With so many classes for every subject, the number of students in those classes is bound to fluctuate. Besides the subject, there is also the difficulty level to factor in; is the class an AP, a college prep, or an honors class? Does the class have a lot of assignments? These are all questions that factor into the difficulty of the class and the size of the class throughout the year. With so many factors, it begs the question, should classes be smaller?
Especially in high school, dropping or changing classes is not uncommon with several classes going from a maximum of 38 students to 20 students, or even less in more difficult courses. Although this may appear negative, fewer students allow for more hands-on and interactive teaching. Students also develop a sense of community much quicker in a smaller group. These students become less hesitant and anxious to raise their hands and ask questions. This allows the students to understand the material they are learning better and feel more comfortable asking their peers for help (Ferris State University).
While smaller class sizes are beneficial to the students, they are also beneficial to the teachers. Having a smaller class allows the teachers to help one-on-one more often and easily provide for their student’s needs. As teachers are allowed to give more attention to students and their assignments, their assignments can be more thoroughly graded; any issues that may have been overlooked in a bigger class can be noticed and fixed. Not to mention, especially in more difficult classes, the teachers can teach at a more efficient pace without needing to take pauses to organize the class.
Both within and outside of the classroom, it is not just students that are overwhelmed with work, but the teachers as well. Teachers of all kinds come home to hundreds of assignments from different classes and intricate tests to grade alongside lessons to plan. Having a maximum of 38 students in every class is greatly overwhelming, as Ms. Ferris (S), a language arts teacher on campus, can remark, “As an ELA teacher, I find larger classes challenging, especially when evaluating writing. I don’t assign another essay until I’ve finished grading the previously assigned essay. Since I have more students, it naturally takes me longer to grade writing and unfortunately, it means less practice for students because we can’t cycle through as many writing assignments. The process simply takes longer, and there is only one of me. Also, it’s important to remember that 5 additional students per class might not seem like a lot, but when you think about 5-6 classes as a whole, that’s 30-35 more students a teacher is responsible for, which is about as many students in a whole other class! As an example, last year, I had 138 total students while this year, I have 185–that’s nearly 50 additional students I’m responsible for, although my schedule hasn’t changed (4 AP Lang classes and 1 LA3 class).” Language arts is one of the subjects with the most students in every class and teachers too struggle to keep up with the constant flow of assignments coming in.
Despite all these negatives, larger classes provide more opportunities to socialize and students adopt a sense of independence and learn to cooperate with large groups. The features of a larger class are core to approaching adulthood, especially for high school students (seattlepi). Although there are those positives, it is undeniable that immense difficulty comes to both students and teachers when dealing with a larger class. While there is a variety of optimal students in a class for different teachers, it is important to factor in student and teacher needs when creating classes and setting maximums.
