Response from Oliver Leaman on November 17, 2007

Not necessarily, since using others' weakness is often a legitimate way of getting things we deserve. If someone in authority can be swayed to do what is right by playing on a weakness, there is no reason why we should not do so. The important issue here is whether the activity connected to the weakness is ethical or otherwise. If as you think it is hardly in your interest, or those of your colleagues, to repeat the same lesson a good deal, or to avoid homework which is after all useful in passing future examinations, then playing on the weakness is not to the pupils' long term advantage. This is surely the nub of the issue, and you are not a fool for wishing to get this work well grasped by you through homework and so get in a position to move onto something new and perhaps more interesting.