Internet – CAUTION!!!
The Internet enables you to have information at the touch of your fingers – literally.
However, beware. Comfort kills.
It is so easy to access information on a variety of topics – and so tempting to cheat.
The problem is that access to information is not the same as thinking for yourself. It is just a variation on copying someone else’s work without even understanding what you’re writing. Do this and you’re in the fast lane to being an unthinking imbecile.
Looking at various websites, you’ll find comments like these:
“I was wondering if you could send me any info on the poem that you have received. My email is…”
“do you have notes about the poem you could sent to me by any chance?
Cause I have to write an essay about it and give it in!
Thank you very much”
“I would like to have the explanation of this poem and its theme.”
“I would like to know the explanation of this poem and I need to know about the theme”
“Hi, I’m currently writting a poetic essayon this and thought it would be interesting to get someone else’s perspective on it. Any literature on the poem at all would be greatly appreciated. My e-mail address is…”
“hi u guyz
i need 2 rite about this poem and i need a deeper anaylsis…can someone pls send me a commentary regarding its themes n all? thanks so much..will majorly appreciate it if some1 helps…”
“do you have notes about the poem you could sent to me by any chance?
Cause I have to write an essay about it and give it in!
Thank you evry much.
Send it to me at…”
“I would like to have the explanation of this poem and its theme.”
“hey i was wondering if someone could send me the meaning of the poem and any other information (ASAP) that may help me because i have to write an essay on it. my email is… thanx”
The above are just a small sample of genuine requests from students on one web-page!
And here’s a genuine response from a web-master after being asked why he/she refuses to give the ‘answers’ on a plate:
“Why? Okay. I get a number of requests like this. Here is my response to all of you.
First, because I don’t have the answers written down. I know what they are. Inside my head. I’m not about to type them up for you. I can’t be bothered.
Second, because this request unsettles me. There seems to be a lazy attitude in some who’ve grown up with the Internet. It involves a sense of entitlement, which leads you to assume that any content you could wish for should be right there at your fingertips… without your needing to talk with teachers, visit a library or even to think for engage in close reading. The Internet is created by people. We donate our time in order to add something to the corpus. Ask yourselves, what is *your* contribution to this corpus of information that’s out there, free? Stop expecting and start creating.
Third, this is literature and interpretation; not mathematics. There’s no such thing as ‘the answers’. There is a set of possible answers.
Fourth, I’ve already spent a lot of my own time creating and uploading Katherine Mansfield resources. If you can’t find what you need here, ask your English teacher. They get paid to help you. I don’t.
That said, had you engaged with me in a more thoughtful manner, commenting on something specific rather than requesting ‘The Answers’, which makes me think you want me to do your homework for you on a Sunday night, I would have been more than happy to have a discussion.”
