The steepness of the descent can be startling to the pilot who has never experienced the way a high-drag, low-mass aircraft "glides". The windscreen is filled with terra firma and the pilot must stay on speed and resist the impulse to raise the nose. Pilots with experience only in heavier aircraft have come to grief when they raised the nose to "stretch" the glide and used up all the airspeed....
There is no reason to dislike flaps, they are a control surface same as elevators and ailerons. Learn to use them and appreciate the way they can expand the flight envelope.