By Tomi Lamikanra

Call it culture shock but I was in a daze here for the first few days of getting into the American classroom! It was not the blackboards or the nice seats, afterall we have those where I was coming from in some schools:), and who has not seen a blackboard before? Even children in Kewu classes have blackboards! It was the attitudes of students to the teachers and the teachers to the students that made me stare so much.

Instead of following the classes, I would follow in amazement the mouths of my colleagues who ate in class! Yes you are not mistaken, they munch and chew and swallow under the gaze of the professors! That was enough to tell me that I was certainly not in a Nigerian classroom!

These meals are not chewing gum or chin chin, which one can surreptitiously munch in silence ensured by softening the offending morsels before attempting to ‘gbe mi’ (Yoruba slang meaning to swallow) just before the lecturer catches you – if it was in Naija. Once it was an Indian meal whose spices assailed my nostrils. And they munch and swallow vigorously all through the class. And what is the reaction from the prof? Zilch, nada, zero. He continues teaching as if teaching in a mini restaurant is something he has done everyday of his life.

Politeness on the part of the lecturers is also another surprise. Even if the question derails his thoughts or interrupts him mid sentence he politely answers and does not show any outward irritation for having his magnificent train of words disrupted! You can also ask any and every question even if it borders on stupidity and all you get is a patient explanation on why your thoughts are not in line with the projected trajectory of the class. I can almost hear the outburst of some lecturer in Nigeria after some particularly stupid question was asked years ago: “You must have spent the whole weekend frolicking with your girlfriend for you to ask such a stupid question!”

Another culture shock: The students can actually challenge the lecturers without the kind of rebuff that would make you wish that you had never been born. Once when a lecturer gave some facts about an issue, a student in class raised her hand and disputed the facts saying she had lived in the town he was talking about and his facts were not accurate. The result was not the crashing of thunder and an attempt to save face. He apologised and simply stated that he may have got the facts wrong but the source of his facts was so and so and so. C’est fini! For Naija who born you make you talk like that!

Also, most professors here prefer to be addressed by their first names. I can’t imagine calling any of my Nigerian profs by name or sending them email saying Hello John – which what I now regularly do. I don become bigz girl o!

Anyway these are just my ten kobos worth on the differences in the two classrooms, What do you think?