I like to ask questions during class. And I like to clarify them, and sometimes "challenge" the teacher's answer or argue/discuss further. But when I do it in class, I have to raise my voice so that the teacher can hear me. My friend once told me that my classmates have been talking about how I seem rude to the teacher. The teacher never looks affected, and is always happy to clarify my doubts. However my friends keep thinking that I am trying to prove the teacher wrong.
I have tried speaking softer, but the teacher can't hear me. I always smile, and I don't do any rude gestures. But then my friends think that I'm bragging and now people from other classes think I'm really boastful.
For example: I was arguing about whether we should be marked down for observations in a chemistry practical. The situation was that I was arguing for my friend whose results were different from everyone else and he claimed that he did the steps correctly. My other friend said maybe the substances they gave us were spoilt. This other friend also started this argument, and I was supporting the point. I said:
We write what we see, so it isn't really our fault that the observations are wrong. There are always some exceptions.
I really don't mean to be rude or anything, and I really hate it when my friends tell me to stop being rude and stop arguing with the teacher. I'm only trying to clarify doubts.
How do I ask questions and argue in a way that I am not being rude?