Sending E-mails to Professors
One student skipped class and then sent the professor an e-mail __D__1____ for copies of her teaching notes.1
Another __C__2____that she was late for a Monday class because she was recovering form drinking too much at a wild weekend party.
At colleges and universities in the US, e-mail has made professors more approachable. But many say it has made them too accessible, __A_3____ boundaries that traditionally kept students at a healthy distance.
These days, professors say, students seem to view them as available __B__4____ the clock, sending a steady stream of informal e-mails.
“The tone that they take in e-mails is pretty astounding,” said Michael Kessler, an assistant dean at Georgetown University. “They’ll __C__5_____ you to help: ‘I need to know this.’”
“There’s a fine __D__6____ between meeting their needs and at the same time maintaining a level of legitimacy as an __B__7_____ who is in charge.”
Christopher Dede, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, said ___A___8_____ show how students on longer defer to2 their professors, perhaps because they realize that professors’ __B___9_____ could rapidly become outdated.
“The deference was driven by the __C___10____that professors were all-knowing sources of deep knowledge,” Dede said, and that notion has __B___11_____.
For junior faculty members, e-mails bring new tension into their work, some say, as they struggle with how to __C__12_____. Their job prospects, they realize, may rest in part on student evaluations of their accessibility.
College students say e-mail makes __D__13_____ easier to ask questions and helps them learn.
But they seem unaware that what they write in e-mails could have negative effects __A__14____ them, said Alexandra Lahav, an associate professor of Law at the University of Connecticut
She recalled an e-mail message from a student saying that he planned to miss class to he could play with his son. Professor Lahav did not respond.
Such e-mails can have consequences, she said. “Students don’t understand that ___D__15____ they say in e-mail can make them seem unprofessional, and could result in a bad recommendation.”
1. A. providing B. offering C. supplying D. asking
2. A. complained B. argued C. explained D. believed
3. A. removing B. moving C. putting D. placing
4. A. about B. around C. at D. from
5. A. cause B. press C. order D. make
6. A. requirement B. contradiction C. tension D. balance
7. A. teacher B. instructor C. lecturer D. professor
8. A. e-mails B. message C. texts D. books
9. A. technology B. expertise C. science D. mind
10. A. tradition B. ideas C. notion D. notions
11. A. strengthened B. weakened C. reinforced D. consolidated
12. A. ask B. question C. respond D. request
13. A. him B. her C. them D. it
14. A. on B. against C. in D. about
15. A. this B. which C. that
