Recently, near the start of the school year, the United Federation of Teachers documented a huge number of illegally oversized classes. The city Department of Education insists this easily verifiable truth is inaccurate.
Same old, same old. The teacher union’s figures are not conjured like rabbits out of a magician’s hat. They are not opinions. Class by class, school by school, teacher by teacher, the airtight data is identified.
Doesn’t the DOE swear by Lord Data? Why is class size important anyway? It is not because teachers are lazy, fear being answerable and want a free ride at the taxpayer’s expense. That is what the DOE and its jackals want the public to believe.
The real reason, proved by common sense and tons of research is that lower class size enables teachers to provide greater attention to individual learning styles and needs of students. Last year’s violations, reported in September, were not resolved until practically the end of the school year.
This standard operating procedure of the DOE shows the contempt it habitually has for students, parents, teachers and the law.
Ron Isaac
Bayside
