Rant

So I'm in class right now. Yes, I know blogging in class is a no-no, but I am in a state of serious frustration and need some kind of an outlet. As a recent college graduate and one of those people who is crazy enough to pay for more punishment by going for a Masters degree, I've been to quite a few classes and had quite a few teachers. I am writing today about two things that I am utterly disgusted with. 1 - POWER POINT. Microsoft must have struck a deal with the Devil himself on this product, because as a part of Office it's completely ubiquitous, but beyond that, in the way it is USUALLY used (some teachers know how to use it well) it COMPLETELY saps any semblance of real learning from school. It causes students to disengage from the lecture (trust me, I know) because most teachers that use them READ from the slides in their teaching and post the slides on the internet. "But that's so nice, you can have those notes for later!" - THAT'S WHAT A NOTEBOOK IS FOR!!! I have learned MUCH MORE from teachers who DON'T use powerpoint than from those who do, because I know I have to be taking notes myself rather than letting the teacher spoon-feed them to me. Beyond this, a lecture without powerpoint slides flows in a natural way, rather than in some predetermined order that may or may not actually work when the teacher gets into class. Another part of the problem with this is that it causes people (I'm one) to prepare lessons and/or presentations to the slides, rather than fitting the slides to the lesson. This is a BAD way to prepare a lesson. Anyways, just to quickly end this little rant, the other annoying thing to me is the whole tenure system and that being tenured leads (some) teachers to spend way too much time on their research and none on being a good teacher, and teachers who are "great researchers" are often sortof arrogant, especially in terms of showing up to class with little or no preparation because they feel they are expert enough in their field to not have to worry about it. Anyways, maybe I'll write a post about things I'm grateful for to balance all of this negativity. That's all, goodbye.