Fear of making a mistake or asking a stupid question is a legitimate problem. Sir Ken Robinson in his TED talk: “How schools kill creativity” talks about how the education system makes people fear being wrong. This fear of being wrong can squash our creativity. If we always keep ourselves in check, so that we don’t make mistakes, we will never take chances. He states we need to be prepared to be wrong.
I often say to my students “There is no such thing as a stupid question!” I’ve said this many times. However, when I put myself in the position of student, I sometimes feel like my question might be stupid.