Meet the student who moved to the East Coast for giving a terrible answer
Speaking up in class can be really difficult. Especially when the class is in a large lecture hall with 300-plus students. In an effort to understand this problem, The Aggie sat down with some students who are trying to tackle the scary situation that is participating in class.
“It’s been a long process, but I think I’m finally ready to raise my hand in my chemistry lecture,” said Guy Fieri, a second-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior major and owner of multiple pairs of glasses that don’t actually have a prescription. “The worst thing that could happen is that everybody laughs at my answer and I’m so scarred from the experience that I never speak to anyone again. Which is fine.”
Shortly after being interviewed, Fieri went to his chemistry lecture, raised his hand and gave a completely wrong answer to a question.
“This is why you should never take any risks,” he said. “Just keep doing everything you’ve been doing and you won’t get hurt like I did. Everybody listened to my wrong answer and then they just went back to listening to the professor like I didn’t matter. I’m still shaking.”
Other students share opposite sentiments about speaking up in class.
“I really like speaking up in big lecture halls,” said Randy Dandruff, a third-year biochemistry major and author of a book full of selfies of himself. “I love shouting out answers to every question, even when the professor calls on somebody else. And I don’t care if I’m wrong, because in a way I still win, because I got everybody’s attention for a second.”
After interviewing Fieri again a week after his debacle, he had a slightly better attitude about his situation.
“I realized that I was being a little dramatic about never wanting to speak again. I’ve decided I’m going to try and answer another question in class. Except I’m going to wait a few years until I’m in grad school, and I’m going to make sure I’m at a school on the East Coast.”
Written by: Brian Landry — bjlandry@ucdavis.edu
(This article is humor and/or satire, and its content is purely fictional. The story and the names of “sources” are fictionalized.)
