posted
Why is it that other people's homework is so much fun to do?
I first read Faulkner's "The Unvanquished" because my roommate had a final on it and needed to know what happened. What a great book! I read it during finals (instead of studying for my own finals) and gave her the 5 minute condensed version and she passed the test, yay!
Amira's logic class her freshman year had a team contest called fantasy logic league that she and I worked on each week as a team. I would spend any amount of time to get the right answers. It was so much fun.
Lately my mom's been sick and when I go over there I do laundry, dishes, clean her bathroom, get groceries, fix her meals, etc. I hate doing my own housework but doing someone else's is fun.
I would like to ask hatrack several questions about this:
1) Is this true for everyone else too, or am I just weird this way?
2) Does anyone know why this is true? Is it just that something freely given is always more joyful than something that feels compelled? Or that anything that's ours is by definition dull and unimportant compared to something that's someone else's?
3) Is there some way we can use this fact to get As in school? Or keep our houses clean? Or to just make doing any chore more fun? Like work some tradeoff scheme or figure out how to cast all our work as being someone else's or something?
posted
1. I think it's true for most people. But you could be weird too.
2. I think it's true because a.) it gets us out of our usual routine and b.) it feels good to help people.
3. If kids on the same class swapped papers and pledged to do the other's paper, it would result in A type students getting D's and D students getting A's, I think. It would be sorta fun to experiment with that... For keeping houses clean, I know of a bible study group of women who clean each other's houses all as a group in a round robin fashion. So they do one lady's house one month, then the next month do another lady's, etc. When I was growing up, I thought it was much easier to clean my brother's room than my own. And vice versa. That worked out pretty well, actually. Having no emotional attachment to things, I didn't get distracted or bogged down with "what do I do with this?".
Posts: 5948 | Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
"1) Is this true for everyone else too, or am I just weird this way?"
It is true for me also. You aren't weird. Or, at least you aren't any weirder than me.
"3) Is there some way we can use this fact to get As in school? Or keep our houses clean? Or to just make doing any chore more fun? Like work some tradeoff scheme or figure out how to cast all our work as being someone else's or something?"
I don't know, it is awfully hard to fake yourself out on this sort of thing.
Posts: 194 | Registered: Mar 2003
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(I hate dishes. Hate dishes with a passion. The entire rest of my apartment can be kept clean except the damn dishes.)
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
Yes. Unless I pay a friend to do them (usually with dinner) or someone does it out of the goodness of their heart.
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
Woo, a home cooked meal in exchange for just doing a few dishes? That's a great deal! I would so go for that any day of the week! Cooking is what's hard!
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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quote:Woo, a home cooked meal in exchange for just doing a few dishes? That's a great deal! I would so go for that any day of the week! Cooking is what's hard!
You could come and live at my appartment then, I'd be happy to cook for you every day, thoug your company would be more than worth it, you can forget the dishes.
posted
Other people's homework is, indeed, fun. I think this is because a) you don't have to do it, you volunteer to do it, and b) most people don't volunteer to do something unless they already find it interesting.
Oh, and for the record - I don't like doing other people's dishes any more than I like doing my own. Posts: 2454 | Registered: Jan 2003
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