Amen to class sizes. That was a major consideration in my retirement this past summer. Because of budget cuts, the administrators decided that the only way to make ends meet was to increase class sizes. They went from an averate of 23 students per class last year to 36 students per class this year.
I can remember years back having class sizes of 18 students. Now you could really teach the kids and get into the problems and issues back then. Now with double that, all you have time for is worksheets and rote memorization skills. Forget individualized instruction entirely!
Sad sad sad....
What makes it worse is Michigan has a state cirriculum standards where, you said it CE Geek, politicians and a board of experts
(most who have never really spent any real time in the classroom
) dictate what must be taught at each school grade level. Everything from the course content to the level they must be taught. And with interstate competition between state departments of education to show they are the best, they have crammed everything in there except for the kitchen sink.
That means in order to meet those annual state testing requirments, teacher are forced to "teach the test" in order to show they have complied with the standards as prescribed.
I went to an educational conference a few years ago in Japan. It was very comprehensive and lasted 14 days. The Japanese textbooks were about 1/4 as thick as ours and included about 1/4 the content as ours. Theirs is a highly focused cirriculum. They don't teach useless facts and trivia, they don't focus so much on useless fodder or examinations.
In the USA, any grade may have 2-3 English classes. A basic skills for those who need extra help. An expanded course that may include vast generalities, and an honors course that goes into depth and specifics. In Japan, they may have 15 courses for any particular school grade, and the student themselves may select which they attend for that year. There is no dishonor in being in the "dummy's" class, and no honor in being in the "smart kids" class. Because each person realizes that they may be weak in one area and excel in another. Competition is often one competing with themselves to be better than before.
By the time a student accumulates enough education to graduate, they tend to be highly specialized in an area that they themselves enjoy. They turn out wonderful technicians and specialist, and those that go on to higher education normally know what it is they are pursuing and why. Not like the American system where a kid goes to college for 2 years and changes his major several times in order to pass his classes, and then ends up with a BS in Business Management and goes out and trys to get a job at McDonalds....
I could stand on a soap box and preach for hours and hours my thoughts and experiences on the decline of the American education system...but I would be preaching to either deaf ears or the choir. As long as politicians control the purse strings and set the standards, nothing will ever change.