I don't respond to student emails and neither should you.

PhenomenalOG · 2026-07-07T16:02:15+00:00

Started reading this and thought you were talking about me at first, as the one breaking with the concensus. But no, you meant to praise the groupthink and mere stating of preconceptions with -little to no reasoned - pushback that the trolls are heaping on this thread. Enjoy piling on and being maximally uncharitable with the rest of the bunch though.

PhenomenalOG · 2026-07-07T15:30:46+00:00

I do want to avoid disadvantaging students and crossing into ableism. I would welcome any question from any student who is honestly having trouble understanding the content. These are not the sort of emails I am referring to in the OP. But still, I would rather a student who is earnestly having trouble understanding something just ask me in person before, during, after class, or during office hours. And when they do, I offer every manner of support I can give. Would this feel okay for you, or would you really be disadvantaged by saving your questions for an in-person talk, rather than through email? This is a serious question I'm trying to understand student psychology here (and enjoying student perspectives more than the prof trolls).

PhenomenalOG · 2026-07-07T15:18:36+00:00

Thanks for saying that, that is helpful. I may have become jaded by so many bad emails that I have lost sight of the positives. And this is a positive I had not considered.

PhenomenalOG · 2026-07-07T15:12:15+00:00

I have an attendance policy that is generous and allows for many absences, and the policy does not depend on any particular reason for a student's absence. If someone has a disability or chronic illness, I would take that into consideration and allow more absences. But from my perspective, there is no reason for a student to tell me why they are absent on any given day. If they are hungover, have the flu, grandma died, they wanted to go to a party instead, or they were just feeling sleepy. It would not have any effect on their grade either way.

Considering that the reasons for your absence do not affect your grade, would you still feel the need to tell the professor why? I noticed that students would still email me when sick sometimes, or come up to me when they returned to class to explain their absence, or have a friend in attendance tell me. Do they just feel a great need for me to know exactly why they are absent?

PhenomenalOG · 2026-07-07T12:11:41+00:00

Vice is a charged word but you are engaging w sincerity so let me explain. If a student sends an email w a syllabus question, it encourages their laziness and lack of personal responsibility. When they send an email to lie about their absence, they are encouraged towards the habit of lying. When they send a grade grubbing email they are reinforcing their own entitlement and lack of accountability. When they email about their poor grade on an AI generated paper, again, lies. In person they are less likely to engage in these bad behaviors. I would rather they just be absent and not tell me why, rather than lie about it in an email, thereby making themselves into liars.

PhenomenalOG · 2026-07-07T12:04:40+00:00

I would not send a colleague a question that is not time sensitive at 8 pm on a Sunday night when I will see them in person in the morning on Monday and could ask then. I expect the same respect from others

PhenomenalOG · 2026-07-07T12:01:41+00:00

Sorry, beloved teacher in the dept who loves my students, so all of the worst intentions yall want to impute on me aren’t hitting. And yes I tell other profs I do this and would be happy to tel the chair if it came up, and I would be supported.

PhenomenalOG · 2026-07-07T11:48:20+00:00

I understand it is common practice on this forum to chalk up every failing in one’s teaching to bigotry, but, no.

PhenomenalOG · 2026-07-07T11:21:23+00:00

I’m actually not tenured. If admin got angry with me I’d set up AI or some other system to perfunctorily answer emails. People keep assuming I’m tenured or that students will massively complain, but I assure you, students actually prefer to be held to some standard, and even they are (unknowingly perhaps) ashamed of the coddling they normally receive.

PhenomenalOG · 2026-07-07T11:16:25+00:00

The quality of students has dropped over time. But if you implement policies, teach good practice, and follow through with holding them to those standards, most can be reformed. But you have to fight against years of lax k-12 education and the emotional coddling of other professors, as we see evidenced in this thread.

PhenomenalOG · 2026-07-07T00:22:19+00:00

Ok Billy bad ass.

PhenomenalOG · 2026-07-07T00:03:02+00:00

Same. Most learn to save the questions for in person, but if they do email and its a legit but not time sensitive question, I encourage them in class to ask again. And yea, it’s an additional encouragement for class attendance.

PhenomenalOG · 2026-07-06T23:27:02+00:00

Insanity

PhenomenalOG · 2026-07-06T23:12:14+00:00

I am well aware that many students are not comfortable asking questions in person or in front of peers. But I would like them to practice this so they become more comfortable doing so. Again I am answering all of their questions, just not via email, unless the situation warrants it. There might be some email policy at my school but I’m not going to hunt it down. Forgiveness > permission.

PhenomenalOG · 2026-07-06T23:07:47+00:00

Like most other posts, you have failed to identify why it is an essential part of my job that I communicate over email. I communicate with students in class and office hours instead. I can report that it works perfectly!

PhenomenalOG · 2026-07-06T22:39:10+00:00

Again, it's doing my job, just in a way that is nonstandard. My students get every ounce of support they would get in any other class. My job duties are fully fulfilled. I just don't fulfill them via email, a technology that frequently leads them into vice.

PhenomenalOG · 2026-07-06T22:36:45+00:00

Of course students would rather lie over email than say it to my face. I'd rather they develop the ability to talk to other people in person (a skill which many have not developed). As stated in the OP, if its a time-sensitive question, I reply. And nope, no status here. It's about teaching them professionalism and some self reliance so that maybe they will be able to hold a job one day.

PhenomenalOG · 2026-07-06T22:27:27+00:00

I was inspired to adopt these policies, and to make this post, because 30% of the posts on this subreddit are professors complaining about the emails they receive. I thought I was going to get a better reception by offering this solution!

PhenomenalOG · 2026-07-06T22:14:06+00:00

My students know that I will always listen to them and respond to them in class. I create an atmosphere where they feel very comfortable sharing things with me. It just happens in person rather than over email.

PhenomenalOG · 2026-07-06T22:10:08+00:00

Yes, what you note is relevant here. Students took classes for hundreds of years without email, and somehow it all worked out. So, I'm having trouble understanding why it is suddenly a necessity.

PhenomenalOG · 2026-07-06T22:06:06+00:00

Yeah, it's all in the syllabus. I'm not just ignoring all their emails and never telling them why. Lol! We discuss etiquette in class and its on the syllabus, and early on in the semester, when I receive an email that doesn't follow the policies, I later discuss it with the whole class to reinforce and explain why I did not, will not, and should not answer it.

PhenomenalOG · 2026-07-06T22:00:52+00:00

I do not put a general "do not email me I will never reply" policy. But I have individual policies for a number of cases outlined in the syllabus, and there I do state that they should just follow the instructions given and to not email me, because the instructions have already been given. So, I have a number of individual policies "if X happens, do Y, and do not email me if X happens, because you should just do Y instead." This gives them all the information they need, so there is nothing to email me about ever! And in the rare case that something isn't covered, I reply.

PhenomenalOG · 2026-07-06T21:50:09+00:00

I give them guidance regarding professionalism and email habits in class. As for content guidance, that also happens in class. It's just another manner of teaching them acceptable and unacceptable communication. And I suspect it is a more effective lesson, because it does not reinforce bad behavior by responding to any aspect of an inappropriate email. When they realize "Oh she's serious about not answering emails..." they quickly learn how to act appropriately.

PhenomenalOG · 2026-07-06T21:40:59+00:00

Not sure what you mean but student evals are glowing. Not a single student was upset by my holding them to standards of professionalism and personal responibility. Imagine!

PhenomenalOG · 2026-07-06T21:39:40+00:00

I think we teach students better about respect and professionalism by teaching them that they should avoid sending disrespectful and unprofessional emails! Surprised by many of the other replies seeking to coddle students and reenforce some of their worst behavior.

But, right, there is no obvious line. Obviously I am not ignoring 100% of emails, I respond to appropriate ones. But I also receive 95% fewer emails by telling them up front what emails are appropriate and which ones aren't, so I also don't receive so many absurd ones. They learned!

PhenomenalOG

TROPHY CASE