Wednesday, September 23, 2009

My Mom Answers Student E-mails

Okay, not just yet, but perhaps appearing in this space soon, because I have decided that, from now on, I will be forwarding all correspondence from my students addressed to "Mrs. Notorious" to the only person I know who goes by that name: my mom.

It should be interesting to see what she makes of it.

14 comments:

Colleen said...

I am so sorry I didn't think of that idea last year.

Anonymous said...

I am so using that idea! Also, I may respond to students who spell my last name incorrectly (after I've responded FOUR TIMES with my name typed correctly) with the following, "You appear to have sent this e-mail to the wrong person. Good luck finding Mrs. Mynamemisspelled."

Or, I can just passive-aggressively ignore them. Yeah, that.

Comrade PhysioProf said...

AHAHAHAHAHAH!!! That would be fucking awesome!!! If I let my mom answer dumfuck e-mails that I receive, I would be fired for cause within days!!!!

clio's disciple said...

That is one of my pet peeves. Particularly when they persist after being corrected once.

Notorious Ph.D. said...

@ haphazard: no, true passive-aggressiveness requires that we blog about it.

Notorious Ph.D. said...

@ CD: Actually, the last time I gently protested, the student switched to my first name. ::sigh::

squadratomagico said...

Brilliant!!!

undine said...

Please post them--please!

Digger said...

Switched to your first name? WTF!?!?

Also, passive aggressive blogging? I LOL'd.

ER Doc said...

Please let us know how that works out!

Rosebud, PhD said...

I too get the Mrs. and it irks me particularly because it rarely happens to the male profs at my school. It does happen to them, but... I am sensitive to it nonethless. I have been told it is a symptom of a more casual or informal atmosphere in higher education. It took me a long time to get the PhD. The title of Dr. is one of few rewards (and I sign of respect?). That and wearing my PhD robes at commencement.

Susan said...

Your approach is as good as any. The question is, do you create a fake e-mail account for her and answer in her name, or really send them to her. In which case she may give them your first name.

I'm debating, in undergrad classes, not putting my first name on the syllabus.

But how do you sign e-mails? I usually use initials, but sometimes, when I'm really working on the point, I sign "Professor X"

Terminal Degree said...

I get called "Mrs." a LOT, especially in my rural Southern university. I've started kindly explaining that it took me almost 12 years of college to get my degrees, and that while my mom is a great person, she can't teach my classes.

I also started calling my students by THEIR last names and a title (Mr. Jones, Ms. Smith). That has seemed to help a LOT this year.

There are still occasions when a student has slipped up and called me by the wrong name (a typical mistake for a first-year student to make, as they have probably, in my part of the country, NEVER encountered a female "Dr." before). I've started replying by saying, with a smile, "who?" They look a little confused and then correct themselves.

Ironically, my husband, who also teaches at my university, has a terminal degree that is NOT a PhD, and he gets called "Dr." all the time. Drives us both nuts.

FrauTech said...

I think you should at least post some of your mom's hypothetical responses :) I'm not sure what the consequences might be for your job if you really went through with it (or the consequences to passive-agressiveness), but it's a great idea!