Jayakumar R wrote:
> I think irrespective of the kind of help, anyone who appeals for help in
> this newsgroup requires help.
[snip]
I don't necessarily disagree with the sentiment of this statement, unless it
applies to what are clearly "homework" situations. If the instructor is posing
questions that are not addressed by either the class lectures or the book(s)
generally available for someone in his/her course, then the instructor is doing a
very poor job. If the questions have been assigned as part of an assignment that
the student is to turn in or have been assigned as preparation for an exam, the
student has every right to expect that what the instructor has discussed, or
resources to which the instructor has directed the student, should address those
questions. Since it is impossible in this type of forum to determine whether the
instructor is doing a poor job or the student is simply lazy, experience over
several years generally suggests that posting questions of this sort in this
newsgroup relates more to student problems than instructor problems. Jagasits
clearly identified his question as being a "homework" problem, the sort of thing
that gets very short shrift among members of this group. In addition, when the
question(s) asked are poorly stated, posing as you clearly indicate in Jagasits'
case a differentiation between completely different levels of organisms, it implies
that the student hasn't put much effort into the course.
The members of this group are *not* biased against helping anyone who has a
legitimate question, but they are most definitely not inclined to give any student
any easy "out" that reduces the effort the student should put into their own class
work.
--
Larry D. Farrell, Ph.D.
Professor of Microbiology
Idaho State University
