Student-teacher ratio depressing

I am writing you in regards to one of the problems I see on the university campus. I feel that there is a problem with the ratio of students to professors.

A college education is the keystone for a bright future, because without a good education it is almost impossible to survive in today's society. One of the problems with today's idea of a college education is the classes are extremely big. In many cases, during class, there is only one professor for every 200 students. One of the drawbacks to this type of education is that it is often hard to concentrate and the professor allows little, if any time for questions.

With a class full of students talking and shuffling around it is often difficult to hear the professor or even concentrate. The noise of 200 students moving around definitely causes a slight distraction even to the most studious person. This keeps students from obtaining the best education possible. It is unbelievable that a person is expected to concentrate on a lecture or an exam in a class this size. These distractions definitely do not help anybody. A smaller class size would mean less distractions, and more learning.

It is nearly impossible to ask a question when something is not understood. A lecture should be the time to ask questions because usually there is more than one person who does not understand or is confused about the same issue. A smaller class would be a reasonable solution to this dilemma because it would be easier for students to ask more questions and get more feedback.

In a smaller class, the students would be able to establish a closer relationship with their professor, there would be less distractions and it would be easier for a student to ask questions.

Smaller classes have benefited my education. When comparing large classes with small ones, I can see huge differences in my grades. The larger classes have caused much stress because I often have found it difficult to ask questions, therefore this has been a detriment to my education. I feel that I would probably have learned more and I could have had a better understanding of the material if the student-teacher ratio was much smaller.

Hiring more professors can approach these problems effectively. By hiring more professors, more classes would be offered with a lower class size. It does not make sense why the university would offer larger classes the students do not benefit from. The approach would cost the university more money, but if the budget permits, it should be considered.

Alison Fitzgerald
Nutritional science freshman