If you go to pretty much any size college, you likely will have at least one class in a huge lecture hall. These classes typically cover the driest, most mind-numbing topics you could possibly think of – and sitting way too close to a random sweaty body makes it that much worse. As I sat in one of these exact classes today, I found three things that stuck out to me that truly make all of our lecture hall experiences miserable:
The “Desk” Situation
Every time I am forced to take notes on one of these god-forsaken foldable “desks” during a lecture, I contemplate dropping out of school. What am I paying all this money for? I can’t even fit a simple spiral notebook comfortably on the desk space provided to us, let alone my entire laptop. And we have to take tests with these? Forget it. I understand the thought process behind making one huge section of a course, but don’t try to tell me that note or test-taking in a lecture hall is “more efficient”. I hope one day the “desk” situation will get fixed, but in the meantime, I’ll be taking my talents to coolmathgames.com.
The Professor
Now, I’d venture to say that the lecture hall professors would be infinitely more engaging if they weren’t presenting in a room with three hundred people, but that’s just not the case. Every word that spews out of their mouths seems to be in a different language entirely and I can’t take my eyes off of a typo on their slide deck. Although office hours are a time to go and connect with these lecture hall professors, I don’t think that many people will visit during their provided meeting window of 6:00-8:00 am on Monday morning.
The Plague-Bearer
No matter how many times you wash your hands or how consistent you are with taking your daily multivitamin, it’s inevitable that one day a kid with a ferocious cough and never-ending-sniffle will plop down in the seat next to you. Sure, you could try to get up and move, but the fact of the matter is, “The Plague-Bearer” probably has already blessed you with a wicked strain of frat flu. It’s not like people pay attention to the lecture regardless, so what’s the point in coming if you’re deathly ill? The next time you feel a little under the weather, be the bigger person and just stay home. After all, it’s the excuse you’ve been waiting for to ditch.
