Educating The Masses Education - 1313 Words

Educating the Masses Education is foundation for American living; however the problems that face the education systems in place are a detriment to not only the students but the faculty that work endlessly to help students. There are many factors that go into K-12 education but the problem is overcrowding of classrooms, that put stress on students and teachers, and teachers’ having a lack of say about what happens in the classroom itself. Patricia Handley, a teacher of twenty eight years, wrote an article on the benefits of small class rooms. Being an educator for so many years gives Handley ethos not only as a writer but also as an advocate for wanting smaller class sizes. She breaks down the benefits into five categories; A more†¦show more content†¦By having 15 students instead of the normal 25-30 this gives teachers more time to focus on improving individual student weakness. This would not be able to be done in a larger classroom setting. By decreasing the number of students the teacher is able to be the most effect that they can, this means better teachers and better students. The understanding of the changes that need to happen is deeply recognized by the teachers that spend every in the class room with the students. Jill Carey, the authors’ mother, has been a teacher in K-12 for the past twenty years. Carey has watched the school system go into a deep decline and attributes it the red tape, or the systems put in place, but the school boards and people that don’t have direct contact with students. Carey believes that not only smaller class rooms would benefit schools, but also letting class rooms be solely run by the teachers themselves. As a teacher she sees that students are being sent to higher grades without understanding basic concepts, which a detriment to the student and also the teacher that now must get them to proficient standards while also trying to teach them harder material. Her solution would be to let teachers chose the material that the students need to learn. Carey says â€Å"So much emphasis is put on the teacher to preform, and not what the students are actually learning. In