One particularly insightful comment today likened class sizes in K to 12 with university classes saying that there didn't seem to be a problem. Ummm... okay. My response:
Really? "We go to university with 200+ kids in many first years courses and do just fine." Actually, prior to becoming a teacher, I worked at a public post secondary institution in BC. You would be surprised at the academic nose dive first year students take without the personal attention they are used to from their secondary school teachers.
You are really comparing a university class with a public elementary class? This MUST be a joke. A first year course is broken down into a "lecture" and a "tutorial" session for a reason. A "lecture" has 200 plus students; a "tutorial" has a class size limit of 30 or less. In a lecture, students sit and listen while taking notes. They are not active. In the tutorial, they review, ask questions and become actively involved in the learning process.
So, a university class has a class size limit of 30. This is also after they have had a screening process for admission where high needs students are, let's face it, weeded out. You would never see a university class comprised of students with Down Syndrome, FAS, Autism, Severe, Moderate or Mild Learning Disabilities or any of the other multitude of challenges many children face.
If your university class population looked anything like the student population in the K-12 system, you'd be demanding your tuition fees back.
Give your head a shake.
