Never Raise Your Hand in Class: A School Story

Have you ever been wrong about something? If your name is Josiah, you probably have been wrong a few times. It all began when I was reading my friend's blog called Scribbillarum (@josiahrabe on Substack). You should check it out, he writes some interesting things. One of those interesting things is titled "You need to raise your hand in class" and as I was reading it, I wondered if Josiah could be capable of taking his own free advice. In his post, he explains "you should raise your hand and answer the question, regardless of whether you say the 'right' thing or not." Alright then, Josiah! I posted a comment, challenging him to raise his hand and attempt to answer every single question asked for an entire day at school because of his 828-word reasoning on why everyone should do it, and he agreed but with a condition: I had to do it too.
Little did we know what awaited us.

"Fine," I said decisively, only because I wanted to see him do it.   

We had only four classes that day, so it was a good day for the challenge. My friend Vesper became our scorekeeper, tallying our total hands raised and total correct answers. First lesson went rather well because it was a work-hour, meaning that we did not have to answer any questions. It was second period when things got messy.

We began with reviewing the previous chapter in our history textbook, and of course, whether we knew the answers or not, our two hands raised each time. We got most correct if we were called on, but sometimes we had to fumble and admit 'I don't know' or make up some ludicrous answer, which probably seemed very strange to my peers because raising one's hand indicated that they know the answer. And then, the dreaded question from the teacher:

"Why are gas prices so high?" 

Our hands made their way above our heads, myself cringing in my seat, hoping with all my might that I would not be called on. 

"Naomi," the teacher selected. "Why are gas prices as high as they are?"

"Well," I faultered, "I believe it is because—" and I fumbled out some response I don't care to remember. It was completely wrong, anyway. This was the part of the challenge I was afraid of, but I continued to raise my hand constantly because I wanted to win.

"Do you have any questions?" the teacher would occasionaly ask between topics. 

Uh oh. That was certainly a question, meaning that I had to raise my hand. And so I did.

"Naomi?"

"I have no questions," I answered, and began to laugh at how awkward and stupid I sounded. 

Josiah did the same thing, and the teacher noticed something was going on, and I was promptly told to cut it out. 

Ouch! Sometimes I have been known as a "goody-two-shoes" at school, and I will admit that when I am told off, it really does hurt me. I did not realize how foolish I was acting, so I decided that I was done with the challenge.When the hour switched to geography, I knew I would refrain from raising my hand. 

After some explaination of the Iberean peninsula, teacher asked: "Does everyone understand?" Now, it is generally understood that these questions have a slight rhetorical sense, meaning that you are not expected to answer unless you are truly lost with the material.

No way would I raise my hand again and risk receiving a dreaded dermerit. But then I heard:

"Yes, Josiah?"

I looked behind me, and there was Josiah raising his hand, and he answered: "Yes, I understand."

This guy really has some guts, because he does it again, four or five more times, answering every "Does this make sense?" with a raised hand and "Yes."

The teacher laughted nervously. "You know, Josiah, you really don't have to do that every time I ask."

Class was dissmissed for lunch, and I was relieved the debacle was over. But then our history teacher called us (and the scorekeeper!) into his office and set us straight. It seems that we were so focused on the silly challenge that we lost sight of what was important: learning our lessons. I realized that we were a disruption to the time and effort our teacher put into the lesson, and I was not setting any kind of example for the younger students that I was supposed to. I fully expected a demerit, something I dreaded because I have kept a clean record my entire high school life, and if I received a demerit the end of senior year I will never forgive myself. However, we were let off with a warning, and told to never repeat it again. 

I was happy to hear from the scorekeeper that while Josiah and I tied for ammount of hands raised, I got most of the answers correct!

The moral of this story is simple: NEVER RAISE YOUR HAND IN CLASS. 

And so, I never did raise my hand after that, and Josiah is wrong about basically everything.

Hey, Josiah here. I hijacked Noami's laptop while she was writing this blog post, and I just wanted to quickly make a sarcastic comment about all my classmates absolutely adoring me and all my thoughts that I decide to plague the internet with. You should definitely read my blog, though. I do a lot of photography things aside from bad school advice. Okay bye!

NB: This is a joke! While this comical tale is true, I agree with Josiah that it is good to raise your hand in class because it helps you retain information and it is your duty as a student to participate in class.