Timeline for How to respond to a student email demanding quick feedback?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
10 events
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| Oct 31 at 7:25 | history | edited | Nik | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Oct 31 at 1:27 | comment | added | Captain Emacs | @Significance It's entitled, yes. But I have seen rude. I mean, really rude. On a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, this is probably 5-6 of what I have seen. And if someone makes implications, you always have the option to imply back. However, I found it useful to always put a damper on escalation. You are the person in power, you pretty much decide the rules of the game. You can afford to be non-reactive on minor blips. | |
| Oct 31 at 1:07 | comment | added | Significance | To me, the student email does look unambiguously rude. Given the content of the rest of the email, opening with “I hope you had a restful weekend” seems like a deliberate implication that the professor had been slacking off and now should get back to work. | |
| Oct 30 at 20:17 | comment | added | Captain Emacs | @AndreiSmolensky And that's precisely why mentioned the three occurrences rule, and I opt for a dry response round at first. If the student meant no harm due to language, they won't read anything into it. If they intended power play, they will read between the lines. And if they are insensitive, they have one more round to be warned off more clearly before they get their mind "opened a bit further than before" in the third. | |
| Oct 30 at 20:13 | comment | added | Captain Emacs | @Flyto Yes, it depends on context. Sometimes, abbreviating your name to the first letter is also considered dismissive, but, again, some people do it by default. | |
| Oct 30 at 18:45 | comment | added | Andrei Smolensky | One thing I do not see discussed is whether the student is a native speaker. Because if not, they a) will not recognize the delicate distinction, b) might have phrased their email this way due to the language barrier and not because of their attitude in the first place. | |
| Oct 30 at 13:57 | comment | added | Flyto | Prof Dr Name sounds like it's probably in Germany - in which case this would not be unusual, AIUI | |
| Oct 30 at 12:47 | comment | added | Captain Emacs | @usr1234567 Maybe not. But I have used it to surprisingly great effect myself and, yes, people who are insensitive to others are often quite more sensitive to the vibe of a response to themselves than we are tempted to give them credit (of course, to some extent, that's to some extent dependent on the culture of the place and recipient, and you may have to culturally adapt your response). That's also why I wouldn't lead with direct confrontation, unless it is absolutely necessary, as an indirect warning can often be enough. When not, you have a different-sized problem on your hand. | |
| Oct 30 at 6:35 | comment | added | usr1234567 | While I like your distinction in the greeting formula, I doubt the ignorant student will recognize it. | |
| Oct 30 at 4:10 | history | answered | Captain Emacs | CC BY-SA 4.0 |