Why do you think kids take longer posting a question here, instead of actually looking it up?

Question

I joined Yahoo! Answers just a couple of days ago, and I am surprised by how much we can help each other through this portal.

For instance, I love teaching, but do not have time to actually enroll as a teacher. However, I find it fascinating that I can use this site to explain a high-school student how to do his or her homework.

Unfortunately, I see a lot of questions which could be solved by any person with nominal intelligence if that person would only research for one minute, no more, in on-line sources, such as Wikipedia.

Say you want to know where does the name of Saturn come from:

a) Type "Saturn" and read (in my case, Wikipedia, I found this in the first paragraph):

"It was named after the Roman god Saturnus...[more explanation]"

I can follow the link to Saturnus, and actually learn something.

It took me 10 seconds.

Why would you post the question here and wait until you have 10 answers, read through them, and pick the "best one".

Why kids do not want to learn? I'm sad.

Answer 1

Some kids do want to learn.  They are genuinely stuck as to where to begin answering a question.

But other kids actually find school to be a game to see how to get through a class with as little effort as possible.   They develop patterns that are so ingrained that they fail to see when they are expending *MORE EFFORT* to get a worse grade!    

For example, multiple choice questions.   The kid actually expends the effort of typing in all answers, including the wrong ones ... including ones that are *OBVIOUSLY* wrong.  Rarely will a kid say "I've narrowed it down to (b) or (e)" and they are genuinely stuck.  But usually it's just "please tell me which letter to circle".

These are precisely the kids, who do dismally on tests (because they have carefully avoided actually learning anything) and because they have spent so much time typing in all these questions in to Y!A, they conclude "This science stuff is hard ... I hate science."

I DON'T think it's because of the social interaction.   Typing in a bunch of questions, copying down the answer, and not even bothering to pick a Best Answer, much less say "thank you", is not social interraction.   (I think I've had maybe three kids say "thank you" among all the thousands of questions I've answered.  Granted, they made my day ... but you wonder where all these other kids are learning about how to through life expecting other people to do their work for them.)

Answer 2

yes, i too don`t get it I guess. Purportedly, kids want real answers from real people as opposed to using a machine and yet to do homework they often have to be dragged from the very machine they hate to use !!!!!

Answer 3

Good question -

I've often wondered the same thing.

Kids are so used to going to an online community for everything (Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, etc.) - perhaps there is a social aspect that draws them.

There is also the possibility that they do not trust themselves enough to value their own judgment, and so they look to others to make the call.

I also enjoy teaching and helping others in this forum. It gives me a chance to explore questions and fields that I wouldn't normally pursue.

Welcome to Yahoo Answers!

Answer 4

it's an excuse to be on yahoo?

they get answers that don't sound as if they directly copied/pasted from a website?

it's irksome because i like to try to answer genuine curiosity questions...but i've got to sift through all the homework to find those.

Answer 5

Because most kids are lazy and would prefer someone else doing the work for them

Answer 6

you just don't get it kids ask queastions because they want a real persons thoughts not some stupid machine

Answer 7

Definitely. I've noticed that too. I am an avid fan of google. But some of the kids don't seem to even know how to use a search engine.

Everytime I use google to look up something I am always thinking of students years ago when they didn't have internet access (especially when I am looking up articles from scientific  journals). All I need to do now is type up a couple of keywords and I am set to go. And even so I feel almost.....guilty...about using it. I think searching for answers is part of the whole learning process and that this privilege that I have got has certainly made me dependent on technology as well as lazier.

Also when I see these questions answered, I keep thinking about the top student in class who also happens to be the lazy guy's best friend. And even if the lazy guy begs and pleads to copy his answers, the smart guy wouldn't let him directly copy, even though he's willing  to spend hours explaining the concepts to the other guy because they're best friends. On the long run, it's only going to benefit the lazy guy. But "yahoo answers" is definitely not that friend. Hehehe.