By Alanna Fichtel
When doing a school project, sophomore Kara Kupferberg was using an online presentation program called Prezzie. In order to use the program, she needed to prove she was a student by providing a student email. Kara experienced a problem because she did not have one. Luckily, she was able to use her brother’s college email as proof of her student status. This problem could have been avoided, however, if Kara had a school email address.
As many students can attest, emailing a teacher or signing up for a club with an email you created when you were ten can be embarrassing and unprofessional. Student Government has proposed a solution: setting up a student email system. This would give students an email address like the teachers have. As a member of Student Government, I have heard these discussions and the viewpoints of students. I feel that student email would be very beneficial to both students and teachers.
Student email would help students complete assignments more easily and efficiently. Right now, students can’t access their regular emails on school computers. If a student is working on an assignment in school, he or she can email it to him or herself and finish working on it at home. If they forget to print out an assignment or can’t print it at home, they can get it from their email at school. Furthermore, if a student can’t print out an assignment in school due to printer problems or time, they can email it to their teacher.
Just like the teacher email system, every student email would have the same format. It would be the student’s first initial and last name, followed by the school’s website address. Therefore, if you know this information about a student, you know their email address. Although some people may not be comfortable with this, public email addresses can be very beneficial. Student email would be an easy way for students to communicate with each other. For example, if a student is working on a project with other students, they can easily contact them just by knowing their names. Additionally, when students are absent from class and need information about what they missed, they can potentially email anyone in their class to help them.
Student email would also improve student-teacher communication. Sophomore Jordan Aronowitz, who was very excited about the idea, said student email would be an easier way to talk to teachers about problems or questions. “You don’t have to worry about [your email going to] spam,” he said. Often, teachers ask students to write their first and last names in the subject of the email so they know who the email is from and can find it if it goes into spam. With a student email, teachers can automatically see that the email is from a student. Teachers can also more easily communicate with students. If a teacher needs to contact a student, they would already know their email address.
Some teachers and students believe that student email accounts are unnecessary because Edmodo can act like a student email. Edmodo is a type of social networking system for classrooms in which students and teachers can communicate. Students can post assignments to their teachers and other students can see them. Students can directly contact teachers. While this does seem like an effective way to communicate, not all teachers use Edmodo, while almost all teachers use email. Furthermore, Edmodo groups are often set up by classes, so if a student wants to contact a teacher they don’t have a class with, they wouldn’t be able to through Edmodo. Also, when a student posts an assignment, the students in the class can see it. Students and teachers may not be comfortable with other students seeing their work and comments. Edmodo is not equivalent to email; having a student email is simpler and more straightforward.
Having a student email would also help students outside of school. When applying to college or emailing a representative from a college, a student email would look more professional and legitimate. Social studies teacher Ms. Dana Macrigiane agrees, saying, “[A student email] has more weight.”
I think that having a student email system would be very beneficial to students and teachers. Students can easily communicate with teachers and other students. It would also make students seem more professional to both teachers and colleges. It is absolutely necessary for our school to utilize the technology available to us today.