23 Teachers Share The ‘Stupidest’ Questions Students Have Asked Them

In life, we’re taught that there are no “stupid questions.” But, when you’re a teacher, sometimes some questions are just plain dumb. You know, when kids ask you thinks that are pretty damn obvious and can also be Googled pretty easily – because all teacher know you’re using your phone in your lap, kids. Thanks to Reddit, some teachers, friends of teachers and fellow students gave us the “stupidest” questions they’ve ever heard.

1. fakeeric:

Sex Ed Class: Is Breast milk 1% or 2%?

2. purdue_pete33:

Not a teacher, but in my senior year of high school I was in a personal finance class. The teacher explained that not paying your taxes could get you incarcerated. Student: “So if you don’t pay your taxes, the government will light you on fire?!” Teacher: “No, incarcerated means to imprison. You’re thinking of incinerated.” Student: “Oh. Wait, then what’s taxidermy?”

3. republiccommando1138:

 

“How old was the average 18 year old in 1942?”

He then managed to forget he was wearing his own glasses and asked everybody where they were

4. taitosmate:

Not a teacher but a classmate of mine asked if asia was a town in china, and, assuming that she was right, said that it was crazy that so many people from our school came from one town

5. ddubs08:

Grade 5 Sex Ed. I hade a rule that any question can be asked but I might ask you to ask your parents instead of me.

“I heard a story about a man who put his ‘stuff’ into muffins and fed it to grade 1 kids.”

“Well… that is pretty digusting and I would think that person would go to jail for doing that”

“Wouldn’t the girls get pregnant from eating it?”

And before I could say anything another student blurted out “NO!! They wouldn’t get pregnant!! They haven’t gone through puberty yet!!”

6. durance84:

My wife is the teacher, but this is my favorite story of hers. They were discussing how native americans relied on hunting buffalo and used all parts of it for food, clothing, shelter, etc. In reference to how they used the buffalo for shelter, one student asked “So do they stack the buffalo on top of each other?”

7. mamaisinhere:

Had a student ask me “What are those pyramid-shaped things in egypt called?”

8. IroquoisConfederate:

Warm spring day.

No A/C.

Fan blowing in the front of the room.

Hand goes up.

“Can you make the fan ovulate?”

No. No, I can’t.

9. deepfriedkelp:

My mom is a teacher’s assistant in a 5th grade class. A few weeks ago a girl asked,”Are bears still real?”

10. Mjrfrankburns:

How do islands not float away? Really big anchors. He wrote it down.

11. Slightmeatsweats:

In 7th grade science class during sex ed they were talking about oral sex. Mormon girl in class “wait you can get an STD just from talking about sex?”

12. Seminolesoldier2620:

I once projected a picture of the Earth onto the front white board. A student asked, “How do astronauts stand on a planet like that?”

13. Noctithra:

Not a teacher, but there’s one I’ll never forget: “WHAAATTT? EINSTEIN’S DEAD!?”

14. Uh_I_Say:

9th grade ELA, a few chapters into Of Mice And Men:

“What kind of work does George do on the farm?”
“I’m not sure. Probably the same work that everyone else is doing.”
“Oh. It must be hard for him to help out, since he’s a mouse.”

15. SaxyMatt:

A girl in my honors science class asked the teacher, and was 100% serious, if ramen grew on ramen trees.

16. cetren:

“Do Chinese people think in English?” Wait, what?

17. jennytopssky:

I teach martial arts to little kids, I had a kid ask me if he could punch his mom now

18. OrinMacGregor:

10th grade honors chemistry, topic is states of matter.

“What would liquid ice be called?”

19. Clayterss:

Me: …that’s why the earth is round

Student: but Tila Tequila said it’s flat on twitter. Isn’t it?

Me: stunned silence

20. thehorrorofspoons:

Not a teacher. But during high school, one of the girls in my history class asked our teacher who had won ww2. We were like 14 and had spent the last three months studying ww2. Bonus points, we told her Germany won and she believed us for a month till we took pity of her and explained that the allies won.

21. batty3108:

“I don’t want to sit next to the radiator. Won’t I get radiation sickness?”

22. itsmeclooney:

While discussing the bill of rights:

“If we got the right to bear arms, why can’t we wear tank tops in school”

Brilliant

23. thespacegrape:

Kid in my 10th grade biology class takes the cake for me. We were going over chromosomes, talking about the effects of an extra chromosome (Down syndrome), and this kid looks confused as hell, gears turning like mad in his head. Finally he raises his hand.

“With the extra chromosome… shouldn’t they be, like… superheroes?”