By Karen Phan & Timothy Roe, Staff Writers and Photographers
Class sizes in schools often play a significant role in the ways students interact with their peers and the shape of their learning environment. Students at Fountain Valley High School share their opinions on whether there are too many students in their class, and if class sizes affect their learning.
“I think it depends on the class. Some classes are much bigger than others, while others are much smaller. My stats class is really small; we have about 20 people. If classes are too big, then it’s hard to communicate with the teacher, but if they’re too small then it’s awkward,” said senior Shimaila Mansoor. Photo by Karen Phan.
“No, but I think it’s poorly distributed. Earlier in the year, my entire schedule changed, and I saw that one class actually had more students than they could handle, and another class that was taught by another teacher had, like, 26 out of 30 something. They were the same classes, so there was no reason why they couldn’t be distributed more equally,” said senior Jack Wilfert.
“Yes. The school justs keeps trying to enroll kids for the money, so they take a bunch of transfers and end up overpopulated. Class sizes are bigger so learning isn’t as individualized,” said sophomore Newlyn Nguyen. Photo by Karen Phan.
“Our teacher is always saying there isn’t enough time for questions or to read through the lesson, due to the sheer amount of students in the class,” said sophomore Jaden Nguyen. Photo by Karen Phan.
“I think it kind of depends… this year, class sizes were small; however, in past classes in freshman year and sophomore year, there were bigger classes. Smaller classes focus more on my own ability to work, so they can help me more personally. In larger groups, they’ll be focus less on that and try to help the whole group,” said senior Irene Le.
Photo by Karen Phan.
About Karen Phan
Karen is a four-year member of Baron Banner. Contact her on Twitter @zapkanre.
