So…a funny thing happened today. Not funny-haha… Actually, not funny at all.
I was sitting in macro, paying rapt attention to the new prof – major improvement over Andy – while at the same time having no clue what was going on.
So I thought I’d ask a question. But then I realized that I didn’t know what question to ask. Beyond raising my hand and going, “um, professor. I’m so freaking lost. Uhh…. dduuuuuh… what’s with the interest rate?”
So I did that. Picture me twirling a curl around my finger and biting my lip a little while asking, then blushing violently.
Luckily Pierre-Olivier was kind enough to say that it was a good question.
What’s more is that I also realized that it’s been quite a while since anyone had asked a question in class – one that wasn’t mean to demonstrate how clever they are and how well versed they are in international political theory. But an honest-to-Gd-I-don’t-get-what’s-going-on kind of a question.
In P3, you’re no longer allowed to act like you don’t know what’s going on. Perhaps I have Pekka to thank for discouraging asking questions or attempting to understand the material.
Everyone is so cool in P3. It’s uncool to admit understanding the material – because the only reason you’d study is because you worry about failing. I’m onto you, people. I know you’re clueless just like me. Just raise your hand and admit it. Maybe we’ll all learn something as a result.
Before Insead, I had never taken a class in business. I didn’t have a clue about anything.
In P1 finance class, I raised my hand and asked: “Humm excuse me, but what is equity?”
I never felt ashamed of it. I was paying big bucks so, I wanted to really know what was going on. Some “untraditional” profiles in my section thanked me for it. The way I look at it is: this is school, not the workplace. In the workplace, you rarely can afford to show that you’re clueless. But if you don’t do it at school, then when ?
I was in class when you asked your question. And I LOVED that you felt comfortable enough to not give a crap what people thought of you for asking your question. It was so freaking refreshing. Do it again!
It’s uncool to admit that you study full stop. It’s actually cool to admit you’re clueless because that indicates you do not study.
[...] While Darden ‘09 Anand pondered his past four years in the U.S., Chicago Booth ‘09 MaybeMBA reflected on the responsibility of blogging and the ROI of an MBA. Though raising one’s hand in class may seem simple, it certainly doesn’t sound common, according to INSEAD ‘09 MBAMRS, who killed her cluelessness in macroeconomics simply by asking a question the old-fashioned way. [...]
[...] While Darden ‘09 Anand pondered his past four years in the U.S., Chicago Booth ‘09 MaybeMBA reflected on the responsibility of blogging and the ROI of an MBA. Though raising one’s hand in class may seem simple, it certainly doesn’t sound common, according to INSEAD ‘09 MBAMRS, who killed her cluelessness in macroeconomics simply by asking a question the old-fashioned way. [...]
Now I understand one of the reasons why the profs were not as good as I expected. Because of students who didnt know the work ‘equity’… This is ridiculous, what else did my fellow students didnt know or never heard of? Japanese Yen? Bank loan? Interest on it?
This was the master’s course and it had to suite so called poets, who pretended not to know the word equity and be proud of it. Ben probably thought that he was super cool and that the sun was shining forever to his a”’se.
Why was it done? To catch attention of the girls in the class? or the boys?
The profs were probably forced to simplify their courses for such poets. Although I believe that most of the profs were excellent researchers and bad tutors….