Does Generation Z know how to email properly? An investigation

This week, Prof Brittney Cooper from Rutgers University caused a small internet storm when she asked a simple question: “Why don’t modern college kids know how to send a formal letter/email?” She added that her students frequently email her simply saying “Hello.”

Needless to say, dear reader, a pileon ensued, rife with accusations of classism and elitism. Some snot-nosed kids even responded to Cooper’s tweet using the “I pay you to answer my emails” defense – which did little to prove their decorum.

But do young people these days know how to send an email? Were things really that much better in the heyday when we all sat down in class and learned the difference between “yours faithfully” and “sincerely”?

I decided to investigate, starting with my own college emails.

My own emails

While I grew up with the internet (I went to school when Snake was the best game on a phone and polyphonic ringtones were hip) our teachers still believed, at that time, in teaching us formal letter-writing skills. I decided to see whether I extended these skills to my own email decorum at college. The first email I find is from 2012:

Here I start with “hey”, I don’t capitalize or use punctuation properly, and use the word “gotten”, which is not really a word – these all land me minus marks. On the other hand, I used the word greetings, which sounds regal. 1/10.

In 2011, in a chain to a professor where I seem to be “totally freaking out!!” over an exam question about whether the brain supports social behavior (I was a psych major), I write:

And then:

Despite knowing where to place the heading and address on a handwritten letter, I did not understand the difference between an email and a random stream of consciousness.

In another email to the same professor, I wrote:

Etiquette ranking: -1/10. I would go so far as to say these emails were insulting.

Email etiquette for the youth of today

Being 30, I do not represent the youth of today, so I supplemented my investigation browsing online forums for students. In a sub-group called “advice on everyday issues” on The Student Room, I start to see why some students might ruffle a few feathers. One asks if he should copy and paste the exact same email to his professor after not hearing back for a few days. Some suggest emailing teachers for documents repeatedly until they either respond or block the student if they haven’t received a reply. One student frets so much about how to respond to an email that it gives me high blood pressure (I don’t think I can just say “hi, I’m doing fine thanks” but what else is there to say? … I’m torn between ‘too anxious to send an email’ and ‘also anxious that the teacher will confront