Like I say, there's nothing wrong with winning awards, or being top of the class, but one has to be careful with how they are perceived by one's peers. A tiny bit of humble pie goes a long way.
One time that will stay with me for a long time is when we were given a demo on how to use an oscilloscope (only how time base and voltage works). Our teacher told us to gather 'round - I stayed at the back. Teacher pulled the scope out of the box and plonked it on the desk. Switched it on and connected it to a mains power supply. When it didn't work (flickering), the way to fix it way to hit it several times - then lift it about an inch off of the desk and drop it.
I was cringing like mad, but didn't say anything - for fear of being a swat and/or showing up the teacher - which is something NO-ONE should ever do.
One time that will stay with me for a long time is when we were given a demo on how to use an oscilloscope (only how time base and voltage works). Our teacher told us to gather 'round - I stayed at the back. Teacher pulled the scope out of the box and plonked it on the desk. Switched it on and connected it to a mains power supply. When it didn't work (flickering), the way to fix it way to hit it several times - then lift it about an inch off of the desk and drop it.
I was cringing like mad, but didn't say anything - for fear of being a swat and/or showing up the teacher - which is something NO-ONE should ever do.