Lecture Classes Are Stupid

So I've noticed that lecture classes are stupid. The entire premise is kind of stupid. Here we are, 300 people sitting in a hall with one person and a PowerPoint up in front of us. There is no discussion, no deep thinking, but instead the mundane task of typing out each and every word on each and every slide and hoping that somehow the words that appear on our screen will somehow seep their way into our mind so that we maybe MAYBE will be able to pass an exam. Is this really even learning? Because to be honest, sitting in this lecture class I can honestly say the only reason I've learned anything about this topic is because I've read the entire text book (it's my major, so it's interesting... it's not like I just read text books because they're so fun and lovable or anything).

Now, some of you might be saying at this point, "wait, maybe you're not learning anything because you're typing a blog post and ignoring the lecture altogether." Well to that all I have to say is, "Yeah... you're probably right." However, even if I wasn't typing up this post, and instead I was typing out information about radiocarbon dating techniques I still would be thinking about something else. And either way, isn't all this information in the book? And if it's not couldn't I just find it online? I know this sounds kind of negative, but it's true. And it's a little bit sad.

Looking around this room I see about four people with notebooks and everyone else has out their computers or their tablets. And, sitting in the back I am able to see exactly what's up on peoples' screens. Trust me, none of them are typing notes. I see about ten Facebook pages up, one person is checking their grades, one person is looking at pictures of pizza (that look quite good, by the way), another is taking pictures with her computer's camera and putting different effects on them, is that person Skyping? How do you even get away with that in class? Oh, maybe it's Omegle. My point is, what are we really getting out of this class?

Now, of course, there's the argument that we should just not allow the computers and tablets and phones, so on and so forth. However, looking at the notebooks around the room I see one with notes being passed back and forth and one with a very elaborate doodle of a dragon, seriously, they should be an art major or something. It's really good. And those who are taking notes have this stressed out look on their face, worrying that the slide will change before they have the chance to get everything down, so they're just desperately writing and not even listening. In conclusion there's maybe MAYBE one person who's genuinely getting something out of this lecture class.

Instead wouldn't it be more beneficial to make more involved classes with discussions and less students? I think so, at least. Then maybe instead of one person absorbing the information, all of the students would.

Food for thought, guys. Let me know what you think!