Adding to the ideas about asking stupid questions and mwengler’s anecdote about being the smartest guy in the room (upvoted btw), I found that the thing I hated most about school was the fact that many of the teachers tended to possess numerous delusions of their own intelligence or other personality malfunctions that made learning (or bothering to go to school at all) quite painful to commit to. They tended to be things that could be solved if the perpetrator exhibitied a little bit more humility (or if the school could afford better qualified teachers, either way...)
Just as examples I had:
A pretentious art teacher that would say “Art is a talent, and thus can not be taught”
A married couple of music teachers who didn’t think any child could appreciate music
An english teacher who would rant about her failed dream to be a journalist (-her only qualification to teach English)
Three foreign language teachers who each shouted at their students for being stupid (because they couldn’t grasp new concepts)
A vegan Biology teacher who’s lessons consisted seemingly of three cycles: “Don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t cook your food”
A religious ed teacher who once gave me and two of my peers books when she decided we were ‘intellectually gifted’. All three books were poorly argued dissertations on the benefits of Christianity which tried to achieve its aims by villifying Judaism and Secularism in particularly unsavoury ways.
Anyway to bring it back on topic, I think that when some people experience characters like these who put them down, or try to show them up, or just distract them from the joy or learning, they begin to fear asking silly questions. And then they equate ‘silly questions’ with ‘questions they don’t know the answer to’ and then they fear asking any questions at all and then never discover the answer to any of them! (or never discover the confidence to try and answer them themselves).
(I should add that the best loved and respected teachers at the school were all physics, maths and computer science teachers. Perhaps I am lucky that even though it was my linguistic skill for which I was “identified as being smart” at school, poor support in the areas that I was originally interested in (which continue to leave a lingering distaste) pushed me more towards physics, maths and computer science once I left school (something which I’m optimistic will lead to a more satisfying life than any ‘romantic notions’ I had might have done. Or to clarify, lest we be accused of fitting into the ‘zero fun’ rationalist stereotype, I have new romantic notions that revolve around the wonders of physics, maths and computer science.)
I think you should be reluctant to generalize from your experiences here. I had the occasional terrible teacher in school (including one who was diagnosed with a brain tumor a couple years later, to the surprise of none of their students), but overall my school experience sounds nothing like yours.
I really, really think you shouldn’t generalize from:
I should add that the best loved and respected teachers at the school were all physics, maths and computer science teachers.
The science department in my high school was by far the worst department. I suspect that my experience is more typical because competent people with science degrees have many more higher-pay-and-prestige career options than have competent people with English literature or art degrees.
Adding to the ideas about asking stupid questions and mwengler’s anecdote about being the smartest guy in the room (upvoted btw), I found that the thing I hated most about school was the fact that many of the teachers tended to possess numerous delusions of their own intelligence or other personality malfunctions that made learning (or bothering to go to school at all) quite painful to commit to. They tended to be things that could be solved if the perpetrator exhibitied a little bit more humility (or if the school could afford better qualified teachers, either way...)
Just as examples I had:
A pretentious art teacher that would say “Art is a talent, and thus can not be taught”
A married couple of music teachers who didn’t think any child could appreciate music
An english teacher who would rant about her failed dream to be a journalist (-her only qualification to teach English)
Three foreign language teachers who each shouted at their students for being stupid (because they couldn’t grasp new concepts)
A vegan Biology teacher who’s lessons consisted seemingly of three cycles: “Don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t cook your food”
A religious ed teacher who once gave me and two of my peers books when she decided we were ‘intellectually gifted’. All three books were poorly argued dissertations on the benefits of Christianity which tried to achieve its aims by villifying Judaism and Secularism in particularly unsavoury ways.
Anyway to bring it back on topic, I think that when some people experience characters like these who put them down, or try to show them up, or just distract them from the joy or learning, they begin to fear asking silly questions. And then they equate ‘silly questions’ with ‘questions they don’t know the answer to’ and then they fear asking any questions at all and then never discover the answer to any of them! (or never discover the confidence to try and answer them themselves).
(I should add that the best loved and respected teachers at the school were all physics, maths and computer science teachers. Perhaps I am lucky that even though it was my linguistic skill for which I was “identified as being smart” at school, poor support in the areas that I was originally interested in (which continue to leave a lingering distaste) pushed me more towards physics, maths and computer science once I left school (something which I’m optimistic will lead to a more satisfying life than any ‘romantic notions’ I had might have done. Or to clarify, lest we be accused of fitting into the ‘zero fun’ rationalist stereotype, I have new romantic notions that revolve around the wonders of physics, maths and computer science.)
I think you should be reluctant to generalize from your experiences here. I had the occasional terrible teacher in school (including one who was diagnosed with a brain tumor a couple years later, to the surprise of none of their students), but overall my school experience sounds nothing like yours.
I really, really think you shouldn’t generalize from:
The science department in my high school was by far the worst department. I suspect that my experience is more typical because competent people with science degrees have many more higher-pay-and-prestige career options than have competent people with English literature or art degrees.