It Is All About The Numbers by Brooke

It Is All About The Numbers by Brooke - July 2022 Scholarship Essay

On the first day of school, I walked into my first-period classroom. There are 30 desks in the classroom, and some have two students because there are not enough. Next period, all but one desk is occupied. How am I supposed to get a quality education when my teacher has 30 students to teach in a fourth five-minute period? My teachers cannot talk to every student individually on an average day. Students are not receiving the necessary feedback to improve their abilities in each subject.
At many high schools in my area, class sizes are growing while the number of teachers is decreasing. Schools have seen a decrease in grades in the larger classes. Teaching a large class of students puts much strain on a teacher. I have heard personal stories from teachers who became burnt out quickly into the school year. Those teachers have expressed frustration with grading outside of school, causing the grading to be less thorough.
Research has shown that students in larger classrooms tend to be less engaged during class time. They tend to be off task more frequently as the teacher cannot watch each student at all times. If these students spent the class period fully engaged, the quality of their education would drastically increase.
Unfortunately, there is little that an individual teacher can do with their large class to keep all students engaged and learning. The school board is the group that needs to make a change. In May, I wrote a letter to my superintendent where I cited sources about the class sizes increasing, grades dropping, and the number of teachers decreasing in my district. I also cited sources from research studies on the impacts of class sizes and education. After completing research and writing the letter, I hope to see a change made by the Board of Education. I strive to see class sizes decrease to the ideal number of 12-18 students. Increasing the number of teachers would greatly benefit the education quality. I hope to see the average GPA of my high school increase. As shown in research studies, the quality of education can change just by changing the class size. I would be thrilled to see students succeed more in school because of more quality feedback and individual time with teachers.