In university, it is expected of students to have a higher level of intelligence and to be well informed on the subjects in their major. Some people, unfortunately, make it very clear that this is true with them.
You know who I am talking about; these are the people who sit in the front of your class and are always raising their hands, often giving long and irrelevant answers to the professor’s questions. They take up your class time with their randomly memorized facts on the topics, trying to show the class and the professor that they are miles ahead in knowledge, and by that merit, they are better than you.
Oftentimes, they aren’t even answering or asking a question.
These people make me really angry, mainly because they are wasting my class time (which I am paying for) by trying to get the professor to stroke their ego by validating their comments.
I’m not talking about everyone who speaks in a class because I acknowledge that some people might have questions or they are trying to bring up a point that they encountered in the readings. These are the people who are here to learn and expand their minds, rather than just showing up to class to show that they are smarter than everyone.
I don’t see why these know-it-alls don’t think that the professor doesn’t know what they are doing either, since professors aren’t stupid. If their peers can see through their act, then a prof can as well. I’ve seen a prof call on a student, have them give their “I’m so smart” monologue, ignore them, and ask the question again to someone else.
If you want to show the prof that you are smart, go to their office hours, and give them a reason to think you’re smart. If you want your peers to think you are smart, try showing this through actions, rather than meaningless words that waste everyone’s time.
Maybe if people took less time stroking their egos and more time trying to contribute to the discussion in a constructive way, someone might actually be impressed.
