Stupid Questions

Once upon a time, there was a class of medical students. And then there was this particular lecturer.

When the lecturer first came into this class, none of the students thought much about it. He may be just another lecturer for all they cared. However, as they had more lessons with him, they began developing different impressions about him.

He was an okay person in general. But the way he gives lectures is weird to say the least. But he shall not be judged on that aspect. Everyone has their own style after all.

He loved joking. But his jokes were not funny at all. Most of the time, he would be the only one laughing happily to his own joke while the rest of the class remained silent.

He taught the class about a disease resulting from a particular deficiency. Someone asked a question. That Someone asked, 'How is this different from another disease giving a similar outward appearance?' The lecturer posed this question to the class and another person answered that it was due to another type of deficiency.

'That's right,' the lecturer said, and continued to lecture to the class that as medical students, they must have basic knowledge. If not, and if he needed to go through everything they were taught before, he would never finish his lecture on time. (By the way, he finishes his lectures in half the time they were allocated for.)

He then proceeded to tell those students not to ask silly questions. Silly questions are a waste of everyone's time. And that question was a silly question.

Actually, That Someone must have meant something like, since 2 different types of vitamin deficiency gives the same outward appearance, how can a doctor differentiate between these? How can a doctor know if the patient has a deficiency of this vitamin or that vitamin?

Is this a silly question? Are first year, first semester medical students supposed to have this knowledge?

The lecturer said that it was a silly question.

But the questions he asked were weirder.

Who knows what is a doctor?
Who knows what is man?
Who knows what is human being?
Who is more than 10 years old?
Who knows what is bovine?
Who knows what is beef?
Who knows what is cow?
Beef is from bovine, so do you know what is bovine now?
We get beef from cow, so do you know what is bovine now?
Human beings came from the sea. Who believes this?
If we eat chicken, will we become chicken too?

Not only that, his theories were weird too. Or rather the way he phrased them were weird.

Human beings are amphibians. We breathed water in amniotic fluid. Then only we breathed air.
At first, there were no humans. Only monkeys on the earth. Aliens came and bred with monkeys. So humans are hybrids of monkeys and aliens.
This is a cow. It has 4 legs and 1 head. And 1 tail.
Superman does not need to eat. He comes from Krypton. He uses sunlight as his source of energy. Kryptonites give him energy too. So he does not need to eat.

He also told the class that he and all medical staff were there to train them to become doctors.
Doctors cannot rely on others. Doctors must rely on themselves. So you must rely on yourself, not your friends or lecturers.
Your lecturers will not spoon feed you. You were used to being spoon fed. You must now learn to rely on yourself.
The lectures only serve as a guideline. You have a learning outline. Go and look at it and study yourself. Understand?
Lectures are to stimulate you to think. I give you lecture. I stimulate you to think. So you go back and find out more about what you want to know.
If you don't understand, then ask your friends. If all don't understand, then only find medical staff. We will help you. We are here to train you to become doctors.
We are going to give you a license to save others. We are going to give you the highest degree. We are going to train you to be doctors.
Don't ask silly questions.
Don't ask stupid questions.
If you ask stupid questions, you will become stupid. If you are stupid, you will have a stupid life.

And so, such was the fate of the class of medical students...
And no one knew just what would happen in the future......

May all be well. So mote it be.




THE END