I sat in a technical lecture recently and attended understanding almost everything beforehand about the subject matter. What was interesting was seeing how it was explained to the rest of the audience. I found it very much like a mathematics class where you are so lost that you just agree with the lecturer because you don't know any better and basically you're confused, behind and not with it. I felt like this even though I knew everything and knew enough upfront to decipher the knots the lecture was taking. It was the lecture, not the students inability to take in or understand. I think that this was true in this specific instance but it also highlighted to few in the lecture who still,even without the facilitation of consistency and good explanation, were able to cope, extrapolate. Probably the fair few who could make it through.

This reminds me how the lack of good explanation can cause this general boring, lost 'mathematics' feeling described earlier which should not be the desired effect of teaching and is not a reflection on the student. If anything it gets the students to think they know nothing and much try harder...good but bad.