From:	Robert Watkins robert.watkins@******.com
Subject:	the value of education (OT-rant, long)
Date:	Wed, 14 Jul 1999 17:21:25 +1000

IronRaven writes:
> And both were over a thousand, right? I mentioned some
> studies done inthe
> early-mid 80s concerning schools and the impact of increased
> security. The
> also found that schools over a thousand were at a statistically
> higher risk
> than those below, as were schools that had more than 20 students in the
> average class.

Schools with large numbers of students are more likely to have incidents of
violence, but that's because there is a large number of students. :) More
kids, more chances of violence.

The biggest correlating factor with school violence (aside from the
socioeconomic background of the kids) is actually the student-teacher ratio.
Schools with a high student-teacher ratio have a statistically higher
violence factor, per capita. It may or may not be a coincidence that big
schools tend towards the megaclass syndrome that the high student-teacher
ratio causes.

The accepted "ideal" ratio of students to a single teacher is about 15 to a
class. Given an equally accepted value of four classes per teacher on
average, that gives a student-teacher ratio of about 4. Most western schools
are _funded_ at a ratio of about 8, given class sizes in the high twenties
to low thirties range. Funded doesn't mean there's a teacher, though: some
funded positions don't get filled, others are administrative rather than
teaching, and so on.

In 1995, when I actually worked for an education department, I read an
American study indicating that many schools were being funded at a ratio in
excess of 10, giving a class size of forty or more (the national average was
between 7 and 8). In addition, many schools had problems attracting
teachers, especially schools perceived as violent, and their effective
student-teacher ratio was a lot higher. The report went on to say that, in
order to restore class sizes to the ideal, the education budget of all
states would have to be quadrupled. Can't see that happening, can you?

(Oh, for the Aussies on the list: the Federal Department of Education
recommends a student-teacher ratio of 6. Most Australian schools vary
between 4 and 8).

The advantage a really exclusive private school has over the public system
is that the student-teacher ratio is a lot lower.

--
.sig deleted to conserve electrons. robert.watkins@******.com