Hetrick 1

Paige Hetrick

Mrs. Cramer

College Composition 1

12/7/18

The size of a classroom doesn’t affect how much a Student Achieves

The ideal student receives straight A letter grades in his or her classes. He or she always

attends class, pays attention, wants to be enrolled in the course being taken and is given the

appropriate resources to succeed in school. Resources such as, available experienced teachers

provide the ideal student with a path to success. Many argue that class sizes affect a student's

learning. However, there are many more factors that outweigh the effects of a classes size on

students. Given proper resources, and a will to learn, students can succeed in learning, despite

having a large classroom setting. Reducing class size in schools alone, will not improve a

students’ education because the factors of student enrollment, and the availability of experienced

teachers outweigh the effects of large class sizes on learning.

Learning is important, and in order to learn, one must be taught by an experienced

instructor. However, experienced instruction is not easy to find, and accessible to everyone. The

teaching profession is no longer popular, and the number of experienced and specialized

instructors is rapidly declining. A students’ ability to learn is offset more by the quality of the

teaching they receive, rather than the size of the class they are in. According to groups of

elementary school teachers in Tennessee, there are not many highly skilled teachers, and it is

difficult to employ them. This is due to the fact schools cannot find specialized teachers, nor can

they afford to pay these highly skilled employees. The same Tennessee teachers claimed they

had to teach classes they were not certified to teach. This means, schools had unexperienced staff
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instructing courses they were not trained to instruct. (Lakdawalla66). Finding good teaching is

like a treasure hunt, good teaching is valuable and difficult to obtain.1 In the end, if class sizes

are lowered, the schools will need more teachers that they cannot afford, nor find. Because of

this, students would receive a lesser learning experience at the cost of a smaller classroom. On a

similar note, it would not benefit students to have teachers that do not know how to teach the

proper material. Teachers who cannot teach course material properly, cause students to miss out

on important learning opportunities. Students could receive a better education in a larger class

setting with an experienced, qualified teacher rather than a smaller class with an instructor who is

not qualified or able to teach the course properly. (Lakdawalla66). In short, experienced teachers

are in small quantity and are necessary for quality instruction. Class sizes should not be lowered

because it will decrease the amount of quality instruction and, in turn, yield a lesser standard of

learning.

On another note, large classroom sizes can overwhelm both students and teachers. Some

teachers claim it is harder to instruct, to grade, to organize large classes. 2 This argument is easy

to ignore considering a study on test scores in the early 90’s called Project STAR. Project STAR

studied test groups of teachers and students with added variation. Some test groups had teachers

with no incentives given and smaller classes, some had large classes with no incentives given to

teachers, and some had large classes with additional incentives given to the teachers. The added

1
Simile- Finding good teaching is being compared to a treasure hunt using like or as.

Similes are the comparison of two or more things using like or as

2
Asyndeton- The use of the word harder denotes the actions of instructing, grading, and

organizing. There are purposely omitted conjunctions from a series of related causes.
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incentives were extra pay given, based on the overall achievement of the students on tests. The

larger classes with incentives yielded almost the same scores as the smaller classes. The larger

classes without incentives given to the teachers did the worst with test scores (Januszka and

Dixon-Krauss 167). This means that smaller class sizes can help better learning and

comprehension but can be equally matched by motivated teaching. Teachers will work harder

and give their students a better learning experience if inspired to (Januszka and Dixon-Krauss

167). In conclusion, large classroom sizes are manageable, and can be effectively taught if

teachers care and work hard enough regarding student education.

To add, teachers claim that larger class sizes result in more disciplinary problems from

students. In turn, this makes smaller class sizes more appealing. However, this is false since,

regardless of classroom size, a disruptive student will continue to be disruptive in any

environment (Januszka and Dixon-Krauss 167). Students who act out will not stop acting out just

because the number of peers in their class may change. Disciplinary problems would continue to

happen and possibly get worse because the smaller class sizes would draw more direct attention

to the misbehaving student(s). This would single out students and possibly make the problem

more severe. Not to mention, more disruption takes away from the learning of other students.

Lowering class sizes would potentially factor into a decrease in cognitive learning. There are

other ways to combat disruptive behavior, for example, changing the position of the student in

the class. This could put the student closer to supervision, and potentially decrease the disruptive

behavior (Januszka and Dixon-Krauss 167). Altogether, smaller classes wouldn’t solve

disciplinary issues, but potentially aggravate students more, and make the disruptions worse.

Without doubt, the self-enrollment of a student can determine how much he or she learns

in a class. There is a fine line between the amount of skill, effort and interest a student will apply
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to a class when he or she is forced, compared to that of his or her own self enrollment. Students

who enroll themselves receive higher grades and put more effort into learning. In 2005, 649

elementary schools measured their class sizes, and tracked the progress made in the education of

each. Along with class size, this study tracked how many students self-enrolled in the classes and

how many were enrolled by administration. The study showed that the average scores produced

by self-enrolled students were higher than by students forced into enrollment. (Hoxby1239).

Students forced into enrollment may not try as hard, or want to, they might not have a taste for

the fruit of knowledge. 3 This in turn, shows that students learn more, and perform better when

they express their own interest in a course, rather than a school's decision to make students take

classes they may not care about. On the same idea, student motivation, and the will of a student

to perform well, combat the effects of class size. Students who work harder on their academics,

ask questions, and place themselves at the front of the class yield higher test scores than those

who do not. According to the same 2005 study, data showed students averaging better grades sat

in the front, asked questions, and ultimately made greater effort to succeed. (Hoxby 1239). In the

end, students who enroll in courses willingly, and place more effort into learning, perform better

in school.

In final, the reduction of class size alone does not make a student's education better.

Because, student's effort, self-enrollment, and the availability of experienced teachers outbalance

the effects of large class sizes on learning. The ideal student gets straight A’s, he or she always

3
Analogy- The taste of fruit is compared to the desire or lack thereof desire to learn. Two

dissimilar ideas are compared to better explain the idea that some students do not enjoy or seek

learning.
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pays attention, applies effort, tries the best he or she can. He or she can excel in school because

he or she has multiple experienced teachers, that give quality instruction, and give him or her the

best chance to succeed. Overall, students who self-enroll, put in great effort, and have skilled

experienced teachers, will learn more than ones who are placed in smaller classes with less

experienced teachers. Administration and schools should focus more on shaping an ideal student

if they want to increase cognitive learning in children, not change the size of classrooms.
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Works Cited

Hoxby, Caroline M. "The effects of class size on student achievement: new evidence from

population variation [*]." Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 115, no. 4, 2000, p. 1239.

Academic OneFile,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A68653517/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=AONE&xid=139

19d04. Accessed 20 Sept. 2018.

Januszka, Cynthia, and Lisbeth Dixon-Krauss. "Class size: a battle between accountability and

quality instruction." Childhood Education, vol. 84, no. 3, 2008, p. 167+. Academic

OneFile,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A176049285/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=AONE&xid=4c

8ce450. Accessed 20 Sept. 2018.

Lakdawalla, Darius. "Quantity over quality; ever-declining class sizes and teachers' dwindling

pay have a common explanation: the increasing price of skilled labor. (Research)."

Education Next, vol. 2, no. 3, 2002, p. 66+. Academic OneFile,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A91821097/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=AONE&xid=759

061f6. Accessed 20 Sept. 2018.