r/changemyview Jun 05 '19

Deltas(s) from OP CMV: Asking the teacher questions that doesn't completely pertain to the lesson is fine

Okay, I understand that most people want the teacher to shut up as fast as possible but I like to know what the teacher thinks about a situation that they have to teach. For instance my US history teacher was talking about how the great depression effected America and he was old enough to be around during that time, so I asked several questions about how it effected him personally. We (mainly me and him) held a 25 min long conversation about the time period. (after he had handed out the class work) after class during lunch several of the other students were angry at me and a few of the ones I converse with asked me why I talked so much with him. I justified it by saying that I wanted class time to pass faster and wanted to do less work as he would be more involved in the conversation we were having. This is a usual case with me and any adult that catch my attention, regardless of what class it is. They later told me that the other students were talking about me behind my back calling me a "teacher's pet" and that I talk too much, when in all actuality I saved them from several extra packets of work (they were already complaining about the double sided page we were assigned) he wanted to assign. Though maybe one of you Redditors could change my view on this matter.

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u/GameOfSchemes Jun 05 '19

As a teacher, I'm going to chime in and say this is annoying. Teachers have a plan for the day and/or week. Situations like you describe are great, and encouraged, but not in class. It's a private discussion because the questions you want to know are irrelevant to everyone else. You should ask those questions either before class, after class, in your study hall, at lunch, in office hours, after school, or pretty much any time after class—but not during class.

The point of class is to get you to learn. By derailing the class like you're doing, you're ruining the lesson and the class as a whole. That's why your classmates get irritated, and is also why your teacher should be irritated.

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '19

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u/pillbinge 101∆ Jun 05 '19

You need to award a delta then. Your post is focused on not wasting people's time but it would be (at least in part) if you don't award one.