In the courses we teach, I stress to the instructors that the most important thing is to understand where the student is at when they ask a question, and that our job is to create a bridge from there to wherever they've paid us to take them.

However, sometimes these bridges are of the form of questions, not answers. Perhaps that annoys the "give it to me" crowd, but it certainly provides the proper environment for ongoing learning, long after we've packed up our laser pointers and headed home.

I'm also reminded of an aphorism given in one of the many management training classes in which I've participated:

You're only as strong as your strongest opponent.

On that scale, I'm pretty strong. {grin}

-- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker

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