From Dan Hamermesh, a professor of economics at the University of Texas at Austin, on yesterday’s Freakonomics
blog:
"There’s a midterm this week in my class of 550 students, and
I have been deluged with emailed questions, many procedural, that are covered
in the online daily class summary. (For example, is the test being given in
class?) In the old days, when students came to office hours to ask
questions, I wouldn’t have gotten most of these queries. Regrettably, a
student’s opportunity cost of emailing is much less than the cost of an office
visit."
The message those students are sending their professor:
“I didn’t bother to read the online daily class summary that
you put together for us. And I don’t
want to take the time to go back and find the answer now. Instead, I’d like you to take the time to
answer the question for me (even though you’ve already done so before).”
That’s not a good impression to leave on your instructor.
Email is a wonderful communication tool, but it can also
make you look lazy. Before you fire off
an email to a teacher, a counselor, a college, or anyone else of consequence in
your education or work life, ask yourself—is this the only way to get the answer,
or is it just the easy way.
What if, instead, a student emailed the professor above
with:
“I’m so sorry if you’ve covered this already, but I didn’t see
the answer in the syllabus or on the daily class summaries, which I just
reviewed. Will we be taking our final
exam online (as we did for the midterm) or in class? I found the date of the exam
posted on your class summary, but not the location, and I just want to make
sure I don’t miss it. Thanks so much—I’ve
really enjoyed the course and I’ve already enrolled for your Econ IIB course
next semester.”
Totally different vibe.
P.S. Thanks to Arun
for sharing this wonderful tool to gently respond to people who ask a question
that a simple Google search can answer.