Horrors! Loud, 60-kid Classroom

[Firnafth]

Recent New York Times article reports on a teaching system in which elementary-school children are put into large classrooms with 60 kids and 4 teachers. The focus is supposedly on collaboration and free learning:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/education/11class.html?pagewanted=1

It sounds miserable - mostly because it would be extremely loud, but there could be other reasons, too. It seems like people were trying to suggest this method might be universally useful. No way! I guess I don't remember being a kid much (and I was homeschooled) but I think I would far prefer silence and independent study to this chaos. Anybody who finds loud, people-filled places stressful, distracting or painful would not thrive, or likely even survive, in such an environment - so I suspect this method would be terrible for most people on the autism spectrum. At least the article admits that some kids had to leave the classroom so it's not good for everybody, although it's a shame that those kids had to suffer before leaving.

What do others think of this?

 

[Droopy]

Seems like a recipe for disaster to me. I'd rather have smaller classes and a single teacher. When I was at school, our classes of 20 could sometimes get very noisy - I can only imagine what a class of 60 would be like.

 

[IContainMultitudes]

I have a hard time even imagining how a teacher would keep a classroom with 60 kids from turning into a complete "law of the jungle" situation. I think that that would definitely be hell for most AS kids.

 

[Billi]

I could do that occasonally,and we did do some activities with that many kids, but everyday would stress me out

 

[superboyian]

No, I just wouldn't be able to handle it but then again, I do have a rather strong chrisima in me, so maybe I might be able to do it but I don't know exactly how long I would last?

Probably not even a second otherwise.

 

[Spinning Compass]

I just don't see how kids could get a quality education with that many in a classroom. Seems like there'd be a lot of kids who would just fall through the cracks, kids that might be a little shy, kids that might need a little encouragement. Malcolm Gladwell in "Outliers" says the key to success is being around people who can help cultivate your talents and provide opportunities--doesn't sound like a lot of that would be happening there.

The older I get and the more I see, I think that Americans pay lip service to the idea of education. We don't want to do what it takes to make schools truly great, we'd rather spend our money and energy on other things. It really annoys me that sports are the center of attention; if a school's got a great team that seems to be all that matters. Now the NCAA basketball tournaments are starting. Too bad there isn't an equivalent to the NCAA in biology or chemistry or other academic subjects. But that just shows where our priorities are.