You have probably heard it said that there is no such thing as a bad question. That’s not true; of course there is such a thing as a bad question. But the upside of that is that there is such a thing as a good question.
People sometimes ask me, ‘‘How do I know if my question is a good question?’’
‘‘Good question,’’ I reply, setting them on a spiral of positive feedback. A good question is, by definition, a question. You cannot just take a statement and raise the pitch at the end. Sometimes people will say ‘‘Might it not be said that statement-statement-statement?’’ or ‘‘How would you respond were someone to say statement-statement- statement?’’ You can’t just take a statement and dress it up in a question’s clothes, like the Little Rascals dressing up as a grown-up to get into a movie.
Also, if there are grammarians in the audience, they will support me when I say that there is no such grammatical construct as a two-part question. If you think you have a two-part question, you actually just have two questions. We encourage you to ask the better of the two and save the crappy one for a less-discriminating lecture series.
So that’s one way to tell if your question is good: by looking at the question. But the other thing to do is look at yourself. Look into your heart, in an honest spirit of nonjudgment and see what feelings you
have. If you have a feeling of curiosity, or ‘‘the question feeling’’ as we call it, that’s a good sign. Even if you feel a little angry, and you want to work that out with the
lecturer, that’s probably O.K. too.
The feeling to watch out for is a feeling of pride. Maybe, as you feel the question coming on, you find yourself thinking: In my life, thus far, people have not accorded me the
respect I deserve. But I’m pretty sure that once people hear this question, things are really going to turn around for me. Pay attention to your mental images as the question is occurring to you. When you
picture yourself asking the question, are you mysteriously enormous? Are you made of gold?
These are signs that you may possibly have a bad question. But please, remember — your bad questions are welcome. Your good questions, simply more so.
Adapted from the opening remarks delivered by Misha Glouberman at each installment of the Trampoline Hall lecture series, which he hosts, and which was founded by Sheila Heti. Glouberman and Heti’s book, “The Chairs Are Where the People Go,” was published in July by Faber and Faber. This adaption will appear in the Sept. 11 issue of the magazine.