Density: Or Why Don't Students Take My Advice?

Maybe I'm the knucklehead here. Am I speaking clearly? Elaborating on my point? Being honest with my assessment of a piece of writing from a student? I think I am. But it's gone overboard, and it's a minor technicality at that. I have a few students in particular who don't cap their "i"s--in emails to me, in Blackboard posts, or in actual essays. In all three places, as a matter of fact, after much reminding. And I don't know what to do about it.

I've tried being nice, friendly, just providing a little reminder here and there about the power of academic etiquette. I'll suggest, "Hey, Bob, don't for get to cap those "i"s--this is for academic credit, right?" Then, when the issue doesn't change, I go into "Bad Cop" mode. Bad Cop consists of, over the last two semesters, institution of the "-2 Rule," which basically means that any instance of text-speak (noncapitalization, strange abbreviations, etc.) in any academic communciation with me results in a lowering of 2 points, per instance, off a student's final grade. I once had to cut 16 points from a student's overall grade for continued text addiction.

Here's how I feel about it: either the student is just sloppy, rushing, or they plain don't care. But it is my job to show them that the rest of us care. I can be reading a newspaper like The Washington Post and completely stop reading an article if I notice this error showing up. If I stop reading it enough, the newspaper loses my business.

The Collin College Faculty Association mentions issue specifically in their "Students' Guide to Academic Etiquette":

Students should check their electronic mail daily. Students should not expect instant replies to their mail, nor should they expect instructors to reply to messages on weekends and holidays. Students should avoid chat-room style of grammatically incorrect sentences, using lower-case "i" for the pronoun "I," shouting" a message through the use of capital letters, and disrespectful discourse. Students should inquire first whether attaching assignments to an e-mail is an acceptable alternative to handing them in during a class period. [Miller]

On the surface of things, this seems reasonable. I might not agree with every note that Collin College has put on that weblink, but this seems quite alright.

I have to offer one caveat: that the respect-through-etiquette goes both ways. Professors had better not wait two weeks to respond to an email or a request for help. We have to run the spell-checkers, too, in addition to being clear, concise, direct, encouraging. It's more than a matter of form: students are our employers. They pay for our services, and we need to bring our "A" game into every space in which we interact academically.

It's important to note: an error here or there is human. A consistant repetition of an easy fix is thickheaded.

References Cited
Miller, Joyce Marie. (2005). "Students' Guide to Academic Etiquette." Collins College Faculty Association. Retrieved November 16, 2009, from http://iws.ccccd.edu/jmiller/A_Student