"In the Dojo we are all students" -- Posted over the door of the Nippon Kan in Denver, circa 1980.

The "Stupid Stumper" always has seemed to me to carry an implicit message: "I'm so much better than you; I know the answer to this. You Dont." This sniggering-up-the-sleeve attitude is at odds with my feelings of the Monastery's collegial goals and ambiance.

I find that it telling that the "Stupid Stumper" questions most often never have any follow-up from the OP. A "Good Question" almost always starts a dialog between the Monastery and the OP. I learn a lot from the Hegelian interplay of Question and Answer. I enjoy watching the way my fellow Monks think. It stretches my Mind to follow their thought-processes.

I do not get that from a "Stupid Stumper". There may be three or four replies to the Stumpee, but we never find out anything further about the problem. Which of the Answers was acceptable to your teacher/interviewer? What happened when you applied the Answer? What follow-on questions did it generate? Inquiring Minds Want to Know.... A "Stupid Stumper" almost always seems to be a waste of mental CPU cycles.

On the other hand -- while the Original Question is all to often a piece of slock, the Answers sometimes are Gems ....

I think the real hallmark of a "Stupid Stumper" question is that it irritates folks. Irritated People start getting Clever. I have seen responses to a Stupid Stumper that are positively brilliant -- in a Rube Goldberg/Heath Robinson kind of way. These Answers often cause an extended expedition into the Camel, Ram, Wolf, and The Pearl and also my Stevens, Lyons, and Nemeth, et al. My Colleagues can be purely Amazing (in a 30 degrees off of normal kind of way).

I am in the Monastery to improve my Art. I hone my talents reading the Questions; I learn from the Answers.

We are all learning -- or we wouldn't be here.

Post Script:
To paraphrase J.S.B. Haldane, "Biologists have a word for people who have stopped learning; that word is 'Dead'."

----
I Go Back to Sleep, Now.

OGB

In reply to Re: Stupid stumpers and good questions by Old_Gray_Bear
in thread Stupid stumpers and good questions by ELISHEVA

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