We’re All Here To Learn, But Could You Do It Better, Please?

When I was in college, there was a guy in one of my classes who would ask questions several times every class session. That in and of itself isn’t bad, but his questions were, frankly, STUPID, and they wasted lots of time — like ten to fifteen minutes of an hour every class.

These are not the actual questions (it was a class about discrete mathematics in computer science), but these are about the level of the real ones.

Professor: “…and that is why two plus three equals five. Now we…”

The dude raises his hand and the professor calls on him.

Dude: “Why does two plus three equal five?”

Professor: “As I just explained, [re-explains in more needless detail].”

Repeat several times per class on basically every topic.

Finally, the professor just told the dude to come to his office hours to discuss his questions. But by then, the harm had been done, and we were three weeks behind at the end of the term.

Grrr, it still irks me.