Burning etiquette question: emailing a teacher to say "thank you" for answering a question

[MercyA]

DD sent her biology teacher an email asking him a question. He replied. She wants to know if she should email him back to thank him.

I think this is always appropriate. It lets the teacher know she received their information and appreciated their response. A quick "thank you so much" usually suffices.

DH says that in the business / tech world, people almost never respond in this way to replies to requests for information. In fact, he says most people prefer to not to receive another email. He thinks it is not necessary and only disrupts their work a second time. 

My DH and I disagree heartily on the most correct response. 🙂 

What says the Hive?

[Kassia]

2 minutes ago, MercyA said:

 

 It lets the teacher know she received their information and appreciated their response. A quick "thank you so much" usually suffices.

 

 

This is why I would send the thank you, but I hadn't thought of your DH's point.  That's valid, but I'd still send the email.  

[Katy]

A thank you is definitely appropriate when someone deserves thanks. And even if her generation doesn’t do thank yous as a matter of course, the instructor is almost certainly from a generation where it’s proper. And you never know who will recommend her for a job or give a reference so it’s best to be polite. Send the one-line thank you. 

[Frances]

In this case, I think she should do it. I understand what your husband is saying, but that’s a pretty specific culture. I think it’s best to error on the side of expressing gratitude in your daughter’s situation.

[Arcadia]

3 minutes ago, MercyA said:

DH says that in the business / tech world, people almost never respond in this way to replies to requests for information.

When I was working in tech, the amount of emails daily from colleagues and customers were so much that I rather not get “thank you” replies. For replies to request for information, I usually end with “let me know if I could be of further assistance” (customer) or “let me know if you need more info” (colleagues) so no news is good news. 

[regentrude]

A thank you is appreciated. Best if the student indicates that she now understands. "Thanks, that makes sense now!" Or "Thanks, now I get it!" 

As a college instructor with 500 students,  I receive a *ton* of email. Some of it is annoying, but the quick thankyou from a student never is. Especially when they express that my reply helped them learn. 

Edited November 17, 2023 by regentrude

[domestic_engineer]

8 minutes ago, Katy said:

A thank you is definitely appropriate when someone deserves thanks. And even if her generation doesn’t do thank yous as a matter of course, the instructor is almost certainly from a generation where it’s proper. And you never know who will recommend her for a job or give a reference so it’s best to be polite. Send the one-line thank you. 

So - does the teacher in this case reply to the one-line “thank you” sentence with a one-line email saying “you’re welcome”?  If so, then that still seems to further validate the notion that another email motivated by courtesy is just another interruption.

Ive pondered this whole scenario many times before, so I’m curious as to what the hive will say. 

Edited November 17, 2023 by domestic_engineer
Fat fingers

[regentrude]

5 minutes ago, domestic_engineer said:

So - does the teacher in this case reply to the one-line “thank you” sentence with a one-line email saying “you’re welcome”?  

I don't since that would be overkill - unless I have another thought to add that I didn't include in the first email.

[teachermom2834]

While I think that a “thank you” email to a request for information is not always necessary, I think there are times it can be useful. It just depends on the situation.

With a teacher, I would send it. Teachers get so many emails from students asking for (demanding!) help and other things and the teacher will respond and try to be helpful only to have the student never actually act on the help. My dh is an online adjunct and he continually gets panicked emails from students and he will go to effort to explain things, reopen assignments, etc. only to see that the student doesn’t return to that course and act on whatever help he gave them. It’s pretty standard, actually. So I think a teacher actually would appreciate that a student went beyond asking for help and actually checked for and read a return email and acted on it. Really, the number of students that act like their world will crash down if they don’t get their question answered immediately and then never follow up and complete the assignment is high. Actually following through with a thank you to a teacher is appropriate, I think, and different than corporate world.

[maize]

In this situation,  absolutely she should respond with a thank you.

[Katy]

33 minutes ago, domestic_engineer said:

So - does the teacher in this case reply to the one-line “thank you” sentence with a one-line email saying “you’re welcome”?  If so, then that still seems to further validate the notion that another email motivated by courtesy is just another interruption.

Ive pondered this whole scenario many times before, so I’m curious as to what the hive will say. 

I’m taking from pre-internet etiquette here, but you don’t need to reply or send a thanks for a thank you email, card, or gift. So no need to respond at all.

[KungFuPanda]

For a student responding to a teacher, I think a thank you is appropriate.  At work, where there is constant communication through email or teams or chat, then the follow up email is not wanted, needed, or expected.  I think that's what your dh is talking about.  Having been a teacher answering questions and now working in an office I think the two situations are entirely different.

[Clemsondana]

Personally, I don't care one way or the other.  Students often send a thanks when I send something that is involved, such as having to write several paragraphs to help with something.  Sometimes, though I'm just sending a sentence or two and it doesn't feel like it warrants a reply.  I'm certainly not keeping track of whether they send a thank you and wouldn't notice if somebody didn't.  I do sometimes wonder if non-essential emails make it more likely that I'll lose something that's important because it gets buried, or, if from the same student, threaded in a way that means I don't see a message.  

[KungFuPanda]

40 minutes ago, domestic_engineer said:

So - does the teacher in this case reply to the one-line “thank you” sentence with a one-line email saying “you’re welcome”?  If so, then that still seems to further validate the notion that another email motivated by courtesy is just another interruption.

Ive pondered this whole scenario many times before, so I’m curious as to what the hive will say. 

No.  The thank you is to let the teacher know their response was received and appreciated.  The transaction ends there.  When you teach, some kids never respond and you are wondering if they got the message or if they're going to roll into class and ask the same question you already answered.  The acknowledgment is less distracting than the not knowing.

[Bootsie]

57 minutes ago, domestic_engineer said:

So - does the teacher in this case reply to the one-line “thank you” sentence with a one-line email saying “you’re welcome”?  If so, then that still seems to further validate the notion that another email motivated by courtesy is just another interruption.

Ive pondered this whole scenario many times before, so I’m curious as to what the hive will say. 

No, the "thank you" does not need to be responded to.  The "thank you" from the student let's the teacher know the email was sent and that the student understood, and appreciated, the response.  But, "your welcome" is not needed just as you do not send a "your welcome" card when someone sends a thank you note to acknowledge and show appreciation for a gift.  

[chocolate-chip chooky]

1 hour ago, regentrude said:

A thank you is appreciated. Best if the student indicates that she now understands. "Thanks, that makes sense now!" Or "Thanks, now I get it!" 

As a college instructor with 500 students,  I receive a *ton* of email. Some of it is annoying, but the quick thankyou from a student never is. Especially when they express that my reply helped them learn. 

I also work in the tertiary education sector. 

I always appreciate a follow-up email from a student. It lets me know that my answer was received. And like regentrude, it is a bonus to know that you actually helped the student with their enquiry or concern.

I would never be irritated by an email of this nature.

I think that different industries may have different cultures in this regard.

Edited November 17, 2023 by chocolate-chip chooky

[elegantlion]

When I received emails from students, I preferred to get the thank you because I never knew if they read or understood my reply. 

Outlook gave us the option to send emoji replies. I will often use those when I'm exchanging emails with my advisors because we communicate on a regular basis, it's not always so formal. 

[TechWife]

I have nearly 1K emails in my inbox. I don’t even have a paying job. DH has over 10K. Both of us think a “thank you” for the answer to a routine  request is unnecessary email clutter. YYMV.

[Amethyst]

“Thank yous”, yes. It’s the “you’re welcomes” that seem unnecessary in the email world (I think think they’re very important in the real world)

[Arcadia]

2 hours ago, domestic_engineer said:

So - does the teacher in this case reply to the one-line “thank you” sentence with a one-line email saying “you’re welcome”?  If so, then that still seems to further validate the notion that another email motivated by courtesy is just another interruption.

I have teachers (and others) replied me with “you are very welcome”, “its my pleasure”, “the pleasure is all mine”. However they are all my age (50s) and older. 
@MercyA for a teacher who responded, I do think a thank you reply is appropriate. Teachers rarely get thanked so it is a nice gesture. 

[Clarita]

Thank you emails are email clutter. 

However, companies DH and I have worked for discovered that people do need thank yous and for the email clutter "time wasting" reasons sometimes gets overlooked in the corporate world. Some companies have an outside of email system to issue public/private thank yous. At the company where I worked saying thank yous increased productivity and moral a lot. (They did have to incentivize and later force us to do it, but after we all started everyone really loved it.)

[Indigo Blue]

In this situation, I would send a thank you. 

[MercyA]

Thank you so much everyone! DH found your replies very interesting. DD did as well, and sent the thank you, as was her inclination. 

It seems it does depend on the culture, but in general I would rather err on the side of politeness and gratitude. I think the potential cost of not sending a thank you outweighs the potential irritation that may occur from sending one. 

If I ever find myself in the tech world, I will do things differently. 🙂 

[silver]

I admit, it's a pet peeve of mine to not get a reply if I've put time/thought into an email. Was my email helpful? Did I just waste my time? Why'd you reach out to me personally for help if you didn't really want it enough to shoot off a "thanks!"? But that's for personal communication. Communication for a job, I'm less inclined to care. 

18 hours ago, domestic_engineer said:

So - does the teacher in this case reply to the one-line “thank you” sentence with a one-line email saying “you’re welcome”?  If so, then that still seems to further validate the notion that another email motivated by courtesy is just another interruption.

I've been an adjunct teacher in an online platform. The school required that all online teachers reply to student emails within 24 hours. So if a student replied with a thanks email, yes, I would have to reply with a "you're welcome!" just so that the system would not mark it against me as a non-response. 

 

But, with both of those things in mind, I'd say send the thanks. For one, it's a way to communicate that you received, read, and plan to act upon the answer. For another professors often have so many demanding students that getting a thank you can be refreshing. And as long as your school isn't tracking faculty responses, it's not hard to delete or archive the thanks to clear the inbox. 

[elegantlion]

3 hours ago, MercyA said:

Thank you so much everyone! DH found your replies very interesting. DD did as well, and sent the thank you, as was her inclination. 

It seems it does depend on the culture, but in general I would rather err on the side of politeness and gratitude. I think the potential cost of not sending a thank you outweighs the potential irritation that may occur from sending one. 

If I ever find myself in the tech world, I will do things differently. 🙂 

Aside from politeness and graditutue, when I TA'd, the thank you was effective as a CYA for the student and the instructor. If students don't reply, I have no idea if they received & read the email. I've ran into situations where at the end of the semester the student claims they didn't receive communication on x, y, or z when I clearly sent out a message on all the above - I'm talking individual emails not to the whole class. I've had times where I need to document an email exchange between me and a student to the instructor of records for us to take a particular course of action. There were generally struggling students though.

[lmrich]

If the teacher answered after hours, then yes it is nice.(it is nice either way)