When Natasha Smith’s 11-year-old son sat down to email his teacher, she was shocked to read what he had sent.

The 40-year-old mom from Washington state was helping her sixth grader with homework when she realized something was missing—not from the assignment, but from his message.

“He opened up Outlook on his school computer and composed an email to his teacher,” Smith told Newsweek. “I was shocked that he didn’t add a salutation or signature, at minimum. I assumed he’d learned it somewhere—school, maybe?—but he hadn’t. Or he had and forgot. Either way, my sixth-grader didn’t know how to format an email.”

Smith shared a screenshot of the message on Threads where it has gained viral attention. The subject line was blank, and the message was straight to the point: “I’m trying to dou

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