Are College Lecture Unfair Summary

The New York Times article entittled “Are College Lecture Unfair” by Annie Murphy Paul provides a case that the old and well-known tradition of lectures should be forgotten. She affirms her notion by citing several research studies that speculate if one “flips” the classroom, it creates an environment conducive for learning. However, I agree and disagree with some of her pointers she present to the readers. I feel that if one is motivated, then, one may do just fine.
To elaborate on my standpoint, the little time I’ve spent at York College. I’ve seen that some students care more of the grade they receive for the class, rather then the knowledge they could take away at the end of the semester and apply it to their everyday life. In other

words, lectures are not unfair. Traditional lectures allow students to be more engaged, they are able to visualize, analyze the lesson and reflect on the activity that is occurring in the classroom. Without even knowing, students are applying social cognition to a given lesson.
Also, adding quizzes every week to a lecture class improves ones grades and retention. Of course this will help students master the material that is being taught weekly, instead of midterms at the middle of the semester. All, if any class, has students that procrastinate and cram when finals and exams are approaching. Here one can apply the Heuristics process that the cognitive processing results in information overload. Therefore these procrastinators will benefit from the frequent assessments.
All in all, I feel that the author missed some points. For example, relating race to economics. Why not relate one’s self-motivation versus students who party and play sports. It is impossible to not say that the one who chooses to work harder will be do better than the other who chose to party. Honestly speaking, I believe that all class should have active learning, as well as there’s other ways to improve student participation in the classroom.