Rise of Powerpoint = Fall of Civilization

I hate Power Point. I hate Power Point with the burning passion of a thousand suns. It is the most godawful program to ever exist as far as the world of academia goes. Power Point represents all that is evil and wrong with our society. Power Point relieves teachers and professors from actually TEACHING. Power Point relieves anyone giving a presentation from actually engaging their audience. When we were kids, in school, we were taught that in order to have a good presentation, we needed a visual aid. We were also taught to have an engaging hook and to consider our audience, etc, but it seems like all that anyone remembers is the visual aid part. Thanks to Power Point, we get visual aids, but thats IT! Professors (or at least crappy ones) take their outline notes, slap them onto 10 or so Power Point pages, throw up an unfortunate picture or two of politicians making funny faces, and there's a whole 50 minute class right there. Nevermind engaging the students. Nevermind that students remember only about 10 percent of what they hear in class, and note taking only increases that percentage by a little bit. Screw the idea of having students discuss the issues in class, and engage the material. Nope, that's hard. It's hard to steer students toward the right discussion topics, and get them to learn what you want them to learn. So, instead, professors are joining the rest of the nation in being lazy.

For example, I'm taking a comparative politics class right now. It could be SO interesting. With all of the things going on in the world nowadays, we could go to town every day discussing current events, and how they pertain to the issues that we're learning about in class. But, instead, we get a Power Point presentation with a map of Ghana and a funny picture of Bill Clinton and a professor who reads right from his Power Point notes (which by the way, are posted online). What a waste of a class!

P.S. This was the same professor who thought he was so cool, because he thought to show a clip of Monty Python in class. It was the clip where King Arthur discusses political systems with the two peons he runs across. "Now we see the violence inherent in the system! Help! Help! I'm being repressed!" What a creative thinker this guy is!!