Spring Break
About those lectures: why so serious?
Scott Dennis
Issue date: 5/16/08 Section: Forum
You're having a jolly holiday, roving 'cross campus under the smiling sun, when you remember your next class is a history lecture (or psychology, if you'd like).
Why does this thought cast a gloomy cloud in your psyche? Unless you're unhealthily obsessed with either subject, it's probably because such lectures are typically so boring they'd make Ben Stein cry with envy. It's not really the fault of the lecturer - such subjects are fairly dull by their very nature.
It was Mark Twain who said, "History doesn't repeat itself - at best it sometimes rhymes." And how great would it be if history lectures actually did rhyme? Therein lies problem with college lectures (and every classroom subject since the third grade): they take themselves far too seriously.
Take for example history and psychology. One focuses on obscure thoughts, interpersonal relationships and the nutty things people do.
When a student enters a psych classroom, they are bombarded by such nonsense words as "existential," "psychometrics" and "reason."
To that I would quote Lewis Carroll and say, "Speak English! I don't know the meaning of half those long words, and I don't believe you do either!"
History students must likewise endure sermons about Agricola and Julius Caesar. (Spoiler: Caesar dies.)
The major issue with these and other subjects is that the curriculum promotes rote memorization as opposed to a real understanding of the topic.
As Alec Bourne said, "It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated." This sort of balderdash, useful in elementary learning, makes lecture classes unnecessarily dreary - which leads me to the point of this column. (Yes, I do have a one.)
Subject matter explained with the utmost seriousness, as though each date and fact were a clue about the imminent theft of a parade float, could be described much better if lecturers brought more levity to the floor.
Gail Godwin had it right when she said, "Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater."
Why does this thought cast a gloomy cloud in your psyche? Unless you're unhealthily obsessed with either subject, it's probably because such lectures are typically so boring they'd make Ben Stein cry with envy. It's not really the fault of the lecturer - such subjects are fairly dull by their very nature.
It was Mark Twain who said, "History doesn't repeat itself - at best it sometimes rhymes." And how great would it be if history lectures actually did rhyme? Therein lies problem with college lectures (and every classroom subject since the third grade): they take themselves far too seriously.
Take for example history and psychology. One focuses on obscure thoughts, interpersonal relationships and the nutty things people do.
When a student enters a psych classroom, they are bombarded by such nonsense words as "existential," "psychometrics" and "reason."
To that I would quote Lewis Carroll and say, "Speak English! I don't know the meaning of half those long words, and I don't believe you do either!"
History students must likewise endure sermons about Agricola and Julius Caesar. (Spoiler: Caesar dies.)
The major issue with these and other subjects is that the curriculum promotes rote memorization as opposed to a real understanding of the topic.
As Alec Bourne said, "It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated." This sort of balderdash, useful in elementary learning, makes lecture classes unnecessarily dreary - which leads me to the point of this column. (Yes, I do have a one.)
Subject matter explained with the utmost seriousness, as though each date and fact were a clue about the imminent theft of a parade float, could be described much better if lecturers brought more levity to the floor.
Gail Godwin had it right when she said, "Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater."
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