As teachers, we make it abundantly clear to students that copying is bad. Copying is a crime. Copying is unethical. Copying gets you an F or a suspension.

In the “real world,” copying is sometimes illegal but often ok. Sometimes it’s even preferred. Plagiarism is bad, and so is piracy. But what about adaptation? Reproduction? Innovation? Scale? Replication? Emulation? Inspiration? Creativity?

Einstein: “Creativity is knowing how to hide your sources”

Ecclesiastes: “Nothing is new under the sun”

Voltaire: “Originality is nothing but judicious imitation”

Jobs: “Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something.”

Over the past 3.5 years I’ve been a devoted reader of “Seth’s Blog”. Seth Godin posts thought-provoking pieces each day, not too long (usually), and very...

“Remember — there are no stupid questions…only stupid students.”

The wise words of my 9th grade math teacher ring true every day and inspired this blog title.

Yes, he meant it as a joke. And it was funny at the time.

But with a slightly different interpretation we can turn this joke into a mantra of sorts. Because in reality, the stupid students aren’t the ones who ask the stupid questions. The stupid students are the ones who don’t ask any questions at all.

We are all students in this world, whether we like it or not.

How often are we too afraid, blind, or stubborn to ask questions that might be “stupid?” How many interesting, thoughtful, and challenging questions do we ignore, dismiss, or keep to ourselves?

Would we rather run the risk of asking stupid questions, or run the risk of being stupid students?