Dear Professor:

I know that you are tenured and therefore you don't have to lift a finger to improve your teaching method, but it would be a good idea if you could find a way to do so and thus join the 21st century. 

It has come to my attention that you don't know who you're lecturing to.  That's unfortunate for any teacher, but it's particularly sad in your case because you are a speech teacher.  When you drone on about how we need to take the time to consider who we're addressing in our speeches, I agree with you 100%, and I find it odd that you apparently haven't given enough thought to that question yourself.

I realize that there is a lot of behavior directed at you that suggests your students are a bunch of knuckleheads.  Some of them most assuredly are.  But if you make the assumption that the knuckleheads constitute the majority and lecture accordingly, you're making a big mistake.

It occurs to me that maybe you're unaware of what you're doing.  Maybe you don't know how much bitterness and condescension comes across in your lectures so I'll tell you: a lot. 

Let's break it down:

1. You don't need to tell us why it is important to take a speech class. 

We are already here, in your class. Either we already know why it's important and agree with you, or we have no clue, don't care,  and are taking the class merely because it is required.

 Trying to convince the slackers and people who don't care is a waste of time. They're slackers; they aren't listening anyway. Those of us who care and are listening, meanwhile, are being bored to tears.  Especially when you lecture about it day after day.

2.  Contrary to what you said in your lecture today, we do not come to college for information.  Information is free and it is everywhere.  You are not a source of much information.  Google is a source of information.  If we merely wanted to memorize facts and words, we could do it without you or the textbook. We come to college for three reasons: 

a.) To obtain a piece of paper that says we are educated, because some people won't hire us without it.

b.) To learn how to evaluate information and to apply it.

c.) To develop valuable skills.

3. You are vastly incorrect in your assessment that all people who have been to college are  smart and affluent whereas people who haven't are all ignorant.   We all get out of education what we put into it.  It is entirely possible, as you unwittingly illustrate, to emerge from college with a considerable amount of your ignorance intact.  Some of your students will do so.  Some of them won't. It depends mainly on their motivations and paradigms.  Also, I have met many people who I consider to be more intelligent than you who have never been to college.

4. It is a bit confusing when you repeatedly inform us that we are adults and are expected to act like adults, then talk to us as if you have absolutely no hope of us ever acting like adults.

I don't think you really believe we are adults.  We are, if only in the biological sense.  I can understand why you might find that hard to believe, but you need to work on it.

5. It is insulting when you explain to us that the reason we have strictly multiple choice tests is because many of us suck at writing.  So basically, you're saying this is college for dummies? You say, "This is college, this requires more effort than high school.  But you're all bad at writing, so rather than demand that you write, we'll just let you point at stuff."

First of all, I don't think that's the real reason for multiple choice tests.  If it is, then the problem lies in the elementary school system and they need to step it up.  I think the real reason is because there are 60 of us and it would take you forever to read and assess 60 handwritten essay tests.  Which is reasonable, even if it is unfortunate.

Secondly, this class so far has required much less effort than what was required of me in my high school speech class. I am taking it because it is a requirement for my major and because I hoped it would be enjoyable. I enjoy being challenged.  So far the only challenge for me in your class has been refraining from arguing with your grossly outdated ideology during your lectures.