There's no such thing as a dumb question...

... is there?

I've heard that adage countless times in my life from well-meaning teachers who have drilled into us that we should always ask, as someone else in the class might have the same question. However, my experience today makes me think there are some caveats - namely, questions should stay on-subject with the material, not deviating into tangents that are only applicable to one student, and that there should probably be a base understanding of a subject before taking a class with other people who have the base understanding.

I spent most of my Saturday in a free first-time home-buyer's workshop put on by the Neighborhood Housing Services of Silicon Valley that Shally signed me up for at the library. It was pretty informative, with talks given by a realtor, lender, and insurance agent, and good questions were asked by the 50+ people in attendance, many of whom were attending to get an education certificate in order to get a loan.

However, there was one lady in the front row who seemed oblivious to the fact that the rest of the class - who, despite the good material, was keenly aware that it was Saturday and wanted the workshop to be as efficient as possible - was not interested in her very specific-to-her-own-life, TMI questions. Lady, we are not interested in hearing about how you separated from your husband, and how your elderly mom who lives with you might possibly get a job and how would this affect your loan prospects. There's a reason for one-on-one consultations.

Also, I heard and saw numerous frustrated sighs and eye rolls when she asked, "What's the difference between a condo and a townhome?"

The instructors were quite indulgent in answering all of her questions, even the inane ones, which made it even a bit more frustrating.

I guess the moral is: there may be no such thing as a dumb question (granted, it takes guts and a certain lack of self-consciousness to be willing to ask in a public forum), but it's almost always better to strive to ask good questions that will benefit the understanding of the material for the whole group. Also, it's incumbent on the instructor to filter out the good questions from the too-specific ones, and address them during the break.