"You're not normal. You ask too many questions!" said the cashier to a 6 year old girl at a bakery near my house.
"But I really want to know what's in this box!"
"You're now starting to annoy me kid. Go away. Ask your mom."
As a A-Levels student turning down a question really grinds my gears. When you ask a question, it's always due to the curiosity building up in you. You are curious about how does a thing proceed in its particular way. How things happen and what are the results. And if you don't get answered or are not satisfied by the given answer you get a rather strange feeling. Your mind doesn't buy in all the stuff and deep down in your heart you feel rather shallow.
During my whole academic career I've met only a handful of teachers who never turned down a question. They have always been ready to answer my questions, no matter how difficult they may seem. They also never made fun of any silly questions. But like I said, only a handful of them. Many feel burdened when they are asked a question. Now, I'm not talking about just the teachers only but I'm also talking about the people in general. This type of attitude is prevalent in many parts of the world. Ask a person a question and he may answer it with a smile on his face. He may do that again if you ask him another one but if you dare ask him for the third time, he'll reply you in a rather rude way.
Till this day I don't really get it. I mean what's wrong with asking a question. We aren't really attacking your dignity when we ask you a question. As a matter of fact, we actually take you with high regard when we approach you with a question. Yet people feel bothered answering them.
This mold needs to be addressed and a change should be brought upon it. Turning down a person's question isn't just rude, you actually hamper a person's confidence. Hence, the next time when a person has a question in his mind, he'll think twice before asking it. He'll hold back and hesitate. His hunger for acquiring information will not be quenched. This will result in him possibly missing out some important concepts. These concepts may prove to be rather crucial in the long run.People who are a part of the educational institutions should keep this in their mind.
I feel that teachers and all others who are a part of the academic staff should take a course which will develop teaching capabilities in a person. The course should also develop skills in a person that are necessary to tackle questions. The person must be able to answer a question in 10 different ways if a kid has failed to understand the previous 9. They should give some extra time to a person who faces difficulty in a particular matter. Anger management classes should also be made compulsory for the academic staff as they must be able to answer a kids question with a smile on their face and showing no signs of exhaustion.
When a kid remains unanswered in school and also remains unanswered in his group of friends then he only has the option of asking his parents. Parents must play a role in this situation. They must always answer their kids question no matter how many times he asks it. This will build up confidence in their kid. As I said earlier on, this confidence is really crucial for a person. It will create leadership qualities and the person will definitely live up a life according to his full potential. Not just this, this will also hone the kids nature and develop a quality of always being ready for questions and in the future if someone approaches him with a question of their own then they'll definitely be up for the task.
The girl never got to know what was in the box but I went to her and said "Hey little girl, asking questions is a good thing. Always ask about stuff and never stop."
