Big Classrooms Big Problem
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With money in the form of property taxes, ballot proposals, and the Michigan lottery, public school systems should be getting adequate funding. This however is not the case. Many schools have had to reduce the school expenses due to lack of funds. Schools are cutting costs by laying off teachers, cutting sports programs, using energy saving techniques to help lower the expenditure of money, and letting facilities go to waste. This lack of money also causes problems that go unnoticed. One such problem is increasing class size that affects students as young learners, which in turn creates a frame of reference that can carry on into adult learning. Some of the effects that larger classrooms pose: is less one-on-one time for student and teacher, low self-esteem, and reduced motivation and effort by student.
Despite this, class sizes are expanding. One way that adult learning is hurt by larger classrooms early on is that the learner receives, less one-on-one time with the instructor in those larger classrooms. This is needed in the classroom because it helps a student better develop skills that would help them feel more confidant when asking the instructor questions. These skills help them when voicing opinions, contributing to discussions, and practicing social skills. Instead of developing these skills, the student develops a frame of reference that these traits are unnecessary or even bad. Jack Mezirow, an Emeritus Professor of Adult Education, defines frame of reference in “Transformative Learning: Theory to Practice” as being “structures of assumptions through which we understand our experiences” (Mezirow 1). In other words a frame of reference is like an opinion or habit people develop after experiencing situations. This negative frame of reference that is acquired by students in large classrooms, if unchanged, will likely influence them for their whole educational life. As a specific example, students that receive one-on-one time feel more comfortable asking questions to verify requirements for assignments, and students often don’t understand assignments. Peter Elbow, a former director of the writing program at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, illustrates this in his essay titled “Writing for Teachers”. Elbow explains how writing assignments specifically pose problems for students that don’t fully understand what is expected from them in the assignment. “Many students have been known to come right out and say to their teachers, I hope this is what you wanted”(Elbow 1). Students don’t know and they need to ask if they have a question. Students who had larger classrooms in the past are less likely to ask questions when there are misunderstandings.
Another way that adult learning is hurt in large classrooms is that students may develop feelings of unimportance. When a student feels this way in a large group of people, they may be less active in discussions. This hurts their learning, because if the students are uninvolved in the discussion, they may pay less attention. Mike Rose, a professor of education at UCLA, suggests in his essay that students with low self-esteem or feelings of unimportance can suffer academically. For example one student of his named James was having problems he specifically states that James told him, “I can make it. (Rose 6) My confidence was down before.” James was visiting Rose to tell him he was doing better in school. Rose states that “ James was on academic probation and needed to pass all of his courses or he would be subject to dismissal” (Rose 6) This is a great example of a student that is struggling because there was a feeling of unimportance or low self esteem. Further, if students are not engaged in the classroom discussion, then they will “bank” all what is taught to them. Richard Rodriguez, a lecturer, freelance writer, and educational consultant, shows a good example of a student that banks information in his essay “The Achievement of Desire”. In his essay he says he to idolizes his teachers by “imitating their accents, using their diction, trusting their every direction”. It is obvious that this child banked lots of information because he is totally engulfed in the educational world of learning. In adults this even more the case in larger college classrooms. Had the adult received the proper attention as a young student, they would not have such a negative perspective, or feel inferior or unimportant to others. Thus, the adult student should understand that it is impossible for one professor to have the ability or time to give each student equal one-on-one time, and not every student needs it. That means the ability to be independent and confidant should be acquired in early education by having the one-on-one as a young student. Then the student would not be afraid to ask questions and would be able to understand what the professor expects from them.
A third and related reason that larger classrooms hurt learning is that students could develop dwindling