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Could you elaborate more on this Reck? I haven't heard about it, or what it is. But just from the first sentance...a classroom size limit?

Mr Black... Check this out.. http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/72264.htm

Ok, as this thread has left the war for the time being.....



Here in good ol Austin TX, the city council passed no smoking laws over 5 yrs ago. They have put stipulations for ventilation and segregation of smoking vs non-smoking areas of clubs/pubs/bars. This has since spread to the outlying cities, Round Rock for example (where I live).



Do I agree with this persecution of a segment of our society that has DONE NOTHING WRONG? HELL NO! I can see this applying to resturants and other places where children would be efftect, but c'mon folks, its not like Bars and such ALLOW kids in.

Whatever happend to "if ya don't like it, DONT GO there!".



BTW: I smoked for 15 yrs before quitting 11 yrs ago. January 2, 1992 12:05 PM I smoked my last cigarette. Not because of health, kids, or others. But because I wasnt goin to pay 2 bucks a pack!



Hanover Fist

I also gained 60 LBS

2 bucks shit i wish

sorry Mr. Black. There is now a constitutional amendment which limits class size to no more than 18 students per class in kindergarten through third grade, 22 pupils in fourth through eighth grade, and 25 students in high school. It's expected to take from 2003 to 2010 to build enough new classroom space.





That's it in a nutshell.

Originally posted by Hanover Fist

Ok, as this thread has left the war for the time being.....



Here in good ol Austin TX, the city council passed no smoking laws over 5 yrs ago. They have put stipulations for ventilation and segregation of smoking vs non-smoking areas of clubs/pubs/bars. This has since spread to the outlying cities, Round Rock for example (where I live).



Thank god they didnt mess with the clubs on 6th street. :) That is one hell of a place to party at man hehe.

Originally posted by Reckless

sorry Mr. Black. There is now a constitutional amendment which limits class size to no more than 18 students per class in kindergarten through third grade, 22 pupils in fourth through eighth grade, and 25 students in high school. It's expected to take from 2003 to 2010 to build enough new classroom space.





That's it in a nutshell.



Ok, I can see the benefits of this...help me see the negative, I'm having some problems. I know that this would mean increased cost, from having more schools, more teachers, etc. But, I'm willing, as a tax payer, to pay more for the public education system.

Smaller classrooms means more teacher-student time, which means the teacher can be more affective in helping a student, and catching the problems with some before it gets too late.



I grew up in England, and this is something they have be doing for a while. Hell, in some countries, the students keep the same teachers throughout their educational lives (thats also the case in several private schools)



But, I'm rambling offtopic...

The problem is that there is no evidence that it does help. Oregon and California have tried this and it hasn't yielded many positive results. I'm all for doing everything in our power to improve the conditions in the classrooms to make them more conducive and produce better results. However, I don't think that incurring a state income tax for a system that is unproven and costs an ungodly amount is the answer. There is no data to show that students in the US will have any more chance of success in a smaller classroom. They won't either until younger kids realize the value and importance of education and at that time, classroom sizes won't matter.

Very true. We could attempt to model our education system after the ones that do work. Germany has an excellent system, as does England...but I'm not really all for school uniforms like the British (although they do make the women look REALLY good ;))



If we started our children in schools younger, and with good teachers, they can adopt a good vision and philosophy about school. If we assigned the same teacher to the same group of students from the beginning all the way to High School graduation, the children will have that teacher as a confidant, a friend. Currently, students have many teachers per year, and that's not all that bad. It allows the teachers to have a diversity in what they teach, but it causes a teacher-student gap. The more teachers you have, the less likely the shyer students are to open up and be comfortable with themselves, the classroom or even the teachers.

This is becoming a rather widespread problem..introvert children who hold everything in and nobody knows there is a problem until they do something irrevocable (Columbine being a prime example).

With a main teacher leading these students through their school life, teaching many of their classes (I'd say they would switch teachers only for specialized classes) the teacher and children will be able to form a bond that can help the teacher realize problems early on, and also give the child some esteem and confidance enough to talk with the teacher about what might be troubling him/her.



But that is just one example of changes we could make. There are several more that I could name off, if I had the time right now.