Size Matters

The other day we were asked by our teacher to blog about a current issue involving the education system. I decided to blog about the rise in class numbers and the effects it is having on students and teachers. The reason I chose this was because in every class I've taken so far my teacher has mentioned the increasing sizes of their classes. Most of them reminisce of the classes they taught when they first started and about how they liked it more when the class sizes were at around 15-20 instead of 30-40.

While reading on the subject I found two articles about it. One argued that is wasn't the sizes of the students enrolled in the class but the classroom itself that is causing problems, and the other argued that it was the number of students in the class and not the room causing problems. The article against the size of the classroom says that with the appropriate room size the students will increase their achievements. It goes on to say that the size of the room can affect the students negatively with an increase of stress, a lack of privacy, and a considerable amount of interference. Where the article on the size of the class roster says that The National Education Association states that the optimal size of a regular classroom is 15 students; unless the class is for students in specialized programs in which the number of students should be fewer than 15.

I have had classes in both small and large rooms, and have never really liked being in a larger room because it gives me more places to look to instead of concentrating on the class. Which is why I personally believe that the increase in the class roster is the real issue and not the size of the room. As a student smaller classes give you a greater opportunity to have a one-on-one discussion with your teacher/professor, and its is easier to familiarize yourself with the other students. While from the teachers perspective a smaller class of 15 is easier to keep control of than a class of 20 or even 25. This video is of a school in Austin where because of budget cuts each teacher is going to have to have at least another two kids in their class. As mentioned in the video two more kids doesn't sound all that bad but when you have a classroom of 24 to 26 ten year olds keeping them quite and focused on their work is a hard job. So do you think your size will matter?