Infuriating Responses To Questions

Nursing Students General Students

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Are any of you frustrated when your instructor answers your question with a question?

And yes teaching through asking the student more questions is the Socratic method.

If you feel that is true you have a very simplistic view of what the Socratic method is.

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For the benefit of those that may be confused, the original question was:

Are any of you frustrated when your instructor answers your question with a question?

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I think the reason people are 'reading too much into the question' is because your original question was ridiculously vague. If you want accurate answers you have to ask accurate questions.

Expecting people to understand what you mean without actually saying what you mean is to be self-centered and intolerant. No wonder you're frustrated and "infuriated".

When your instructor answers a question with a question, are you:

A. Frustrated :banghead:

B. Not Frustrated :p

C. Sometimes Frustrated :specs:

D. Confused :(

E. Don't like any of the choices listed above :no:

or option F: Don't care to answer the question and would prefer to give long winded personal opinion of life, the universe and everything. (Just kidding.) :specs:

Smilies inserted to increase clarity of response. Please refer to ANA Definition of Nursing...

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I think the reason people are 'reading too much into the question' is because your original question was ridiculously vague. If you want accurate answers you have to ask accurate questions.

Expecting people to understand what you mean without actually saying what you mean is to be self-centered and intolerant. No wonder you're frustrated and "infuriated".

If I wanted to ask vague questions to illicit long winded responses, I would ask an open ended question. I did not ask an open ended question.

I'm asking for a person's feeling of frustration under a factual scenario in which an observer could objectively identify that the scenario actually occurs. I'm not asking for the development of scenarios and clarifications of the situation.

The original question did not indicate a frustration response on my part. However, you have committed judgement in yours.

In no part of the original question did I indicate frustration on my part. In no part of the question did I identify the perspective of the person asking the question as instructor, student, or researcher.

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In no part of the original question did I indicate frustration on my part. In no part of the question did I identify the perspective of the person asking the question as instructor, student, or researcher.

Really?

Are any of you frustrated when your instructor answers your question with a question?

You posted this in the student forum. Who else would be asking the instructor a question?

The title of your thread, as well as the reference to frustration in the text strongly indicates that you're infuriated and frustrated when your instructor answers your questions with questions. I thought that much was clear. Do you actually want to make your question even more vague?

The reason I say it's vague is because the scenario you describe is so dependent on context that it's almost meaningless to answer it in the general terms that you seem to want it answered in. To give a yes/no answer (and it is a yes/no question) would mean that it's always one way or the other, in every circumstance, for every question, in every subject, etc. It's meaningless, and not applicable in the real world.

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I gotta admit ADPIE10, you're funny. I mean, thanking people that criticize you, it's refreshing. I don't quite understand your logic, but you seem like a nice guy! :up:

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ICU.

I may not be as well educated as my instructors (in time that will come) and I may not have the experience yet (which will also come with time). But I don't consider them to be more intelligent than I, and I am paying them...a lot. If I ask them a REALLY stupid question in one of my 6 credit hour classes, I demand an answer. If it's "I don't know" then I respect the person for having the intelligence to realize that no one can know everything. If it's another question and the teacher changes subject, of course I'm going to be ticked off.

I think instructors have forgotten that we pay them. 80 students in the class, at $300 a credit hour, 4-6 credit hours a class...minus electric, rent, water, air/heat (but not including fees which are charged seperately)...they're getting a LOT of money from us every 11 weeks. So excuse me if I didn't remember or see something in particular in the 190-page, bible-thin, size-9-font, jargon-filled text book assignment. And maybe it wasn't there.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Education.

" I think instructors have forgotten that we pay them. 80 students in the class, at $300 a credit hour, 4-6 credit hours a class...minus electric, rent, water, air/heat (but not including fees which are charged seperately)...they're getting a LOT of money from us every 11 weeks. "- originally posted by Me, SN

To say that "instructors have forgotten that we pay them" is a very broad generalization, and does not apply to all instructors. And I can shed a little light on instructor salaries. We make a tiny portion of what the school charges. If this statement were accurate, I would make around $96,000 per semester for each class I teach, minus, as you say, the electic, rent, water, etc. Annual salary for an MSN instructor averages around $50K nationwide, not over $200,000. I work at least 60 hours per week trying to ensure that my students have a wonderful experience in class, are well prepared, that all information presented is current and relevant, and that the studetns who graduate are ready to be good nurses.

But it's a partnership. I anticipate respect from them; likewise I am prepared to offer the same. However, "demanding" as you say anything is not the way to build a professional and respectful relationship. I show my students what they need to do in my class to succeed, and am willing to help them in any way I can. I don't "demand" that they do anything. And I would venture to guess that most instructors don't appreciate having things "demanded" of them in return.

Additionally, whether I can "get away" with performing poorly as an instructor does not factor in to my decisions on how I teach, any more than whether I could "get away" with giving poor care factors in to how I care for my patients when I work in the ICU. I probably could get away with bad behavior and poor standards for a time in both positions, but why would I want to? I set my own standards high, not based on how poorly I can perform without attracting attention.

This thread, which seems to have started as a chance to vent a bit and get some feedback, seems to have become very negative in tone. There are some horrible instructors out there who do not love what they do. Likewise, there are some students who do not want to work and see education as just the instructor's duty to convey information. I can only assume that this is not the majority in either case. Broad generalizations do little to heal the very palpable animosity between students and instructors that I see often on the boards. I am committed to being part of the solution, but I can't do it alone. It saddens me that instead of calmly discussing issues together, we feel the need to attack others. It really doesn't convey a professional attitude.

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or option F: Don't care to answer the question and would prefer to give long winded personal opinion of life, the universe and everything. (Just kidding.) :specs:

I like that one.

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I think instructors have forgotten that we pay them. 80 students in the class, at $300 a credit hour, 4-6 credit hours a class...minus electric, rent, water, air/heat (but not including fees which are charged seperately)...they're getting a LOT of money from us every 11 weeks.

And the ignorant post of the day goes to you!

It would be impossible for you to be more wrong and misinformed on how teachers are paid.

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Specializes in ICU, Telemetry.

To go back to the original question...I do this with new nurses or students on our floor. If they say, "how do you get the pt to swallow his meds if he has a trach?" instead of ripping the chart out of their hands and throwing myself across the door to my pt's room because they don't know the difference between the GI tract and the respiratory tract, I ask, "How do YOU think he's going to swallow?" I'm wanting to see what they're thinking (or if). I had a new nurse (graduated, passed boards, RN and everything) that I caught trying to pour a liquid med down a TRACH.

And no, she doesn't work here anymore....

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Are any of you frustrated when your instructor answers your question with a question?

Frustrated?

Try this...

Me: Ra ra ra Nursing Teacher ra ra...what does "ra ra ra" mean?

Nursing Teacher: Hmmm...look it up in your textbook. :banghead:

Or my favorite response: "You should know this information, or at the very least know where to find the answer"

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