Throughout history, civilization has seen many different forms of teaching and education. From the days when the Egyptian and Greek methods of learning dominated the educational spectrum, we, as a society, have transformed the manners in which we convey information to others. These methods of instruction, however, have been constantly debated and argued, in order to discover the “best method” of educating our society. What these orators usually fail to realize about the education process is the importance of the bond between the teacher the student. In American elementary schools, children spend approximately 5 to 7 hours a day with a teacher for almost 10 months. Within that period of time, a student must learn in a classroom along with approximately 20 other children all with unique and distinctive processes of learning. Now, how can one expect one teacher to be able to express information and concepts to the students effectively, given that every student is different in the way they learn? The answer is simple: one cannot. There is no feasible way in which the teacher can perfectly communicate the proper concepts and topics in the curriculum to each individual student, but it seems obvious that public education should appeal to these abilities, enhance, and set the foundation for new aptitudes for each student. Therefore, because of different learning styles and behaviors of students in classroom settings, it is evident that worldwide education needs to be reformed to employ a system where there is a minimum of one teacher for each student to enhance the quality of education.
The necessity for one teacher per student ratios is made painfully clear with the fact that most students are diverse learners from one another. In a notable experiment recorded in the Elementary School Journal, 85 English teachers, working with 170 3rd Grade students, each taught in a 1:1 and a small group instructional format with teacher-student ratios of 1:5, 1:10, or 1:20. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between teacher-student ratio and literacy learning outcomes. The students were given a test before and after the small group lessons to measure the effect of the format. The results showed that the 1:1 instruction yielded significantly higher outcomes than the other small group ratios in the experiment. This experiment was critical in opening the door for more discussion on, not only the effectiveness of smaller classroom settings, but also on students’ different learning styles. From extensive research and experimentation, phycologists have been able to propose eight different learning styles that exist in our world: verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, auditory-musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic. For instance, if a student is assigned the task of writing a paper, if he/she is logical-mathematical, he/she will most likely use a graphic organizer or outline of some sort to categorize and shape his/her thoughts before writing. It is obvious that one teacher in a class of 20 students would not be able to appeal to each and every one of these types of intelligence present in the classroom. And because of this unsatisfactory communication of information to every student, some might be lost or confused in the classroom, leading to further trouble down the road. Well, it goes without saying that the only ideal solution to this issue is that of private teachers. As the sole focus of the teacher in a one on one setting would be one particular student, the instructor would easily be able to pinpoint the student’s specific learning methods and use that information to heighten the student’s learning experiences. A private teacher would be able to easily structure his/her curriculum around that one particular student, changing the way that certain units are taught to further engage the student in the topics being explained. The augmented communication between the teacher and the student serves as a connection between the two, understandably providing a better educational venture in the classroom.
In addition to the varied learning styles of students, the change in the overall classroom dynamic plays an implicitly gargantuan role in furthering the claim for the requirement of one to one student to teacher ratios. There are many factors in a traditional classroom setting that may affect a child’s learning. The first and most apparent element is that of distractions. According to the New York Times, a study done with Microsoft employees found it took on average 15 minutes to regain focus after an interruption. That precious time is syphoned from the lesson and transferred into focusing a disruption in the class such as cell phones and electronics, smells, sounds, and even clothing, in some cases. If there is a teacher solely focused on the attentiveness and knowledge of one student, then the distractions in the classroom environment would be much more controllable, and that would eventually result in the student not being as susceptible to interference. Another critical piece of the classroom dynamic that affects students is that of self-confidence. This is an extremely important factor for learning any subject. The more confident a student feels with their schoolwork, the more creative their thought processes become which means they will be able to grasp complicated concepts much more easily. The confidence boost can also be applied to children who are shyer in front of their peers. In front of just one teacher, however, more introverted students can ask questions and not have to miss out on key points or even misinterpret statements because of it. And finally, the last component of the classroom that affects the learning process is the instructor. The one on one focus formation would definitely offer a myriad of possibilities for the teacher. Not only will the teacher be able to present new information that will appeal to the student, as mentioned previously, the private teacher would be able to focus on specific areas that the student may be struggling with or may want to review, almost like a tutor. As opposed to regurgitating the same already-known information around the classroom to several students who are puzzled about other topics, the teacher would be able to work at the student’s pace and requests and teacher the student accordingly. It needs no explanation that 1:1 teacher to student ratios in class would redefine the classroom dynamic, shaping it in the most efficient manner for each individual student to absorb and comprehend information in the classroom.
Even though this novel idea for a classroom formation seems ideal, there are some who oppose such a concept for a few reasons. Firstly, while some state that supplying a teacher for each student may cost too much money for governments struggling to fund education already, we, as a civilization, must take into account the severe significance of proper instruction in the future of our world and use that to judge the extreme lack of funding of education as it is. Why are we not supporting our future leaders? Shouldn’t we want to equip them with the best possible informational utilities to ensure the sustainability of the human race? So if the question of money is brought up with regards to one of the most valuable resources that we may ever possess, knowledge, then our societal standards and morals must be examined properly. Secondly, while some claim that the traditional paradigm for education in our world be tarnished with the presence of teachers for each student, they must be unaware of the fact that education has been evolving for the past five millennia and that each day it is our duty, as humans, to increase our knowledge of the world around us in the most efficient manner possible. If there is proof that shows that this method of instruction is more effective than our “traditional” methods, then there is no feasible reason as to why we should not encourage this method of education over the previous.
Education is the foundation for human development, curiosity, and evolution. Establishing one teacher per student systems in our society would lead to enriched knowledge and learning, while cultivating newer methods of education as well. When it comes to our world’s future, we should not place such menial ideas such as money and tradition in front of it. Instead, we should incite others to assist the future generations are much as possible, in order to ensure a more sustainable future for mankind.
