I do not remember much memories from my childhood where teachers shut me down from asking questions that I was curious about. From what I can remember, the teachers were really nice towards us students.
Every time I have a question, I hesitate to ask it in fear of looking “stupid”. And, to be honest, they were sometimes, but my brain needs extra confirmation, so I force myself to ask anyway.
One situation that really rubbed me the wrong way wasn’t too long ago. I was a junior in high school, and I was taking chemistry, the hardest subject I’ve ever studied. On the first day of school, the teacher told us not to be afraid of asking questions because chemistry is a difficult subject; you will not pass if you stay quiet about something that is troubling you. When I heard that, I was relieved. There was a teacher who was willing to listen to our questions no matter how “dumb” we thought it was. However, that quickly changed.
There was this girl in class who didn’t understand the problem we were doing, so she asked the teacher for assistance. She was a timid student as well, so I know it took a lot of courage to ask.
In hopes of getting another explanation on how to do it, the teacher embarreses her. She was acting as if the student already had background knowledge on chemistry. She was coercing her to answer it on her own, in front of everyone. She even made her stand up, because the student wasn’t answering.
There was an awkward silence that filled the air of the classroom. Everyone was quiet, waiting for the student to respond. All you could hear was the teacher pestering her to reply.
After that day, everyone hesitated to ask questions.
That’s sad!!