“Dear Ms. DoRight, Lately I’ve noticed that people in my classes are getting an attitude toward me. Every time I raise my hand or answer a question, they start to make comments.  I work hard and want to make sure my professor knows it.  Is it a bad thing that I try to answer every question or correct my classmates when they’re wrong?  I thought that’s what I was supposed to do.”
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Dear Ms. DoRight,

Lately I’ve noticed that people in my classes are getting an attitude toward me. Every time I raise my hand or answer a question, they start to make comments. 

I work hard and want to make sure my professor knows it.  Is it a bad thing that I try to answer every question or correct my classmates when they’re wrong? 

I thought that’s what I was supposed to do.

Signed,

I know I’m right

I’m right,

Your classmates are right to get an attitude. I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner.

People are not typically tolerant of know-it-alls, which is what you are. Being a know-it-all does not mean you’re always right, it means you think you’re always right.

This is a big difference.

Furthermore, you’re in a college classroom to learn, which you can do without answering every single question. Perhaps you could develop a strategy where you raise your hand for every third question.

If this is too hard, try sitting on your hands when the urge hits.

Correcting a classmate when you think he or she wrong is also not what you’re supposed to do. It is, however, acceptable to disagree with your classmate, but this should be phrased as such, not as an attack.

Deep down, maybe your professor knows that you’re a cornucopia of knowledge, and surely he or she respects you for that. Conversely, your classmates do not feel the same way.

They think you’re a tool, and for good reason. I don’t like to be so blunt, but you’re acting like a tool. This is not what you’re supposed to do.

If you keep answering questions as often as you have been doing, your professors will probably stop calling on you. Your classmates will stop talking to you, and this might be out of resentment, or they might be intimidated.

If you’re correcting classmates when you think they’re wrong, what kinds of things do you do in normal conversation?

Sometimes, people act this way without meaning to, or without realizing what they’re doing. The wise ones shape up when they figure it out, so stop acting like you know everything.

You don’t.

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