The Positive Short-term and Long-term Affects of Smaller Class Sizes on Students
The size of a class has had or will have a larger affect on a person’s life than most people know and affect more aspects than are visible to the human eye. A large percent of the human population will go through or has gone through, a type of schooling. The size of classes in school affects more than just a student. The faculty has to deal with size too, for example if a classroom can’t fit enough students in one class, another teacher may have to give up their room during their break time to lend the room to another teacher. There is a demand for teachers in the work force and with a more difficult working environment; it could turn people off from that profession. In my high school, we had teachers who were referred to as “floaters” because they didn’t have a classroom of their own and had to keep all their belongings on a cart and push it into a designated room for their next class as a result of overpopulation. Too large of a class also affects the teacher because with more students, the chances of students misbehaving are increased. A large classroom is not horrible, but is not as effective or as useful as a smaller class size. There are many short-term and long-term positive affects of small class sizes.
The positive affects of small class sizes on students can differ. A huge factor is that a small class size means more attention from the teacher or professor. It also allows for more interaction with other students. Participation is usually a key factor in a class and connects with the grading so smaller classes allow a higher level of communication in the class. Small class size has influenced me personally in many diff...
... middle of paper ...
...nds and made the combined money available to states for a variety of education programs.” The NEA opposed this fund. According to this statement the funds are slowly depleting. Although class size is an important topic, it seems to our government there are more important issues.
The short-term and long-term benefits of a smaller class size are many as you have read. The benefits attributed to class size are improving the students learning abilities, improving on teacher/student relationship, and student to student relationships, communication in and out of the classroom, the positive effect on discipline, and increases test scores. Smaller class sizes are one of the most important things in schooling and are not taken fully advantage of, but should be used more often than it is. There are obviously more affects from class size that remain unseen to the human eye.
Upon years and years, the government has tried to cut back spending on unnecessary programs and reduce the deficit of the Untied States. Recently, this has caused numerous shut downs of the government offices over agreeing on budget between congress and president. Therefore, president Trump has suggested to cut all funding to certain programs like National Endowment of the Arts this will be catastrophic for the education systems, and art programs across the country it funds. The Untied States government should not cut funding for NEA (National Endowment of the Arts) because lose state programs, and make local artist go bankrupt.
School funding is a recurring issue in the modern era. Debates ranging from give schools more money, to get rid of the system in place and reform a new idea have been plaguing the world over the years. “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed in 2009, provided more than $100 billion in education aid to offset budget cuts..” (School Finance). Later, “Congress provided an additional $10 billion in 2010 to avert mass teacher layoffs (Education Week, "Total Recovery Act")” (School Funding). These numbers are just a sample of the struggles in school funding, that is costing a ton of money to keep afloat. “There are many ways schools fund varying from state to state and even school to school. Income taxes, corporate taxes, sales taxes, and other fees provide 48 percent of the elementary and secondary school funds. 44 percent of local districts draw money from local property taxes. The federal government makes up approximately 8 percent of state education budgets. These funds are a dealt out on a per-student basis, and categorically to ensure enough resources for each special program or facility” (School Funding). These funds play a huge role in every student's education, either positive or negative. The three main areas that need to be addressed in the school budget are extracurricular funding, building and equipment maintenance, and last but not least staff funding.
The latest amendment to the Florida constitution reduces the average class size in schools around the state. Although many people believe that smaller class size will help students learn by giving them more time individually with their teacher, studies prove that class size has little or no effect on student achievement. The class-size amendment is a waste of non-existent money, and in the long run, it will only hurt Florida’s economy and the education program.
The National Education Association began in 1857 when 43 educators gathered after there was a national call to unite as one voice in the cause of the public education. Nearly one hundred years before the NEA was formed the requirements for teaching were to read, write, and stay out of trouble. This lead to a reform that transformed to the education system we see today, including public schools and professional training for teachers. Even after these changes, many teachers made less than $100 a year, and worked in a one-room schoolhouse. Although education associations existed at the state levels, including 15 of the 31 states in the Union, there was no national organization to serve as a voice for teachers in America. At this time an invitation to the nation’s educators would be sent out to unite and form, as we call it today, the National Education Association.
In the article, "The Difference Between Small Colleges and Big Universities," it mentions how most college students tend to go for a college with a big campus, thinking it will be a better learning environment for them. A larger college usually has big sized classrooms with 200 to 300 students, while small colleges have classrooms with no more than 25 to 30 students. Smaller sized classrooms give students a greater
Districts have to think about if it is worth the money to reduce class sizes, and if there is enough proof that students are academically better off in smaller class size rather than larger classes. According to Matthew Chingos and Grover Whitehurt authors of Class Size: What Research Says and What It Means for State Policy, “Increasing the pupil/teacher ratio in the U.S. by one student would save at least $12 billion per year in teacher salary cost alone” (Chingos, Whitehurt). Why would districts want to pay for the creation of smaller classes when they could save more by just adding more students to a class? This goes to show that there should not be a price tag on someone’s education. Why put more on a teacher’s plate just to save money? With the result from the Student Teacher Ratio, it is hard for districts to say that having smaller class sizes is not the way to spend money. If the districts spent the money on the class size reduction, they would not have to worry about an annual cost, because once small classes are set in place, the districts do not have to continue to pay. According to the National Education Association (NEA), having class size reductions do not only involve money but also create “improved health, less Medicaid coverage, lower crime rates, and fewer welfare recipients” (Class Size Reduction: A Proven Strategy). So, the districts should also look at this before being concerned to where their money goes. The district’s money, according to the NEA, is going into these students who will live a better life later on when they are out of school and into the real
By including a group of students from a lower level class (preferably 1 grade level lower), in an upper level class, both students would benefit. The upper level students would benefit by working with a lower level student and mentoring/tutoring them in their (the upper level) subject. The lower level students would gain extra knowledge, which they would normally learn in their next year of school. Along with getting a leg up on the next year of school, the lower level students would be exposed to different teaching techniques when the teacher of the upper level class was teaching his or her lesson.
Now smart students should choose what class to go to, because they can be at a higher grade level learning , while the others ones still learning their grade and they can get bettter and be like the other smart kids. No, the class size don't affect the class , but a little bit becaus ewhen other and more students come in they won't have no seat and they'll have to seat on the floor. We also have bad computers that barely can work that's why we got chrome books which are better than the old broken torn down
Proper school funding is one of the keys to having a successful school. Americans believe that funding is the biggest problem in public schools. School improvements revolve around funding. There needs to be funding not only in the successful schools but also the schools that aren’t doing as well. In documentary, Waiting for Superman, it talks about how smaller class sizes will help students. Funding is what will help the smaller class sizes. State funding mechanisms are subject to intense political and economic scrutiny (Leonard). Studies have shown that funding is inversely related to accreditation levels (Leonard). School funding needs to be increased, but there must be accountability as well.
Class size makes a huge impact on how the student learns. Along with many other things, there is more to the amount of kids in class than most people think. The quality one on one time is affected. Along with that, important questions that the students needs clarity on from the teacher might not be able to be answered because so many other students are in the room asking their own question. Students learn in their own ways. Teachers have to be flexible to how their students learn and in order to do that they need to know their students on a personal level. When class sizes are large, it effects students in negative ways in their learning.
If class sizes where smaller, teachers would be able to do more hands on activities and there would be less chance for distractions. Even through, teachers would be able to do more hands on activities and there would be less chance for distraction. Teachers could do more hands-on activities in a science class likesuch as experiments in class instead of homework outside of class. In smaller class sizes there would be less chance for distractions, more time to review for a big test, there would be more interaction with the teacher.. “In elementary schools, class sizes generally hovered around 20 in 2008, rising to 25 to 30 in many cases this year.” (Giuliani, 1)There would be more time to review for a big test in a smaller class. There would be more interaction with the teacher in a smaller class size. According to Scott Thill “The proposal by billionaire Bill Gates to increase cl...
Budget cuts are continuously present and affect the way state governments are able to manage their funds. Researcher Michael A. Rebell has found, “‘A survey of forty-six states with available data indicated that… thirty-seven are spending less on education in 2011-2012 than they did last year, thirty are spending less than they did in 2008, and half of them have cut funding by more than ten percent since the 2008 recession’” (Rebell, “Safeguarding the Right” 1859). In all states, budget cuts are resulting in a reduction in the quantity of resources, educat...
... Class size reduction is another area that would enable our school system to move forward. In a smaller size classroom, educational quality will be improved. Teachers have greater amount of time to build a solid ground for the students to flourish. Though changes need to take place in our current school system, I am thankful to be in a country where my children have the right to be educated.
...mpared to privately funded school sizes. According to (NCES) the average school size for a central city, state-funded school is 1,083 compared to 398 in privately funded school. That means teachers will have an even harder time giving a state-funded the same one on one time when compared to the privately funded school. Since the education is not equal to private schools should be abolished.
.... Having such high numbers of students in my classes did have negative effects on my learning. Without having teachers who knew me as an individual, I was left with a very impersonal learning environment. With having so many students in each of my classes, I had a very hard time having all of my questions answered by my teachers. The hardest part of having so many students in my classes was that I was often not the smartest one in there, and when I gave a wrong answer I was laughed at. It is not fair to feel intimidated by the amount of students in your classroom. No one should be afraid to learn for the fear of embarrassment. Students should not have the opportunity not to learn because the teacher can not relate to them, or because the teacher does not have the time to answer all their questions, or because their teacher only gives attention to the smarter students.