Recently I made an observation: In educational contexts, such as schools or universities, pupils and students are sometimes encouraged to ask questions. A special time slot is prepared where someone looks expectant in the room, waiting for someone to raise their hand or voice.

My observation, from my own behavior and from others, was that this is often seen as another exercise by the students. So instead of really thinking about what interests them and what they want to know or understand they ask questions about which they think that their teacher would like to hear them or that they are 'the kind of questions that one is expected to ask in this situation/to this topic'. Also I think staring expectantly in the room seems to encourage people ask any kind of question, no matter how uninterested in the answer they might be, just to avoid the uncomfortable silence.

Does anyone know what I mean and/or knows where this has been described before? And how can you encourage more creative and genuinely interested questions. Or is this just something that people like me do, who are quite used and trained in appealing to educational authorities (General critique on the incentives in the school system...) and I need to be more aware of my motives of asking questions?

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