Curiosity is great. It keeps things interesting, and it fuels humans to discover new horizons and challenge new ideas. Just as there is a time and place for everything, there is a time and place for asking irrelevant questions.

Let me be very clear: this time and place is NOT in the classroom during the middle of lecture. The other day, in my introductory-level astronomy class, the professor was lecturing about the classification of Pluto as a planet. I've discovered that, for some reason, our generation feels a sense of endearment for Pluto, so everyone seemed reasonably interested in the topic of the day. Class was going well and actually passing pretty quickly, and everything was fine and dandy.  

And then someone raised their hand. 

As expected, it was "that guy" (you know exactly who I'm talking about) who finds it necessary to try his best to stump the professor every single class in an attempt to boost his ego for the day by asking an impossibly complicated and completely unnecessary question in our INTRODUCTORY-LEVEL class. 

"Whaaat could you possibly have a question about?!" I cynically thought to myself as our professor visually navigated the sea of students to focus his attention on the question-asker. 

As the student berated the professor with useless, undeveloped questions, I came to the conclusion that I'd finally had it with this guy. So, I have decided to passive-aggressively voice my concerns to him in the form of an open letter that he will probably never read. Mature, right? 

Dear Guy Who Asks Too Many Questions in Class,

Please, for the love of sweet Jesus, stop. Not only are you interrupting the flow of the class material, but (just guessing by his understated eye-rolling every time you raise your hand), you're interrupting the professor which, in turn, makes him teach right up until the end of class. I'm sure he would love to have a comprehensive conversation with you after class about the existence of extraterrestrial life or black holes or whatever the hell you're asking about today.

Although your curiosity is admirable, your lack of tact and discretion is not. If you ABSOLUTELY have to ask a question, at least take the time to develop it into something coherent. 

Again, there is a time and place for everything. Please, learn that both the time and place for your extensive inquiries are listed in the class syllabus. They're called office hours.

Sincerely, 

Natalie Rech

Intolerant Sophomore