Are you fed up of people asking their homework questions on Answers?

Question

Are they too lazy to do their own homework and are we really helping them by doing it for them?

Answer 1

They may as well just ask their teacher for the answer and cut out the middleman.

Answer 2

i don't understand the gripes either, don't use this category if it's upsetting you.
Personally I would like to know why so many of our kids are having to ask questions on a site like this, what are the teachers doing? Why aren't they equipping their students with what they need to know? Why aren't the kids able to ask them for the help?
I had reason to ask a question in the higher education category a few months ago. I don't consider myself stupid by any means but I just wasn't grasping something at all and my tutor was neither helpful nor available. In the end I asked the question on here and after I bypassed the stupid answers I was fortunate to have three or four sensible people who were able to talk me through what was becoming a huge obstacle to me. They didn't DO the work for me, they helped me understand how to do it for myself and I was immensely grateful, applied what they showed me and got a very acceptable grade.
Of course don't write essays for them, and if you're able to, show them how the answer can be reached don't just supply the answer, but for goodness sakes, what a bunch of moaners some of you are. No we didn't have the internet and we had to do it all by ourselves, isn't it great that technology has advanced so much that we can come on here and have a hissy fit about the homework help category :)

Answer 3

It depends. I'm all for students asking for help if they're stumped on something. The internet and this community is a great resource to help students through mental blocks or correct errors. If a student shows that they've actually attempted an answer, I don't mind at all filling in the details or showing where they went wrong.

I am, however, fed up with students who post ALL their homework questions, basically just asking people to do work for them (you can find these people just by clicking on their name and seeing if they've asked a whole lot of similar questions in a short period of time). I can excuse asking for one question in a problem set to be worked out, but some students just post every single question and expect fully worked out answers. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), since these students didn't work through the problems themselves, they may have a higher probability of failing when exam time comes and they don't have Yahoo! Answers to bail them out. I pity them.

Regarding people giving out complete answers to homework questions: Some people are desperate for 10 measly points. I think I was that way initially, but I've moved to helping set up answers, or giving general rules that govern how to answer questions (e.g., product rule, distributive property, etc.). I don't work out a problem in its entirety for students, or if I do, I work out a similar problem I made up. This way the students hopefully get the concepts but have to do the actual work themselves. The help is usually for naught, though, since someone is bound to give the complete answer.

I don't think there's anything that can be done about it. You can try posting guidelines or enforcing rules, but people are bound to sidestep or ignore them. Best you can do is admonish the cheaters, and the people who help them cheat, and give solutions that help the students get the answer themselves, rather then just the answer. It's the old "teach a man to fish" saying in action.

Answer 4

I used to think the same, but having read what Stefy put, I now think hers is the best approach.

I am old enough to notice a considerable difference in the quality of education between when I was at secondary school and that when my children studied in the 1990s. I think studying is now less straightforward and easy, in that children are made to think and make decisions based on selection of ideas. For history (O Level) I merely had to know dates, names and events with little or no understanding of the overall political processes that were at work. For example there was an arms race which led to the the First World War in 1914, following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. My kids had to discuss reasons for the USA's involvement in Vietnam, or to compare and evaluate the administration in different regions of German-occupied Poland during WW2 (I hadn't even known that there were different administrative regimes). I was gob-smacked by what they had to do as homework - it seemed at a much more advanced level than anything I ever did at school.

So I am now more inclined to be sympathetic to a student struggling with homework.

Answer 5

Since there is a category called "Homework Help," I think it is just fine for students to ask for help with their homework. Otherwise, why have the category?

Asking questions and getting extra help sometimes is a vital part of learning. That's why people pay for tutoring for their kids.

I remember getting really stuck on some higher math problems in high school. I could have really used some grownup (or peer) that could step me through one problem so I could get the hang of it for the rest of the assignment. Y!A would have really helped me for those times.

Answer 6

There is a level of answering. If the students want to check their answer then, they need help, because they made an effort in solving. Otherwise, you are not helping them to learn but to be lazy.

Answer 7

Yes. They don't even have to go to the library (for younger readers, that's a building in town where they have a large selection of reference books which can be consulted free of charge and should cover any question likely to be raised up to AS level). More alarming is that most young people don't seem to realise that they can go to their search engine and simply type in a key word. They don't need a web site. Disadvantage: they have to spell the key word correctly, although some search engines ask 'Do you mean...?'
And no, we're not helping them. We're not going to be around for ever.

Answer 8

Well their is a section for it.
some may be lazy and someones must really need help.
You cant judge the reason that a person have.
If it bother you then don't need to answer them.
When I was in University I would really appreciate I could have a place like this for help. I have 2 works, went to University, then have to attend my house and my kid, and some days I have to do University practise....If I could made a day longer I would have done it!
See, you never know.....

Answer 9

I thought that originally. But now i look at it this way- they are going to look at all the answers and probably will ask the question several times to make sure it is the right answer. In this process hopefully they will learn. It is better than not doing their homework at all.

Answer 10

No. I think it is interesting and it shows that the people needing help have initiative. They still have a lot of work to do after asking, because they have to read through all the replies, and decide which gives them the best answer.

Answer 11

I know what you mean, it is annoying and it's not just school kids, seen a few that are obviously college or uni essays too.
Still they run the risk of writing an essay that is very misinformed as most of the answers they get take the mick. If they want to look like a numpty when they get their mark then it's up to them.