Reflections by Dr. Richard V. Jones Dean, School of Education Last year, I had the opportunity to teach a few science classes in a local junior high and high school. I find the chance to interact with the current generation of students a revitalizing event for me...if I survive! Teaching is hard work and the experience last year convinced me that we, you and I, must reduce the number of students the teachers in this state are assigned to teach. Therefore, when this chance to express a personal opinion arose, I thought this would be a place to beat the drum for reducing the teacher-student ratios in the public schools. So...here goes! The recent flurry of statements regarding the “crisis” in education has niet nn ie brought a renewed interest in. the growth and direction of the public schools. One by-product of this reawakened interest in the schools is the suggestion that the ills of the public schools are related to the inadequacy of classroom teachers. In my judgement, that observation is hogwash; more specifically it is | simplistic and indicates a significant lack of knowledge about the people who teach and the working conditions in the schools. _..that the ills of public schools are related to the Harvard University recently published a book on this subject: “Horace's Compromise: the Dilemma of the American High School." The com- promise that Horace, a quasi-fictional English teacher, must accomodate is between his standards of excellence and the pressures of overwork. A common example of the problem is the English teacher who assigns a composition to his/her 150 secondary students. As it takes at least 10 minutes per composition to assess and make suggestions, that teacher will require 25 hours to read and correct one set of papers. Assuming that the teacher must have time to prepare for classes each day, to write and organize classroom materials, to attend meetings on school related issues, etc., as well as We need action on the main problem and we need it soon! live a normal personal life, a month can easily pass before the next assignment is made. Therefore, each stu- dent will have a critique of his/her writing only nine times per year from that teacher. Common sense, as well as educational research, would indicate that much more feedback is necessary to develop effective writers. Similar horror stories could describe the pressure put on science through a particularly blem or a momentary fidence because to concentrate on one requires that the rest of the class wait patiently for their turn. Anyone who has worked with the young teachers or reading teachers or math teachers or elementary teachers who classroom teachers...1S are expected to “cover" at least fifteen different subjects, often with more than 28 children in a room designed for 24. Large classes mean that the teacher will spend less time with individual students and more time on group ac- understands that “waiting patiently” is tivities. the rising Great Salt Lake: drowned progress, drowned potential and drowned hope. I think Utah has great schools. Teachers in the public schools of this state live between two conflicting demands. Teachers are asked (1) to maintain the standards they, as professionals, know the students need, and (2) to have responsibility for the instruction of too many students each Teachers I have observed have devised excellent group experiments in science, self-correcting tests in math and even unique in- one, 27 minds are academically idling while one mind is running at full speed. The overall effects on educa- However, study. Yet too often, they do not have will experience increasing difficulties in educational opportunities for all, in 9 # 4 k eS : || legislature raises the taxes necessary to fund a significant decrease in the number of children assigned to each classroom in the state. While productivity studies and Discipline Committees are nice, they are considerations tion in Utah is similar to the effects of — - —-— ~~ ————— -————— 4 The state of Utah is ranked at the bottom of the list nationally in class size. The state has little chance of moving up that list of states in the forseeable future unless the a skill learned much later in life. Further, when the class is waiting for structional materials for self-directed the time to coach an individual child discipline and management problems, in teacher burnout, etc., unless the public. reduces the pressure on teachers created by exorbitantly large class sizes. difficult prolapse of con- inadequacy of hogwash! year. Theodore Sizer, the former Dean of the Graduate School of Education at of the symptoms of the ills caused by too many kids in each room; we need action on the main problem and we need it soon! I believe that the schools Little Cat's T-Shirts Now! Available | Send order, with check or money order, to: Name Little Cat's T-Shirts Alumni Office 1011 Address ~ Weber State College sient are (T-Shirts available in the also WSC Zip City/State Ogden, UT 84408 Quantit Size:6-8 x, : : 10-12 Bookstore. } > 14-16 ae Limited time offer, with this coupon only $5 each, plus $1.50 shipping and handling (regularly $6.95) Weber State College COMMENT October 1984 page 3