Whilst in the midst of a short course, I’m immediately reminded of the four categories of students:

1. The guy who is waiting for a chance to tell everyone how much he knows. He does this by ostensibly asking questions, and rather turning it into a lecture drawing on his deep pool of wisdom. I suspect these are the people whom no one has ever listened to and are abusing the presence of a captive audience. These people have a severely deficient level of EQ, which cause them to misinterpret signals of irritation and imminent physical aggression as signs of approval.

2. The guy who asks ridiculously stupid questions. Either he is certifiably retarded, or he has not listened to anything the lecturer has said. Everyone rolls their eyes when they start speaking. If you can’t spot this guy, you’re the guy.

3. The guy who asks a complicated question after the final buzzer, thereby ensuring the entire class is trapped indoors for a further fifteen minutes instead of being outside freely breathing fresh air and drinking coffee. He is similar in category to the rugby player who fails to kick for touch after the buzzer.

4. And then of course, there are people like me. Rather than asking a potentially stupid question and appearing stupid, I’d rather remain stupid. Thank heavens for the Internet, so those of us that are subject to the crushing fear of what people think can ask stupid questions in private (although it is possible that Google is keeping track of our questions and creating an IQ index of us common people). I think this is most people.