lacking an essential skill. The two sentences convey quite different connotations, though the same denotation.