The TA assumed she had knowledge that she didn't actually have, and was basing responses off that faulty assumption - plenty of students are lazy and ask questi

The TA assumed she had knowledge that she didn't actually have, and was basing responses off that faulty assumption - plenty of students are lazy and ask questions that they could answer themselves if they would just bother. In my experience, if you ask questions and it's clear you're trying, most people will engage with you. But if it's a short form for getting a lazy, spoon-fed answer, that's when people disengage My best brain-not-engaged story when I was a TA was a student who had to multiply 2 by 0.4. She reached for her calculator and I forbade her from using it (she was doing a major with a statistics component, so she could do this). She just stared dumbly at me until I couldn't bear it anymore and 'helped' her with "well, what's 2 by 4?". People like that will drain you until you don't care anymore. But a student who shows that they are trying, and you'll be more interested in going the extra mile.