Recent trends in the sizes of classrooms have seen the number of students assigned in classes reduce. This has followed research showing that smaller classes inspire teachers to produce better results and thus enhances student achievement. However, financial difficulties have forced teacher layoff as well as increased enrollments in public schools as parents find it increasingly hard to pay for private tuition. For example, according to an article by Dillon that featured in the New York Times newspaper, the average number of students in classrooms has been mounting gradually over the last few years. Dillon also proposes that some States in the country has relaxed the restrictions on the number of students in the classrooms to respond to the budgetary deficiencies. For example, the states of California, Georgia and Nevada are examples (Dillon, 2011). This paper will evaluate the viability of increasing the number of students in classes.
Central to the arguments about classroom size is the relationship between the total of students in a class and effective instructional methods. Educators claim that smaller classes are more manageable to than larger classes in the sense that the teacher is able to grant individual concentration to every single student. For example, in colleges and universities, the large lectures lack any form of interpersonal contact between the average students and the lecturers (Hattie, 2012). The result is that the lecturers are unable to keep attendance records and consequently many students are able to get away with skipping classes.
[...] Widening performance gap between the private and public schools is a function of many aspects. However, the increased number of students per class is proposed to play a significant role because of the perceived reduction in the quality of learning. This growing gap has many negative implications for the society. For example, it results in an increasing gap between the social classes in the country (Dronkers, 2010). There is an escalating gap between the wealthy Americans and the middle-class (Dronkers, 2010). [...]
[...] (2012). International guide to student achievement (1st ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. Moore, K., & Moore, K. (2008). Middle and secondary school instructional methods (1st ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill. Reynolds, Elizabeth. (25 Jan. 2012). "Survival of the Fittest." The Dartmouth Review RSS. Evolutionary Theory. [...]
[...] For example, in recent times, the problem of inability of students to get into certain classes has been a cause of worry in the public educational system (Moore & Moore, 2008). Some of the classes have few teachers. Consequently, students have to compete to get into these classes and most of them miss out. Career development is one of the principle goals of education (Moore & Moore, 2008). Therefore, denying students the opportunity to pursue certain classes' amount to denying them to opportunity to pursue their dreams. This is a big flow in the public educational systems and significantly reduces the quality of education within the institutions. [...]
[...] For example, introduction of technological aspects such as online learning platforms is dependent on the same funds. Therefore, smaller classrooms decrease the quality of learning by inhibiting the ability of the school systems to advance. Quality of learning: the main connection between leaning quality and number of students in a class are perceived to be the connection between the number of students and the teacher's ability to manage the class. However, this is not always the case. There are instances where large classes result in improved quality of learning. [...]
[...] The loss of allure reduces the number of students enrolling in the public school system and therefore enhances the allocation of resources. The ironic bit is that loss of allure reduces the number of students in the public schools and therefore enhances the benefits of smaller classrooms (Schloss et al., 2014). In addition, the increased ability of students to attend classes affected by shortage of teachers is a benefit of large classrooms. For example, the clauses considered less influential, sometimes shape the careers of students (Burtless, 2005). [...]
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