Conventional or Flipped Classroom?

I guess even the embryos in the pregnant women know the quote: “Education is the best legacy.” Western education, as known by our fore-fathers, is the best legacy every parent strive to give their children especially in Nigeria where education is the only catapult away from poverty. Even the orphans do struggle for it. And, going to school, wearing school uniform seem to be how education is being impacted in Nigeria except the higher institutions. But they have one thing in common: receiving lecture and learning at school. That has been the technique that worked and would still work for me. While education is the best legacy, sadly, it is the worst legacy when we apply wrong educating technique. One of such is receiving lectures at home and doing homework at school – otherwise known as flipped classroom. This would not work for me, and obviously, I doubt it would for anyone else in the jam-packed habitat of Nigeria.

However, as expected, bending a dry fish as an impossible task is much more synonymous to me applying flipped classroom. First, it would not work because I am adapted to the conventional method. We are – every Nigerian student. You’d be surprise how a five year old kid has adapted to receiving lectures at school and doing assignments at home. This has been the technique used before and after our birth, and almost every kid has adapted to it. Me too. From childhood, all I know about school and education is that we follow the convention of education. Parents also, adapted to it, would expect their children to come home with their homework after school. We have adapted and flipping those activity would not have its way.

Again, it would not work because it would make me lazy. That reminds me when I got lazy of doing my homework in my secondary school days. If the homework were to be my lecture, that means no lecture for the amount of time I prefer to be lazy. Sometimes, looking at a list of ten lectures I must read, listen to, or watch weakens my bone even before starting and would make me postpone the task till time flies away. That will make me more lazier. But in school, even if you fail to do your homework, you may be punished, but will surely receive lecture. Since there is no monitoring at home, the fear of the teacher is absent and I may prefer to watch, listen, or read those lecture material with half attention. Gradually, it would make me lazy and that is why it would not work for me.

Notwithstanding, even if I manage to cope in spite of laziness or procrastination, I cannot deal with the noise in the neighborhood, the disturbance of my siblings, or the roaring of electricity generators around. It would not work because of distractions. Here in Nigeria, GRA(Government Residential Area) seem to be the only quiet and free-from-distraction area. Everywhere is jam-packed. I have three younger siblings which I must take care of and we do not live in the GRA. Imagine two of them disturbing me with their “I want biscuit” hymn and repeatedly tapping me while listening to lecture. That is a sure avenue for information evaporation once I attend to the yet-to-understand toddlers. Or imagine them running around the house making sparkling noise with each step like an elephant. Or imagine an electricity generator roar to life when am about to study. The noise scatters brain and draws attention. That is a true picture of distraction which would not make flipped classroom work for me.

In addition, it would not work for me due to inability to afford computers, laptops, or smartphones. Lectures would not appear on the TV nor dive in through the thin air. Therefore, the demand for an internet-abled device becomes a priority. My parents are among those striving to give the best legacy at the capability and cannot afford it. Students wear torn uniforms and kwashiokwored stature in hundreds of public schools. They cannot afford the device. And that is a capital NO to flipped classroom. I wonder how a student struggling to keep up with studies financially will think of buying a computer. I cannot afford it. They cannot. It would not work for me, and evidently, would not for students in that condition.

Finally, my dad always says and I quote: “Buying hummer jeep does not matter – it is the maintenance.” It applies to the devices too. Maintenance in form of paying internet subscription or providing electricity to power it up. Even if I obtain the device with loan from banks, friends, or family, I cannot obtain maintenance with or as a loan. We seldom use electricity three hours a week despite all the megawatts production on statistics. We have been using electricity generator which makes terrible noise(one of the distractions) at our backyard and do not serve us for the needed period with the few liters of fuel we could afford. My parents would be a gazillion times stupid to waste resources on something I am to work for and receive freely. So would I. And that is why flipped classroom has not and would not work for me.

To sum up, alphabets can keep on raking into words, and words into sentence,… but, the emphasis might not be enough. Flipped classroom is a “complete reversal of entry” and the above reasons supports it. The conventional way has worked for me and everyone – so we would continue. I hope my points were convincing enough that flipped classroom would not work for me, and as well, anyone else who does not live in a GRA and have the required resources. I am Adekunle Abraham. Good day!