Don't ask!

There might not be such a thing as a "dumb question"...but there sure are questions better left unasked.

If by this point in your educational career the only thing you find the need to ask your professor* in class is "Is that going to be on the quiz tomorrow?," do us both a favor and don't bother asking questions.

I know many (most, I might hope!) of my students dream, and dream big, imagining the many wonderful things they'll be able to do with the knowledge they'll gain in their classes...even their classes which are sometimes more challenging than they might like them to be at the time.

I know that many of you are working hard to make sense of the tough, tough concepts we talk about day in and day out. (Tough they are: it took brilliant minds centuries to piece together the puzzles we're assembling and disassembling every day in class.)

I also know that some of you are here only because your parents (or your high school teachers, or your guidance counselor, or...) told you that it's the next step that you're expected to take in life: you're not here because you want to be; you're here because you're told to be.

Of those of you reading this who find yourselves in the last group, I might ask the following question (which might, after all, be better left unasked), and I might expect a serious, well-thought-out answer: Why are you here?

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* ...your professor who spends more time and effort than you can imagine in plotting a course replete with rich and authentic examples and opportunities for robust, hands-on engagement of central course concepts, for the benefit of students like you, who, I might add, very obviously (whether you know it or not, you're not very skilled at hiding your apathy, my young friend) couldn't give a rat's ass about what you're getting.**

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** ...bitter? Nahhh...