A rather interesting opinion piece about how Gen Z does/doesn’t know how to write an e-mail, especially to their university instructors. Having been and continuing to be an avid user of this medium, I saw some of the writer’s point but to be fair, every generation sucks at this. The problem is that younger people find e-mail too slow since the Telecom Baronies got them hooked on instant-messaging which was a more lucrative business when it used to cost me 10 goddammed cents every time a rude friend sent me one. However, the Telecom Baronies finally set up all-you-can-eat plans.
Back to e-mail.
I think everyone should be given an etiquette class on e-mail much like how people get tutored on cover letters, resumes, so on. Regardless of younger people’s demand for instant gratification through SMS, e-mail is the official way to communicate if you want to hold a job without it involving burger flipping. It comes into play in numerous other scenarios: buying stuff from sellers on Web sites, government inquiries and not getting written off as a crank with mainstream newspapers which will continue to exist.
It will help cut out the class divide on this front too.