Is it wrong to correct someone if you’re not certain they’re wrong?
In the early 1970s, when I was a sophomore in high school, I was enrolled in a class called “PSSC Physics.” The other students in the class were seniors with far more science and math classes under their belt than I had. I never knew what the PSSC stood for until about a week ago when I looked it up and found that it was an acronym for the Physical Science Study Committee, a group that grew out of a 1956 conference whose mission it was to produce curriculum for high school physics classes.
I recall few things about the course. I do remember that we had regular standardized tests that were used to measure our progress throughout the term. I remember heavy use of steel ball bearings. There was also a lot of discussion about electricity and currents. But mostly I remember being in way over my head and rarely having a clear grasp of the material. On the rare occasion when I did understand something, or at least thought I understood it, a wave of momentary confidence washed over me.
On one such occasion when I was absolutely certain I knew what was going on, I interrupted our teacher, Mr. Wittman, mid-sentence in his lecture and blurted out, “That’s wrong.” Mr. Wittman was an institution at my high school – older, demanding, revered and not to be messed with. Upon my interruption, without hesitation, he stared me down and responded: “You’re interrupting me to tell me I’m wrong.”
And then he proceeded to lay out how I had been rude in interrupting him, and also laid out clearly in excruciating detail how I was wrong about him being wrong. He ended by looking directly at me from behind the lab table at the front of the room and asked: “Are we clear now?”
I did not ask for clarification on whether he wondered if I was clear on the material or clear about how rude I’d been. I suspect he was referencing both.
That experience with Mr. Wittman has never left me. There have been dozens of incidents since where I have seen others interrupt speakers to correct them before giving them a chance to complete a sentence. It’s been all too common an occurrence to hear someone choose to correct rather than to ask a question or two to make sure they understood what was being discussed. There is a rush to be seen as right and someone else wrong instead of a patience to make sure we are.
Students should question their instructors if they need clarity on a topic. They have every right to challenge what’s being presented if they believe they have something to offer that can advance the discussion.
But the right thing is to make sure we listen to others, whether in a classroom or workplace setting or in life, before we rush to correct. Not just because it’s rude, but because by listening closely we might gain a clearer understanding of what someone is trying to say and it might help us sharpen out own views that may differ from the presenter’s
Mr. Wittman never seemed to hold my interruption against me, and I was able to pass his class. But please don’t quiz me on physics.
Jeffrey L. Seglin, author of The Simple Art of Business Etiquette: How to Rise to the Top by Playing Nice, is a senior lecturer in public policy and director of the communications program at Harvard's Kennedy School. He is also the administrator of www.jeffreyseglin.com, a blog focused on ethical issues.
Do you have ethical questions that you need to have answered? Send them to jeffreyseglin@gmail.com.
Follow him on Twitter @jseglin.
(c) 2024 JEFFREY L. SEGLIN. Distributed by TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.
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