Get Schooled

By David

February 18, 2005 03:58 PM | Link to this

Of course class size matters. The ideal class size consists of 1 parent and their children.

Government can’t deliver the mail on time, they failed unbelievably on 9-11 to protect us from attack, and they cannot educate kids.

Homeschool your children and stop worrying about class size.

By Dan

February 18, 2005 04:25 PM | Link to this

It makes sense that a smaller class would lead to more individual attention and better education. However as with all things there is an equal and opposite reaction. Smaller classes mean more teachers and aside from the obvious cost, more teachers means less qualified people teaching the children, and don’t whine about they all will be qualified equally, as in any profession there are some better than others so the question is where do you get a better education in a big class with a good teacher or in a small class with a lesser teacher.

By Richard Terry

February 18, 2005 04:46 PM | Link to this

I think that the benefits of smaller class size are relatively small given the costs. If a better education is the goal, focusing on smaller school systems might be better. Generally, the larger an organization becomes, the greater the percentage of it’s available resources go towards administration and other “non-core” (in this case, non-teaching) items. This could help urban schools get more resources since they are usually the ones in the largest school systems.

By al cason

February 21, 2005 11:16 AM | Link to this

I believe teachers are the ones who should be tested. Group them into 3 levels of teaching—-“master” “advanced” and “standard”—-pay teachers accordingly based on their level—-assign the “master” teachers more students (e.g. 25 to 30 per class) (advanced 17 to 20) and standard (14 to 16)—-only when teachers can increase their own competence can they move up the pay scale. bring administration and school board salaries back down to earth in order to boost teacher salaries.

By THERESE PERSAUD

February 21, 2005 11:54 AM | Link to this

So, do tell us how we are going to ‘label’ teachers as ‘master’ ‘advanced’ and ‘standard’ .Then again,will teachers be tested in different settings?

By cp

February 21, 2005 02:02 PM | Link to this

What business could survive if they operated under these two assumptions: 1) There is no way to identify your best employees from your weaker ones. 2) Even if you could, you can’t pay them differently.

This is a recipe for mediocrity — perpetuated by the teacher’s unions.

I believe we have some really excellent teachers and we have some that are probably in the wrong line of work. There has to be a way of rewarding the good ones.

One thing I would add to Al’s idea is that the best teachers also get the best students. It would reward both the teacher and the students for hard work. (It would make it harder to measure the teachers however.)

By Cam

February 21, 2005 02:23 PM | Link to this

Class size does matter!! As a 31 year veteran I can tell you that having 32 sophomores in an Advanced Placement U.S. History class does make a difference. It makes a difference in the amount of individual time each student receives and it makes a difference in the quality of time that I have to grade the 20-30 essays each student writes per year. In the past my students have scored higher on the AP exam when I have only had 21 students in a class.

By Jennifer

February 21, 2005 03:11 PM | Link to this

My assumption, based on my own experience in the classroom, is that I’d rather have classes of 30 well-behaved, motivated kids than 20 kids in my class with 2-3 continually disruptive kids and no way to discipline them.

When I taught in a GA high school—about 3 years ago—I had reasonable class sizes; however, I also had several disruptive students as well as lazy students in each class. When I tried to institute some form of “rules & consequences” system, I found that there were no consequences that I was allowed to impose on the kids—after school detention was not allowed, and I was even told that I could not have my kids serve lunch detention in my classroom—while they ate their lunch—because I could not deprive them of their full break! Ludicrous! And, to make matters worse, I was told that it was MY fault that 1/3 of my students did not turn in their first project, even though they had ample time to complete the work, were reminded frequently, and I called each parent of the children who did not turn anything in & only received 2 projects the next day. How is this the teacher’s fault?

Cam makes an interesting point though, regarding his AP students. Although they’re probably motivated and well behaved, having 30+ kids in a class limits time for discussion, group work, and questions. I’m not surprised that it would impact the quality of instruction/feedback. I know I’ve always done better, even on the college level, when the classes were limited to 20-25 students.

By emprime

February 22, 2005 12:27 PM | Link to this

I think smaller class sizes matter mostly in the younger grades. It would be ideal to increase the class size with each grade or group of grades.ie.(k-2,3-5,etc.) The younger, more impressionable children would benefit from the smaller teacher/student ratio and by the time they reach high school they should be adjusted enough to handle more students in a room. It takes a really good and dedicated teacher to provide a quality education to mass amounts of students. Unfortunately, they are slowly becoming a rare breed. Most educators now are in the field as an alternative to another career. In other words, when all else fails…why not teach. And this has become evident with the quality of education our children are receiving. But back to the question….yes, I think class size matters, especially in the elementary grades.

By chuck

February 24, 2005 02:52 PM | Link to this

I can tell you that class size makes all the difference in the world to teachers. I teach five classes a day with a total of 138 students, an average of 27.6 per class. I can tell you, I get to work at 7:15 each morning and leave between 4:30-6:30 each day. I have 2 planning periods within that time of about 45 minutes each. I still have to take work home a couple of nights a week. I am worn out by the end of each day. In 2 of my 15 years in the classroom I have had an average class size of 25 or less…25 one year and 21 in the other. One year my class size average was 32 per class. I almost quit that year. For every student you add, you add papers to grade, parents to call on the phone or to have conferences with, copies to make, mouths to monitor, hormones to keep in check, `etc. We don’t get paid extra for larger classes and there are many schools in our district that average anywhere from 4-8 fewer students per class. Don’t get me wrong, I am NOT COMPLAINING, but if you think those conditions have no effect on my performance AND on the amount of individual time and attention that I am able to give each kid, you are very wrong.