The story
Mrs Chen taught me physics when I was sixteen.
She had a habit that annoyed the whole class.
When we asked a question, she never answered it.
She would look at us and say, "What do you think?"
Then she would wait, sometimes for a full minute.
A minute of silence in a classroom feels much longer than a minute.
Most of us hated it. We wanted the answer so we could write it down.
One boy told her directly that she was wasting our time.
She said, "If I give you the answer, you will have my answer, not yours."
At the time I thought this was just something teachers say.
I did not become a scientist. I work in an office and I manage a small team.
Last month a new colleague asked me how to solve a problem.
I opened my mouth to tell him, and then I stopped.
I heard myself say, "What do you think?" and I understood.