[lalwat]

My teacher told us that a monad is somewhat like a recipe of an action. A set of instructions without a real purpose of return. So you have to create them under different terms than functions. A function is more of a specification with a constant result, ie put in 2 get 4, regardless of state. It is the combined power of monads and functions which grant access to the more interesting features of a functional programming language.

[jonsterling]

I'm afraid your teacher is either trolling you, or hasn't much understanding of the topic himself... :(