<p>It’s like any other agreement. The person doesn’t have to agree to do it, but once the person agrees you want it confirmed in writing. Has nothing to do if the professor later changes her mind. </p>
<p>I agree that there should be email etiquette courses, probably in eighth grade. Do they still teach kids how to write a business letter in elementary school? Basic email etiquette should be added to that curriculum. </p>
<p>I would have thought that this stuff would come naturally to my daughter. But last year when she was a freshman, my daughter showed me an email that she was going to send to a professor – a seventy-year-old European man. I was shocked that she started the email “Hey [nickname form of prof’s first name].” She admitted that the professor hadn’t invited students to call him by his first name (let alone the nickname), but all the kids referred to the professor that way and she just assumed that was the more sophisticated way to go, now that they were all adults. And my daughter comes from a household where the rules of etiquette are stressed! (The content of the email was fine; she wanted to send him an article that related to something they had been discussing.) </p>