Mr. Miyagi and learning

So here I was in thermal physics class. The students were talking about the assigned homework and then asked: "can't we get some homework credit for this? Why are we even doing this?" Immediately in my head popped "wax on, wax off". This was the same situation Mr. Miyagi (from [The Karate Kid](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Karate_Kid)) was in with Daniel-san. Homework should not be done just for the points. Homework should help the students become more proficient at blocking blows from the test.

I really like the movie karate kid. Mr. Miyagi brings up some good points. How does Daniel-san learn about karate? Is it by sitting and listening to Miyagi? No, he learns by doing some stuff. At first Daniel-san does not see the point of the exercises, but in the end, he wins.

![200px Karate kid](http://scienceblogs.com/dotphysics/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/200px-kar…)

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