[Volans]

G'day All,

We had the following letter delivered to the planetarium today. It was printed on letterhead from a school and signed by two grade 7 students.

We are writing a script for a task we have been assigned at school and would like to know a bit more about astronomy. Could you please answer the following questions, sign the bottom as proof that you have given us factual information only and send it back to us. If you have any other things (like a brochure) that you think might help us with the task we would really appreciate it.

Q1. What are stars made of?
Q2. What is the purpose of having the stars?
Q3. What is the purpose of having the sun?
Q4. What is the purpose of having the moon?
Q5. Is it safe to live on the moon?
Q6. What is the temperature like on the moon?
Q7. Would living things survive without the sun, moon or stars?
Q8. We heard the myth about the moon being made out of cheese. What is the moon really made of?
Q9. Is there anything that's edible on the moon?

I have provided the students with factual information only.
Signature:______________
Date:____/_____/______

I was simply stunned when I read the covering note and then became rather annoyed by two things can be inferred from the letter. The first thing is that a teacher has helped them write the letter and this teacher has DARED to imply that we would give out false information to students. The second thing that got me annoyed was that the teacher is condoning students getting their research done by someone else! Added to all of that, questions 2, 3, 4, 7 and 9 are not remotely astronomical in nature.

How would you deal with such a request (don't forget the demand for signing as proof of factual information!)?

Peter.