Re: STUDENTS GO AWAY!!!!!!!??????

[mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael Feldman)]

In article <dewar.861971618@merv>, Robert Dewar <dewar@merv.cs.nyu.edu> wrote:

[snip]

>So, speaking for myself, I think we should go out of our way to welcome
>students who do their homework, and ask useful and well thought out
>questions and not banish them to a backwater group. Students who have
>not done their homework are better served by pointing them in the directions
>where they can help themselves rather than sending them off to another
>group.

I second Robert here, on both counts.

Students studying Ada (or anything else) in a structured college or
university course should have access to texts, teaching assistants,
the prof teaching the course, and so on. 

It's unfair of these institutions to expect the net to make up for their
unwillingness to provide proper resources to their students. It's also
unfair for students to ask folks on the net to do their homework for
them.

That said, I think we are still under some obligation to be polite in
responding to students. First of all, it's common civility. Secondly,
we'd really like them to learn and use Ada, and acting like jerks is 
not going to encourage them.

_That_ said, Robert's statement that "there seem to be a lot of people 
on the net who don't understand how it works" is true, and, in my opinion,
definitely a good sign that the net is working as it should, attracting
new folks who are feeling their way. How else are they to learn "how it
works" unless they try it?

What will they find out when they try?

The net is like the larger community - some inhabitants are friendly
and welcoming, others are impatient and off-putting. The only generalization
is that you can't generalize. None of us has a monopoly on truth, or
a monopoly on the privilege of setting the rules.

For whatever my opinion is worth, if any of you out there feel that a post
is inappropriate, PLEASE do not waste bandwidth discussing it. Write a
private note to the poster, or, better, just ignore it. If _everyone_
thinks it was inappropriate, the poster will find out soon enough - nobody
will follow it up! If someone does follow it up, well, that's life on the
net. Nobody appointed or elected me, or Robert, or any of us, to 
legislate rules. It's a wonderful, anarchic place.

(just my $0.02)

Mike Feldman
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Michael B. Feldman -  chair, SIGAda Education Working Group
Professor, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
The George Washington University -  Washington, DC 20052 USA
202-994-5919 (voice) - 202-994-0227 (fax) 
http://www.seas.gwu.edu/faculty/mfeldman
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"Cooperate with those who have both know-how and integrity."      
   Fortune cookie, Wu Dynasty, Bethesda, MD, Spring 1996.
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Ada on the WWW: www.acm.org/sigada/education or www.adahome.com 
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