I present: your child's homework!

[Reyneth]

I know it might drive some librarians and customer service folk crazy, but, I hope there is some teacher out there still who will assign a report and mandate that the internet cannot be used for anything more than just checking to see if a book is in stock at the library/book store. Make the children actually do research the "old" way AND cite it.

I'd be a hell of a teacher, wouldn't I? :-p

Not quite to that extreme, but I know on the research paper my mom's 6th graders have in the spring at least 3 of the 5 sources must be print ones. And several other projects during the year require actual books/encyclopedias.
*oh, the horror!*

I get a good out of the papers when I help grade though. Mom essentially makes blank Works Cited entries, just fill in the blanks. Author last name, first name. Title of Book. etc. Easy peasy. Yet some kids still manage to get less than 1/2 credit on that part!

[Jester]

Projects such as mousetrap cars...

Good LORD, I remember doing mousetrap cars in my senior year high school physics class.

I somehow got it into my head that the less surface contact the car's wheels had with the ground, the better, so thin as thin wheels were the way to go. So I used old 45 rpm records as the three wheels for the car.

I was wrong.

My car DID go the required distance, but wasn't even close to being in the running for the furthest. I kind of new I was in trouble when my physics teacher looked at my car before it ran and said, "That's an interesting approach, Jester. Good luck with it."

I can't even begin to imagine how you connect customer service with "Do my kid's homework."

Cue the large graphic that reads "IF IT MAKES SENSE, IT'S NOT ALLOWED!" Welcome to the world of SCs.

Then we have lazy parents or lazy college students who ask us questions about software and websites. They want to know if there are any websites where they can download term papers for free...

They should do it the old-fashioned way, the way a bunch of kids in my dorm did it when I was at ASU: pay a dorm-mate who is good at writing to write your paper.

Now, now that I would know , but that extra income sure can be good to have if you happen to be that writer dorm-mate.......

I hope there is some teacher out there still who will assign a report and mandate that the internet cannot be used for anything more than just checking to see if a book is in stock at the library/book store.

Actually, one of the hardest assignments I ever had in college was to write a paper for one of my political science classes using sources ONLY from the internet. Google is all well and good, but it can be a bitch for finding specific things.

I handed in that paper about 15 minutes after the class when it was due had started. I was shocked I had finished it, to be honest.

[mattm04]

Not quite to that extreme, but I know on the research paper my mom's 6th graders have in the spring at least 3 of the 5 sources must be print ones. And several other projects during the year require actual books/encyclopedias.
*oh, the horror!*

I get a good out of the papers when I help grade though. Mom essentially makes blank Works Cited entries, just fill in the blanks. Author last name, first name. Title of Book. etc. Easy peasy. Yet some kids still manage to get less than 1/2 credit on that part!

One of my profs assigned a report where we had to use print sources. he had to implement this after one student only used wikipedia for all of his sources.

[powerboy]

We sawed off a little tree limb, split it, found a rock which we shaped with a belt sander, and tied the rock into the stick with leather to make a really bad-ass hatchet. Overboard? Probably. But did I get an A on the project? Hell yes.

My dad and I done the same thing. I also got an A on it. Since I am part Cherokee, I asked my grandfather on my dads side, for info. Hey the teacher said that we could use props, if we wanted. As I recall, I was the only one to receive an "A"

My family has a 70's version of encyclopedias. I used them a lot. I never really found the internet to be helpful on my projects.

[starla671]

We were lucky enough to have a set of encyclopedias, but they were from when I was born *cough summer of love cough*. Is there room under the rock with ya? - I'll bring more wine

We had a groovy set from 1970! Kids today have no idea how good they have it!

Just how big is that rock? Big enough for one more? I'll bring a bottle of Pinot!

[Forensic Waitress]

My god, not only would have never have talked to my mother like that. Especially if I didn't want to get in trouble. I also never expected my parents to do the work for me just help me with supplies and sometimes with understanding something.

Like I have said parents need to parent and not let their kids lead their lives.

[Knightmare]

Don't mean to hijack, but this is along the same lines.

My ex's son has a science project due in mid-December. He's known about it for 2 months now. The report is on cell walls and he asked me to help him.
I agreed. He thought it was great because where I work, I see microscopic bugs and plants every day. So I should know all about it, right?

Well, so far, the two months have passed. He hasn't contacted me about help. When I see him, he doesn't say anything about the project. Nothing at all.

I have a feeling that he's going to call me the night before it's due and ask for "help" (meaning he will want me to do all the work).

I love the big guy, but I'm not doing to do his homework for him. Especially since he's had almost 3 months to complete it.

[Seshat]

We had an encyclopedia from the 40s. Seriously. No, I'm not that old. But we were poor.

I also had an adult library card from a comparatively young age, with my mother's approval, and I was permitted to go to the library on my own anytime I wanted, once my parents were confident I was a safe bike-rider.

These dioramas and things are supposed to be for learning, right? So (as long as it wasn't art class), I'd give a kid an A for a clumsily-made lego and plasticine diorama, as long as the kid could say 'this is the castle, here's the curtain wall, these lumpy bits are supposed to be crenellations. This is the keep proper, and this level is the armory, and this level is the weaving and spinning and sewing room, and this level is the bedrooms for the nobles, and here's the dining hall and the kitchens, and in this open space is....'

As long as the kid learned what the project was supposed to teach him, it's good enough for me. Which is what bugs me about all the 'parents-do-the-project' stuff. The kid learns nothing.

[Jester]

As long as the kid learned what the project was supposed to teach him, it's good enough for me. Which is what bugs me about all the 'parents-do-the-project' stuff. The kid learns nothing.

Precisely. My parents would, on occasion, HELP me do something, but that was the key word: help. They wouldn't do it for me, they wouldn't do the research for me, they wouldn't put anything together for me. It was more along the lines of, "Okay, Jester my boy, how exactly do you want to go about this? Like that? And what part of doing that are you not so sure how to do/make/produce?" Etc., etc., etc.

[Sliceanddice]

My pysics glass we had to do bottle rockets (fun) and another project i did a project about light and how the eyes work and stuff. ih and a rubberband car (not mouse trap we made them in class with rubberband, scewers, and foam cups.

[Jester]

Our mousetrap cars had only two requirements: they had to use a single mousetrap as the sole engine, and they had to go at least three feet the day they were due.

It was truly amazing how many different permutations people came up with. Mine, as I said, was barely adequate for a passing grade.

And on that day, in 1988, any aspirations I might have had to be an engineer died a quick, painless, silent death.

[Alpha Strike]

One of my profs assigned a report where we had to use print sources. he had to implement this after one student only used wikipedia for all of his sources.

Why did your professor let this fly? While I find Wikipedia quite useful in some cases, at best it only can only site other sources; it's certainly not a primary source itself. And with so many people given the ability to edit entries, you have to wonder at times how reliable any of the information is.

[SongsOfDragons]

At university certain lecturers can be really anal about what citations they will accept. Some I know who do history and archaeology don't accept books from certain authors because they consider them 'hacks'. It's only slightly better than that stupid lecturer I read about somewhere who automatically failed any men on her women's lit course along with any woman who spelt woman without a 'Y'.

Me, I've got into the habit of trying to cite something from Warhammer 40k in all my English essays - for instance, on my essay about cities in fiction!! No lecturer I know likes Wikipedia at all, but they all know people use it as a primary source and use the external links at the bottom of every article. I'm a Wiki-whore and a member, so I can argue its good points...although to no avail...

[jb17kx]

Can I join in the under-rock party?

Going through school (not long left now, thank God) just in the last years, one of the first ports of call was a 1978 set of World Books that my mother had gotten for high school. Its a full set, all 21 volumes, plus a research guide and index and the two Australasia volumes, along with the Year Book suppliments from 1979 to 1987.

I used to read them for pleasure when I was younger, and now they're a great thing to cite as a general understanding of the topic, and an excellent way of contrasting now and then. I don't know if they'll be much use to my kids (if I ever have any) but I'll hang onto them anyway becasue even though they're secondary/tertiary sources on the subjects inside, they're very nearly primary sources on the late '70s.

The technological changes we've seen in just the past 10 years have been astounding, but sadly there's a lot that they've done to make already negative aspects of society even worse.

[JustADude]

It's only slightly better than that stupid lecturer I read about somewhere who automatically failed any men on her women's lit course along with any woman who spelt woman without a 'Y'.

Talk about playing into stereotypes... total man-hating Feminazi teaching a women's lit course...
So, how long before she booted by guys suing her for gender discrimination?