Nobody asks questions anymore. We all go with the flow and just follow blindly with whatever people tell us. This particularly applies in class. Now I know, classes are over for a couple months, but this applies to other situations as well. For example, when your boss tells you to do something and you don’t know how or why, if you don’t ask questions then you might not do it correctly.

I have noticed that people tend to act like they understand something in a group setting when they really don’t because they don’t want others to think they’re stupid. This is a really bad thing to do, in terms of your grade. You aren’t as stupid as you think you are (well, maybe you are, but who cares?). Asking questions in class is only going to benefit you and probably some of your classmates. If you don’t ask any questions, you could be completely lost and not be able to catch up.

I was in a class this last year that a bunch of my classmates didn’t understand what was going on, so I had to carry them through the class because they didn’t ask any questions (part of this was because the teacher was horrible at answering their questions, but they still wouldn’t ask). I don’t think it’s fair to the people who understand to have to teach the material to their peers because they’re too scared to ask questions.

When I was in AP Stats, I hated asking questions. I was a junior in a mainly senior class and I didn’t want to look stupid so I never asked anything. I missed one class for MAP testing and we learned about the Empirical Rule that day. Well, the next day, we were going through it in class and I was completely lost. I must have looked extremely confused because Mr. Paulson asked me if I understood and of course I said no. He explained it and everyone else didn’t care. I should have just bucked up and asked a question and not relied on the teacher, but whatever.

You don’t have to raise your hand in the middle of class to ask either. Go talk to the teacher after class and ask a quick question before your next class. Chances are, they will help you out and if you are still there when the bell rings, they will probably give you a pass. You could also email them and come in before or after school.

Speaking as a completely anti-social butterfly, I will never ask questions during a class. Sometimes I hope other people in that class will ask the questions for me (or I tell them to). I do this for many different reasons. One of them is that I tend to disagree with a lot of my teachers and I refuse to ask them things out of rebellion (very dumb, don’t do this). Another reason is that I’m not a big fan of my classmates or showing other people that I don’t understand something (also very dumb, I’m a horrible example). But what I do is either go to and talk to the teacher after class, email them, or blackmail my classmates to ask it for me.

You absolutely have to ask questions if you don’t understand something. You’ve got to put some effort into your education. You can’t rely on your classmates to hold your hand and pull you through the semester because then you get nothing out of it. If you’re confused, get help on it. Set up a tutoring time or email back and forth with your teacher. It’s their job to help you learn, so why aren’t you taking advantage of it?