There are no stupid questions.

A non-teacher read my blog about my students stapling the scantrons together and asked a question that only the uninitiated could ask:

"Why didn't you stop them when you saw the scantrons being stapled?"

Look. You don't stop an avalanche in the middle of falling. No, you wait for it to do its damage and then you go in and do the reconstruction. Can you imagine trying to explain to those kids, the ones where it made perfect sense for them to staple in the first place, how illogical they were being? Can you see the look of utter confusion and frustration in their faces? The attempt to understand and then the mental implosion which would ultimately follow?

You understand. But, of course, those outside the brotherhood still think, "Those who can, do, and those who can't are condemned to a life of little mental deaths every day," or something along those lines.

I'm surprised my non-teacher friend didn't ask, "Why don't you put the directions on the board, so you don't have to repeat yourself?"