Chapter 24 — Exercises
These build the professional-but-confident register that gets you help, mentorship, and strong letters. Sample answers for closed items follow.
A. What Would You Do?
Scenario 1: The email
You have a question about an assignment. You email the professor. You: - (a) Write a long, grovelling email full of apologies and elaborate honorifics. - (b) Write a concise, professional email: correct title, clear subject, specific question, polite sign-off. - (c) Write "hey can u explain q3 thx". - (d) Don't email; struggle alone.
Scenario 2: Stuck on a concept
You don't understand a key concept. You: - (a) Email "I don't understand this, please explain everything." - (b) Try it yourself first, then go to office hours: "I tried X and Y but I'm stuck on Z." - (c) Give up and hope it's not on the exam. - (d) Never bother the professor.
Scenario 3: Recommendation letter
You need a reference for a program. You: - (a) Ask a professor the day before the deadline, "can you write me a letter?" - (b) Ask weeks ahead: "Would you be able to write me a strong letter?" + provide your materials. - (c) Ask a professor who barely knows you. - (d) Assume any professor will do it instantly.
Scenario 4: A grade you dispute
You think a grade is unfair. You: - (a) Email "This grade is unfair, please change it." - (b) Ask to understand respectfully: "Could you help me see what I missed on Q3? I believe I addressed X." - (c) Argue emotionally and demand a change. - (d) Complain to the dean first, angrily.
Scenario 5: Building a relationship (new)
You're a quiet, self-reliant high-achiever, but no professor really knows you. You: - (a) Keep to yourself — good grades should be enough. - (b) Start going to office hours to discuss ideas and your goals, building relationships before you need a letter. - (c) Wait until you need a recommendation, then introduce yourself. - (d) Assume any professor can vouch for you from your grades.
Choose and justify each. Why does grovelling (1a) land as oddly as casual (1c)? Why build relationships early (Scenario 5b)?
B. Decode This
- "My door is open." / "Feel free to reach out."
- "What have you tried so far?"
- "Come to office hours."
- "I'd be glad to write you a strong letter."
- "I'd be happy to discuss this further."
- (new) "I'm not sure I'm the best person to write that letter."
- (new) "Let's set up a time to talk about your goals."
C. Translate Between Cultures
Task 1 — Fix the email. Rewrite this into a professional, non-grovelling email (invent details): "Most esteemed and respected Professor, I am deeply sorry to disturb your invaluable time with my unworthy question…"
Task 2 — Try-first ask. Rewrite "I don't understand question 3, please explain" into a try-first, effort-showing version.
Task 3 — The letter request (new). Write a complete recommendation-letter request email: the ask for a strong letter, the timeline (weeks ahead), and an offer of your materials. Why does the word "strong" matter, and why give them an easy way to decline?
D. Culture-Shock Journal
- Your register. Are your emails too formal/grovelling, too casual, or just right? How were you taught to address teachers?
- Office hours. Have you used them? What stops you? (Be honest about the intimidation.)
- Relationships. Which professor could you build a relationship with — for mentorship or a future letter? What's a first step?
- Respect, re-expressed (new). Your culture may show respect to teachers through distance. How does the West show it through engagement? How can you keep the respect and change the expression?
E. Ask a Local
Ask a classmate or advisor: - "How do students here email professors — how formal?" - "What's the best way to ask a professor for help / a recommendation letter?" - (new) "How do students here build relationships with professors?"
Record the answer.
F. Self-Assessment
Rate 1–5: 1. My emails to professors are professional, concise, correctly titled. 2. I use office hours. 3. I ask for help by trying first and showing my effort. 4. I'm building at least one advisor/mentor relationship. 5. I'd handle a grade dispute respectfully, with evidence.
Note date and scores. Part IV complete! (Appendix J collects the book's self-assessments; Appendix G has email scripts.)
Sample Answers & Discussion
A: 1 → (b) — concise and professional gets a good response; grovelling (a) and casual (c) both land oddly; struggling alone (d) wastes the help available. 2 → (b) — try first, then ask with your specific sticking point (showing effort). 3 → (b) — right person, weeks ahead, "strong" letter, materials provided. 4 → (b) — seek to understand with evidence; demands/emotion (a/c/d) backfire. 5 → (b) — build relationships early (before you need a letter); good grades alone don't produce someone who can vouch for you (Hana's case). Why grovelling lands oddly: excessive apology/flattery reads as strange (and slightly uncomfortable) to Western professors, who expect respectful-but-confident, efficient communication — neither over-deferential nor over-casual.
B — Decode This: 1 = genuine invitations to contact them (use appropriately). 2 = show your effort (the try-first norm) — have an answer. 3 = a real offer of help — go. 4 = a positive, committed reference ("strong" matters). 5 = genuine openness to talk — take it up. 6 = a gentle decline / "I don't know you well enough to write a strong one" — ask someone who does. 7 = a real mentorship opening — take it.
C — Task 1 model: "Dear Professor Kim, I'm Sam Okafor in your Monday ECON 101 section. I had a question about the midterm format — will it be multiple choice or essay? I checked the syllabus but couldn't find it. Thank you, Sam Okafor." Task 2 model: "I worked through question 3 using [approach] and got [result], but I'm not sure about [specific step] — am I misunderstanding the concept? Could we go over it in office hours?" Task 3: "strong" lets them honestly decline if they can't write a good one (a weak/generic letter hurts you); giving an easy out protects you from a lukewarm letter.
D, E, F are personal — your honest reflection is the answer.