← Columns

Don't Lecture Me, Bro!

The Source

It read like an obituary. USA Today reported that many college and universities are asking teachers to abandon the lecture method. This most low-tech of all teaching methods has become passé in much of the academic world and many high school teachers will tell you that asking adolescents to sit and listen to a hour’s speech is not only ineffective but potentially dangerous. The experts say that today’s students want to be involved in the learning process. Although I could name about a thousand students whose attitude makes me doubt that, the researchers go on to point out that since the advent of YouTube and ITunes, students need more stimulus than a droning professor in front of the classroom. I’m a bit old-school because…well…I went to an old school. And I wonder if it’s the method of teaching that’s become flabby or the lecturers themselves. Either I’m exceptionally easy to entertain or I’ve been blessed to know some true masters at the art of lecture. Last week I spoke at a history symposium (I lectured), and although I’d planned to speak and run, the logistics of the room was such that my departure would have looked shabby. I was trapped. I spoke to a group of historical interpreters on how to use acting skills to make their presentations come alive, and the next presentation was on Talking to Tourists About Flora and Fauna. I read the title like a death sentence. I was over an hour away from home, hadn’t found a restroom since my third cup of coffee and I was stuck in this room listening to two ladies talk about ducks and daffodils. I was sitting there wondering how long it would take my body to decay. Perhaps it’s my farm upbringing surrounded by weeds to be mowed and hogs to be castrated, but my interest in all things flora and fauna rank right up there with my curiosity about the Grammy Awards. I could care less. And then something very unexpected happened. Two ladies, one from the Henson Robinson Zoo and another with the David Davis Mansion in Bloomington took the microphone and they had me. They really had me. These gals were so full of energy and enthusiasm that for an hour I completely forgot the drive home awaiting me and the pressure being exerted on my bladder. I’m telling you these ladies were great! Of course, the zoo lady had a natural advantage in keeping her audience’s attention. She gave her entire lecture with a boa constrictor draped around her shoulders. I hate snakes. I was sitting in the front row. The slithery experience reminded me of my favorite college professor, Dr. Charles Frank. Although Dr. Frank (“Chuckling Charlie” we called him) didn’t lecture on Shakespeare and Milton while wearing rattlesnakes, he had a liveliness and joy that absolutely sucked you in to his subject matter. Charlie could laugh through an entire speech on the literary criticism of 18th century England and you’d smile right along with him. I remember the one day when Dr. Frank had to be absent and he sent a tape recording of his lecture. No chuckling. No fun. It was the man and not the subject matter that made the presentation sparkle. Which of course begs the question, could the Dr. Frank of 1968 still enchant a classroom of tech-numbed students in 2012? Absolutely. No doubt in my mind. A dynamic speaker, truly in love with his or her subject matter, is still a wizard… an enchanter. And at the risk of getting a bit dreamy here, isn’t there still something rather…well…magical, about a setting where a single speaker can inspire a room full of listeners without benefit of videos, PowerPoint’s, background music or even electricity? I think there is. I think there still can be. I once attended a church service underground in the catacombs of Rome…no microphones, no electronic instruments…in fact, no lights. Pitch black darkness. One speaker and one guitar provided the most mesmerizing spiritual experience of my life. High tech will never replace good talk. I hope that if teachers continue to use the lecture method that they once had an instructor like Charlie Frank...or heard a museum curator from Bloomington with real passion in her eyes and speech…or a naturalist from Springfield who truly felt a part of the earth, sky and sea that she was describing. Should lecture still be the main method of educational instruction? Absolutely not. Should great lecturers still be trained and valued. You bet your boa constrictor.