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Health & Fitness

Does Class Size Matter?

I believe that class size matters in the 21st century. The learning needs of students are much more diverse and challenging than they were prior to laws being passed for special education in 1974 in Massachusetts. Please note that the learning needs of students back when the baby boomers and Generation X went to school were much more homogenous and not diverse as they are today. If a student's learning needs did not "fit the mold" due to having a particular kind of disability or impairment, more than likely, he/she were shipped off somewhere else in the abyss and never seen again.

As opponents blame the school department for having high costs for special education, they don't see the whole picture on how every student deserves to earn a quality education based upon their learning needs.  While it would be nice and ideal for Shrewsbury to accommodate every student's learning needs in the public schools, it is not always a reality that it can be done. As a result, some students with disabilities need to attend a private institution to get their special educational needs met. While we tend to blame these students for high costs to the school budgets, it is not really their fault as the current market dictates how much private schools can charge for offering specialized education and services.

Furthermore, the educational requirements for students to pass every grade and to earn a high school diploma is much more intense than they were during the baby boomers and Generation X eras.  Our teachers need to be retrained again on what materials and resources they were need to know to teach in their classrooms.

Also, the technology and equipment to educate students in the 21st century, is very expensive and necessary for our students to compete fairly with other students nationwide for future jobs and to attend competitive institutions of higher learning. Last but not least, each public school district throughout the country has contractual restraints in bargaining fairly with the teachers' unions. While teachers earned low salaries during the above two generations which were insulting and demoralizing, we need to appreciate that teachers are earning what they should be earning based upon their educational credentials and experiences.

As someone who was in a class size of 30 students when I was in the 5th grade back in 1975-1976 in New  York City, I remembered how difficult it was for the teacher to meet every student's learning needs in the classroom. I was in danger of being left back as my reading scores put me at a third grade level. Since the teacher told my mother she could not help me individually (due to the class size and work demands) she recommended that my mother tutor me at home. The rest is history as my mother did work with me intensely for one month and I did pass the reading test to be promoted to the sixth grade.  However, please note that that students like myself were "run of the mill" where our diverse learning needs were not accommodated.

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