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At any rate, it serves to highlight the point that blanket statements about whether or not small ratios are advantageous can't really be made and deemed accurate. There are LOTS of different settings than the limited ones the OP is likely considering, and they aren't all equally served by the same protocols. In a variety of high-risk settings, smaller ratios are not only more academically advantageous, they are also safer.
More 1 on 1 time with the teacher? You can get that after class if you bother to take the time.
More teacher/student interaction? I find that in classes of 40 to 50 I'm still get a lot of interaction with asking and answering questions from the teacher because most students just stay silent when a teacher asks a question to the class. In fact I've had several that were too small where I was the only one who would respond. It was like a dialogue between me and my philosophy teacher because no one else would ever chime up or say anything, even after I gave almost uncomfortably long periods of time for others to answer.
Closer space? Sit in the front.
I don't get how having a few more people in my classroom detracts from my education. Grant it, I wouldn't want 400 people in a lecture hall, but I think 40-50 people per class in college and 30-40 people per class in HS and middle school would be fine, actually the ideal number for me, unless the class was heavily discussion based, where that might be a few too many.
Plus about 15% of the class isn't even there at any given time.
Having small class sizes is a very expensive goal, and I'm not seeing where the benefits are.
1) The teacher is more likely to notice struggling learners who don't ask for help after class in a small class.
2) There are fewer classroom disruptions. The bigger a class is the harder the class is to manage from a student behavior point of view.
3) It is easier to conduct alternate learning activities in smaller classes
4) The teacher has more prep time because they have less grading to do so, theoretically, their lessons should be better. When I'm not overwhelmed with grading I do a lot of research into how other teachers teach the topics I do and work on improving my lesson plans.
If the class is full of students who are there to learn and want to learn, class size doesn't matter. It matters when it's full of students who are there because they have to be and they don't want to learn the content. I would gladly take classes of 30 with students who want to learn over classes of 20 where the students don't want to learn.
And don't underestimate sitting up front. In my larger classes I cannot accommodate all of the students who want to sit up front.
Sadly in the real world, there are "no small classes". Everyone out there is competing for the same jobs you are. No one will be there to babysit you one-on-one or spoon feed you with a golden spoon fitted with diamonds.
If you can't compete in a large classroom, you can't complete in the real world.
How many Asians attend public school? A lot. How many of them end up at Harvard, Stanford, UCLA and other IVY league colleges? a lot. Pretty amazing feat considering a lot of them are now discriminating against Asians.
I guess they rather handpick spoiled rich kids who attended private schools because their parents are willing to "pay" to get their kids in.
More 1 on 1 time with the teacher? You can get that after class if you bother to take the time.
More teacher/student interaction? I find that in classes of 40 to 50 I'm still get a lot of interaction with asking and answering questions from the teacher because most students just stay silent when a teacher asks a question to the class. In fact I've had several that were too small where I was the only one who would respond. It was like a dialogue between me and my philosophy teacher because no one else would ever chime up or say anything, even after I gave almost uncomfortably long periods of time for others to answer.
Closer space? Sit in the front.
I don't get how having a few more people in my classroom detracts from my education. Grant it, I wouldn't want 400 people in a lecture hall, but I think 40-50 people per class in college and 30-40 people per class in HS and middle school would be fine, actually the ideal number for me, unless the class was heavily discussion based, where that might be a few too many.
Plus about 15% of the class isn't even there at any given time.
Having small class sizes is a very expensive goal, and I'm not seeing where the benefits are.
Sounds like you're talking college classes where there is time between classes or you can choose to be late to your next class, NOT an elementary or jr. high school situation. And kids in high school and younger typically have to follow a seating chart - I know I never got to choose where I would sit..."bad kids" were forced to sit up front - not the good kids!
Obviously in college you are responsible for seeking out the help you need and you have many more personal resources than a child. Hell - when I was in college I rarely went to class because I could master all the material on my own! So whether the class was 20 or 200 made no difference, at least not in the required classes out of my major.
I went to a private school while having an undiagnosed learning disability. I benefited immensely from it just because of the small class sizes. We all had regular one-on-one meetings with our teachers and developed close relationships with them. They were available for tutoring any time during our "free" periods too.
My cousins in public school had a very different experience.
Then there would be no "dicussions". It would just be everyone reading google links and such. At least with a discussion the OP will get a couple of different views, with hopefully some research, so that he can make an informed decision or conculsion.
Not everything is solved with google, sometimes collaboration with children..I mean other posters can lead to learning too.
Meh.
The way the OP was written made it clear he did not a lick of research on the topic. Googling is usually a good place to start when one knows nothing about a topic.
I think pre-k and elementary learn better one on one.
So do students served by IEPs.
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