My peers and colleagues would be shocked and insulted if they were to be referred to as "Tutor" and it was exactly an email I received on Feb 4, 2014 from a female student from my CS2032 Graphic Communication course who began the email with "Dear Tutor" followed by a question about a tutorial for which she missed.

Am I over-reacting to what could have been a generation gap between what I deem is appropriate and respectable to someone who simply thinks that "it's not a bad thing since we have tutorials together... "tutor" would be appropriate". She continued by saying "Sorry if you felt offended" ("tutor" makes you sound younger also ...)" This was after I informed her that it was the first time I had been addressed as a "tutor"

From her "sorry," I wasn't sure if she felt sorry as in feeling empathic or she was apologizing to which I responded that while I couldn't comment on the event that caused her to miss class, it was important for her to find out about what she had missed, usually through classmates as this is being spelled out in the syllabus' "course policy" #2 which states "... If you expect an interruption in your schedule, please notify the lecturer in advance. You are expected to find out from your classmates what you have missed. Your absence is by no means, an excuse for a late submission, unless it has been arranged with the lecturer." [<---Right there, if she had bothered to read, she would have addressed me as "lecturer". A tutor is more like a Teaching Assistant in an academic setting.] It is unbelievable to see the state of disrespecting and the sheer lack of civic mindedness in the younger generation. Here is another situation that usually goes on when I keep my office door opened: rambunctious students who forgot that they are strolling, laughing and basically being a nuisance along the aisle where people are trying to work or there is a meeting that is in progress. If this is a library, such a behavior would have been socially unacceptable. If this is a product of our educational system, our basic human values have definitely gone down the tubes.

Back to "Dear Tutor," I continued by saying that what I could comment was that she shouldn't make assumptions that addressing a person in a certain would make them feel younger ... The right thing to do is to ask, not to assume. Even though I ended my email with "Dr Yeoh" she still replied as though an email war was about to erupt by asking how I'd like to be addressed. I replied to her email by adding that it would seem too formal and arrogant to demand people to address me in a certain way but it's best to clarify and so I did: "Most students would call anything that ranges from Sir, Prof, Mr to Dr. Since you're not a graduate student and we don't work closely, I don't expect my students to address me on a first name basis so a salutation followed by my last name would be best. Pick from the 4 as mentioned."

I signed off my email with the following "Dr, Mr, Sir, Prof Yeoh"

Date of email: Feb 4, 2014