I disagree with Marcel Pare (Feb. 20) where he claims that school classes of 30 or more would be disastrous. My generation and preceding ones were and are products of class sizes that were typically 30 to 40 or more students. That was fact in public and parochial schools.
We all learned and most of us prospered as well.
Those who taught us were strict disciplinarians who had no assistants of any kind. They were there to teach and they did not attempt to be pals or buddies with students. Such was not their job.
At issue today is undisciplined children who are allowed to rum amok in the classroom.
Pare takes issue with the current governor and his wish to have larger class sizes but, unless I am wrong, Gov. Paul LePage is yet another successful product of large class sizes and strong discipline.
I applaud him.
Dennis Breton, Rumford
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Yeah Dennis
Well said! Kids learn no matter what the size of the class. It boils down to how the teacher,teaches. In my day there were no Ed Techs. and the teacher did it all. Those teachers were under paid. The teachers today with all the assisiants etc. are over paid. Todays teachers don't do even 1/2 of what the teachers from years back did and on top of that they are constantly b_ _ _ _ ing. Teachers today are paid more but do less. What a sham!
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I received my education in the days of 30+ class sizes. It is true that my teachers had no helpers in their classrooms and that I did indeed receive a good education.
The passage of time, however, can cause us to not recall some of the less pleasant aspects of the good old days. I remember my elementary school classmates with learning difficulties being put in the back of the room where they could not interfere with the teacher’s lessons. I don’t think that they would feel they received a good education. School officials told my parents to keep their son with Downs Syndrome home because the school had no place for him in 1955. He was provided no education, other than what my parents could provide, until he was 12 years old. If a misbehaving student could not be brought into line with the smack of a ruler, pulling hair, or being physically intimidated or manhandled, then he or she was removed from the classroom until the behavior was brought into line. All of these things were considered acceptable ways of dealing with students who didn’t fit the mold.
I moved on with the good education that I received to become a teacher. From my 34 years of teaching experience, I know it is impossible to return to the way things were done in schools in the past. It’s not that kids are better or worse these days; the society they are growing in is just different. Society has changed; schools have had to change to keep pace. Increasing class sizes to 30+ would make it impossible for schools to meet the needs of all children in today’s society.
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