(Instant Message Code Sends People Off to Work Without a Clue) English teachers are concerned that students are letting too many instant messaging abbreviations leak into their school work and setting up bad habits that may hinder them as they start their careers. Many students find themselves letting the plentiful acronyms slip into essays and even SAT exams and other tests. The phenomenon has been acknowledged all the way into the university system, and professors see it either as a difficulty or as a teaching moment and an exercise in the way language works.

However, many teachers don't understand the code, leaving them at a disadvantage when trying to decipher papers. It is amusing on one level, but when Jeff Stanton, a professor at Syracuse University, gets e-mail messages from students that say, "hi prof how are u culd u tell me my xm grade–tim," he is "concerned [students] won't be successful if they don't know how to communicate on a formal basis. The first time they send a goofy message to the boss, they're going to be out" (Lori Aratani, "IM Shorthand Slips Off Computer Screens and Into Schoolwork," Washington Post, Dec. 25, 2006).