Student Perspective: Class Size Matters

Well, it’s Wednesday. That means, it’s time for a new student perspective. Again: my only instruction before students write is “write anything you want about education.” This blog opportunity is just to highlight the brains and overall talents of students at Spring Lake High School. 

And tonight–it comes from junior, Abby. Abby sees that class size matters and challenges all parties (students, teachers, and administrators) to fix the problem.

Education, an endless ocean of knowledge cycling through the minds of the young and old. It is first introduced to us before we know it and is carried on our backs forever. It begins simply–creating a base of common sense to grow on. Then suddenly, all at once, thrown into courses that require a lot of time and effort to comprehend it all. That is why we have teachers and many years to form an education that acts as a seed. A seed that, with the help of experiences and other people, can develop into our blossoming intelligence. That is my outlook on schooling. But not everything goes as well as planned. 

Like I said, it starts off simple. Beginning our structured education in preschool or kindergarten, we get the basics of math, literacy, and penmanship. Gradually, things get more difficult; our responsibilities evolve and the material gets more complex. When students are in dire need of guidance, they have nowhere to turn. Normally the teacher is the most common form of help, but now, as class size grows, teachers are burdened with a higher workload. Students often hear about class size increasing and how teachers have more pressure to instruct a larger number of students and grade many more assignments. This does no good for anyone because now students must seek for help in other locations because educators are now preoccupied. It’s like swimming in a pool: you, as the student, is the child playing innocently in the shallow end while the teacher is the lifeguard. If a few youngsters are at the pool that day, it is easy to see who needs help and guide them along. But if it is a busy day and many people are squeezing in the pool, it is easy for that lifeguard (teacher) to miss those few who are quietly drowning. We can’t let struggling students drown in the ocean of school. No one gets left behind.

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