Thanks for drawing all the attention away from DOG POOP also!

I think a better way to decrease class size would be to take the uninterested kids out of class and put them in some kind of trade school/alternative school.

....... out of the classroom and put them on poop patrol .
They can't do - math - science - or read anyway .
Everyone wins .

Reddog

Nothing will come of this. Class sizes were not brought down over the past years when state revenue was up. Where would the $$$ realistically come from during a recession?

This is about growing the teacher's union with more teachers.
The raw truth is, no matter how small the classroom is with the number of students. The children will not learn any more then they do now, and it will be the parents fault as it is now, as teachers point out. The only difference is the people are going to be taxed a lot more to give a soft life to even more parasites who are standing on the shoulders of decent hard working families in Idaho to keep their parasite heads above water.
The history on this issue has proved itself time and time again. The teachers will point to the parents as the fault the SAT scores keep going backwards. Even more proof of this is, teachers blame No Child Left Behind as part of the problem they can't teach. Fact of the matter is clear, the teacher's union worked with Ted Kennedy to help him write this bill, No Child Left Behind. The parasite teachers when giving the chance to write a bill like No Child Left Behind, can't even get it right. So if these parasites can't even write a bill any way they want to make the law be what they want it to. It's a safe bet, they can't teach and nothing is going to change that.

Too many kids in the class rooms! Damn, this isn't new status, or news, this has been going on forever. Remembering that there are only and always two sides to anything, WHY DONT ALL THESE BRILLIANT COMMENTORS, spread the message, that if you want fewer kids in the classroom to promote GREATER ONE ON ONE TEACHING , the we need FEWER KIDS IN THE HOMES. QUIT MAKING BABIES YOU IDIOTS!! BABIES ARE A BY PRODUCT OF SEX AND IRRESPONSIBILITY, AND SEX IS BETWEEN YOUR EARS! SO GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR BUNG HOLE AND CONTRIBUTE RATIONAL DECISIONS, OUR GOVERNMENT CERTAINLY WON'T.

It will never happen, however. It all comes down to money. Everyone wants a solution, but no one is willing to pony up the money (and then put it in the right place). So, instead we will continue down the same inefficient road and ignore simple ideas that would vastly improve student performance. Hell, this is how the United States works in general. There's a lot of stuff that is 'broken' and most everyone wants change. And, sometimes the solutions are simple and obvious. But, there will always be some road block and nothing ever changes. Status quo and mediocrity is fine for most. For the rest, there are special interests to protect, so doing the right thing can be damned.

I can also guarantee that the state and individual districts will throw a lot of money at more stupid programs supposedly designed to increase student performance. These things don't work, and next year (or the year after) they'll waste money on another bad idea... looking to put a band-aid over a head wound. Instead, this is money that could be used for more teachers. But it will be given to vendors who's salespeople talk a good game about the best way to teach phonics, math, character education, reading, etc... Districts LOVE to buy into this type of garbage instead of finding realistic solutions. Some worthless program is not going to teach your kid to read. A classroom with fewer kids will, however, have a great positive impact and result in more one on one instruction.

If you truly care about education and the future of our society being composed of competent individuals, get behind this concept, people.

All you Joint School District No. 2 parents... you should be asking your district the same question. Why overcrowded classrooms? There are a lot of 36+ student classrooms out there. The district wastes a lot of money on frivolous expenditures. The district likes to pride themselves on nice new buildings, technology, growth, etc. But they could be doing a lot more to help YOUR children. Why not put more money where it will actually help students? Teachers who do not have to babysit 40 kids (trust me, at that size classrooms can become more about crowd control than teaching) have more time to work with YOUR child and provide them a quality education.

Take this article from today's Denver Post as an example of the financial crunch school districts are under due to the surging cost in fuel and food...

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_9221762

This might sound a lot like "walked to school in 3 feet of snow up hill both ways" but...

I attended Catholic school in the 60s in Twin Falls. We had 52 pupils in the first grade at that time. My graduating class in 68 was 40 some students.

After graduating to public school we soon found that we were much, much further ahead than our fellow public school compatriots. The most amazing thing we found out is that home work was voluntary not mandatory. The teachers would just subtract that work from your grade.

We had never heard of such a thing. At St. Edwards there was simply NO excuse for not doing your work. You made it up.. at recess, lunch time or over the weekend.

My point is... It's not the ratio of teacher to students but the dedication and discipline required by ANY system. NO EXCUSES!

Just look at the ratio of scholarships awarded to public school students to those graduating from BK.

What is their teacher/student ratio?

What's their secret?

to those of us in the teaching profession. There is a MASSIVE difference between the effectiveness of ANY teacher and the # of students. Crowd control becomes a major issue. In today's classroom teachers are expected to teach to EVERY learning style, EVERY modality, and EVERY learning ability ALL at the same time. Much easier to TRY to accomplish with 15-18 kids than with 25+. Take a small group of adults and ask them to get things done, then take a large group and ask the same thing....it'll suck. Then you can add in teacher passion and preparedness, teacher innovation, parental involvement, family backgrounds, available funds for tech/books/supplementals/field trips/etc and, this is the real shocker, students who are WILLING vice NOT WILLING to learn.
The recent above posts are great, the conspiracy theorists are ignorant. Teachers HATE NCLB because it is a brilliant idealistic idea, to ensure all children succeed at a proficient level of mastery in all subject areas. But, brilliantly flawed because NONE OF US ARE THE SAME. Raise your hand if you HATE history? math? reading? science? language arts? Now imagine someone telling you have to score well on a test in that area. How WILLING are you to put in the effort to care about learning? How much CAN your brain makeup actually allow you master and retain for the test? It's impossible. Did you know that a student with severe learning disabilities is required to attain the same score on the ISAT for NCLB as a fully abled learner? Did you know that if your school fails one subcategory(say you you have 30 FRDLunch, Asian, Hispanic, White, Black, Polyn., Spec Ed, East Euro, Indonesian, and up to another 15 categories-each is a subcat) the entire school fails for NCLB?
That being said, we should strive to ensure every student has the best CHANCE for success. That also being said, we should realize that not everyone learns the same way, at the same speed, or to the same level. Look at the adults around you, at your work, at home, at your recreation activities. Are they all the same?
Class size would be a big help in getting the best out of each student. It's part of the bigger need to ensure kids have the best CHANCE for success. Now if we can just get some of them to CARE enough to use that chance.

That is why PARENTS should spend a LOT of one on one time teaching their kids. There are very few subjects that a high school educated parent cannot assist a junior high or younger student with. When a child hits high school they shouldn't need much one on one coddling anymore anyway.

Stop turning your families over to the government. Take some initiative and invest yourself into your childs education.

(I am not against public schools or small classrooms. I just believe that parents play a far more vital role than the school does.)

Besides... we need more folks in the military...

Right, John Kerry?

I agree, there should be fewer kids in schools, restaurants, movies, any public place where adults are. ;)
We've forgotten the rule: Children should be seen and not heard.

Have you thought about going back to school? The schools that "schooled" you were either failed institutions or your parents were miserable failures.

Which was it?