Comment by BobaFloutist
20 days ago
It's much easier to learn if you can ask questions and try (and fail) to make your own connections, and this has nothing to do with whether or not your own ideas and suggestions have any merit of their own.
I don't engage in class to show off or try to contribute, but because it's an incredibly valuable part of the learning process for me.
Questions are fine, unless they end up being a substitute for not preparing for class.
As a professor I had once put it, "This is difficult material. I don't expect you to understand it from just one lecture. You need to read the material before the lecture, but it will only be after you've struggled with the problem sets that I would expect you to understand it."