College Essays

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Have you ever had a teacher who loved to do nothing but give out lectures in their monotone voice? Their voice does nothing to keep your attention on them and your mind begins to wander off to far off places. In this scenario, people think that the teachers aren't teaching right or the students are too lazy to learn.  The teacher doesn't lie with either student or teacher. The problem lies in the lectures themselves, and David Daniels addresses this in his article "College Lectures: Is Anybody Listening?" published in the textbook College Writing Skills. Daniels talks about how lectures do not benefit both students and teachers. His goal is to get rid of the lecture system itself or change the way teachers teach, and the ways the students could learn and face the difficult system. Daniels gives examples of what lectures are like, the problem lies with those types of classrooms and how to create a better learning environment, and how the lecture system won't ever end. Daniels goal is to better the learning experience. 

At the beginning of Daniel's article, he starts with examples of how lectures are done. He starts out by talking about his friend who was the only person in the class. Even though this friend had missed a class, the lecture continues as if someone was there to listen to the professor. This showed that teachers are set on staying with tradition and not veering away from it. Daniels goes on to another example of a girl named Mary who attends a class with too many other students and gets lost in laziness. The reason Mary was doing this was that with too many students the teacher doesn't care to work with them. Daniels points out that the only reason Mary passed was that she only studied for exams, but wasn't able to retain the information. 

Daniels next points out how the lectures aren't benefiting students or teachers. Daniels claims that instead of starting with lectures that we should learn to listen first. The reason behind this is because it's hard to listen and pick up important information and lectures rely on students having that ability. People work at their own pace and this makes it harder for students to keep up with the information. Another problem Daniels pointed out was that without engaging in conversation, students aren't able to think about the subject themselves, and ideas aren't kept. Finally, Daniels explains that teachers also run into problems with the lecture system, Since teachers also don't engage with their students they can't learn how much of the information was absorbed. Teachers just like, the students, also don't form their own ideas and keep to the basics. 

The lecture system will never end according to Daniels. He claims because of tradition, class sizes, and laziness that everyone involved with lectures, like students, teachers, and administrators, keeps it alive. Participating in a lecture is easier than participating in a class where students have to do something. For students it's a time to be lazy, maybe take some notes, and for the teacher, it's a time to flaunt their intelligence. That is why lecturing may never end in universities Daniels states. That's why he gives options of putting together more engaging things to do in class and fewer lectures. 

The importance of learning what Daniels is trying to point out with lectures is that lectures should not be the main focus of learning. People retain more information in engaging classrooms. Personally, for me, the classes I learn best are with more handwork than lectures. I find if I'm made to pay attention, I retain more information than when I'm listening to lectures and doodling in my notebook. For example, in high school, I would pay better attention to my History classes because we would do group projects and other hands-on activities like creating posters and such. While in my government class I would only retain basics because I would get bored during the lectures. It's fine having lectures once in a while, but it's harder to follow along because people move at different paces. Daniels is in the right wanting to get rid of lectures, even though they will never entirely leave. More teachers should move towards more engaging classrooms so that both teachers and students and benefit. 

Cited Works

Daniels, David. "College Lectures: Is Anybody Listening?" College Writing Skills with Reading. New York: McGraw Hill, 2011. 744-747. Print. 

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I wrote this essay in 2015.