Brief Overview of the article:
In this article, Malcolm Gladwell, an author, addresses the new policy that Premier Dalton McGuinty wants to implement: to have smaller classes in schools. Though Dalton McGuinty believes that having smaller classes will enhance a student’s success, Malcolm Gladwell disagrees by stating the importance of teachers and how their role has an overpowering impact in student’s lives. He believes that having quality teachers is more effective than having smaller classes.
The ‘Big Think:'
‘Class size is the biggest dead end in the world,’ writer tells provincial Liberal think-tank
‘Class size is the biggest dead end in the world,’ writer tells provincial Liberal think-tank
May 16, 2010
COLLINGWOOD, ONT.—Smaller class sizes are ludicrous” and a waste of money, according to bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell in a keynote address to the provincial Liberal party faithful at a “big think” conference.
Gladwell, who was raised in southwestern Ontario, spoke at the “Imaging Ontario's Future” conference at the Blue Mountain resort here.
Gladwell, who was raised in southwestern Ontario, spoke at the “Imaging Ontario's Future” conference at the Blue Mountain resort here.
“I was very grateful this invitation came from you and not the Tories,” he joked. “Otherwise my mother would have disowned me.”
Gladwell, whose books include The Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers, is a graduate of the University of Toronto's Trinity College.
He spoke of making the case for a “new kind of liberalism”and the importance of a proactive government with a clear message and agenda.
Everything the world has learned about education shows that the quality of the teacher is the most important factor in a student's success, Gladwell said.
“I know that from time to time there is a lot of interest in the power and importance of reducing class size but the data shows class size is the biggest dead end in the world,” Gladwell said.
Sitting in the front row listening to Gladwell was Premier Dalton McGuinty, whose key election promise in 2003 was reducing class sizes for elementary students.
“Even if you were to cut every class in Ontario in half, you'd improve the performance of Ontario's schoolchildren by about 5 percentile points,” Gladwell said.
But changing teacher quality has a “massive impact” on student outcome, he said.
“If a child is unlucky enough to have a bad teacher three years in a row they will fall three years behind a child lucky enough to have a good teacher three years in a row.”
The question is how do you improve the quality of teachers, Gladwell said. Raising academic requirements isn't the simple answer. Teaching is complicated in this modern world, he said.
“We are asking them to play six, seven, eight different roles in the classroom. The best thing we can do for teachers is to simply let them teach. That requires a government that is activist ... that is not afraid to try something radically new,” he said.
On Saturday, McGuinty told reporters he wasn't bothered by Gladwell's opinion on class sizes. The party invited a slew of different academics, consultants and speakers to challenge Liberal minds as they hunt for new ideas ahead of next year's provincial election, he said.
Economist Jeff Rubin is an example of someone who has fundamentally different thoughts than most Ontario Liberals, McGuinty said.
“We are trying to provoke ourselves with new kinds of thinking,” he said. “Jeff Rubin this morning (Saturday) said we shouldn't have bailed out the auto sector, and Malcolm Gladwell last night said he didn't like our smaller class sizes. That is great; we are open to that.
“Provoke us. Help us better understand the consequences of the decisions we make so we can plan better for the future,” he said.
May 16, 2010 at 12:10 PM
I agree with Malcolm Gladwell’s perspective in that having valuable teachers is more important than having smaller classes. I believe that having smaller classes will only have a minimal impact. It will most likely only encourage students who do not understand the lesson to ask for help but currently, most students are doing this. Furthermore, students are impacted significantly by the role of teachers. In a classroom, students rely on teachers to teach them the curriculum and it is only with an effective teaching style that will help students learn new concepts more efficiently. Moreover, I believe that having outstanding teachers will motivate students to reach their full potential. Through teaching the lesson, they may incorporate inspiring stories and valuable life lessons that will motivate students to do better and practice exceptionally-well morals. I believe that having quality teachers is the key to a better education system opposed to smaller classes.
I chose this article because I think that as students we should be informed of the changes that the government wants to make with the education system since we are the ones who are going to be affected by them. This article pertains to our civics course in that it shows how our government is taking initiative to make changes for our society. It also emphasizes the importance of our education system in our society. Furthermore, this article demonstrates how a citizen’s input can shape the government’s perspective.
June 5, 2010 at 10:26 AM
Mr. Gladwell and I share the exact same thoughts. I agree with him AND Nancy that class sizes aren't important but the quality of the teacher is. A good teacher will know how to put himself/herself out there so that they can help all the students,no matter how many there are. We've all been through our fair share of bad teachers and we've learned from their experience. I have strong feelings on this issue because it has to do with our education and our lives depend on the education that we get before university, starting from Grade 1. In high school, I was very upset with some of the teachers in our faculty. R.H. King Academy boasts about their achievement of Excellence but there are some teachers in our school who really shouldn't belong in a great school like this. I came to King to get the best education I can but in some courses, I'm not experiencing that. I think to rate the teachers in our school, we should have unexpected monitors. When it's unexpected, teachers are caught off guard and principals see the true personality of the teacher. This is just my opinion, and if I offended anyone, I'm truly sorry but I've had enough of all these teacher games. Also, in the article, Mr. Gladwell wondered how the quality of teachers can be improved. My only suggestion is to put the teacher through more tutorials and sessions. That problem is very hard to fix and hopefully, we can find a solution to that. What I'm really impressed by is the attitude of Mr.Dalton. Lots of people wouldn't be able to take criticism but not Mr. Dalton. He was open to any new suggestions and was determined to make the lives of Ontarians better. Things change and he's constantly learning and improving things in our province. Again, I'm glad that he's our premier.
June 9, 2010 at 11:37 PM
The points that Malcolm Gladwell, Nancy and Keerthana have brought up I completely agree with. To reiterate the views, in my opinion a big issue that should be spoken of is not the size of classes but how the initial teacher teaches and interacts with the students in the classroom. Because a teacher can have one of the smallest classes but the quality of how they teach could be lacking extensively.
I would like to address Keerthana’s point about having “unexpected monitoring” which is an excellent idea. With these unexpected monitoring, it could make teachers more aware and scared even in order to always be on their feet and always teach with the best of their abilities. Having many experiences with scheduled monitoring, I noticed a change in certain teachers. For example, a teacher I had would be stricter, call out students for being disruptive and as bad as it seems, taught better with the principle/monitor being there.
Many tax-payers money goes towards education which pays for the teacher’s salaries, and as Mr. Rioux has said many times, we as students are technically the ones who are paying the taxes and we deserve the best education possible. With the teachers teaching our generation, we ARE the future and whatever we learn from them, we will carry it on in order to take more steps into the future.
Also, when attending King, I have noticed an increase in many classes and their sizes. I have recent experiences with having large classes but even with that large class and the distractions that come with large classes, the teacher still taught exceptionally. This is evidence that even with a large class, the teacher’s ability to teach and the class’ ability to learn may not play a factor. At the same time, this can be the opposite of the teacher was not as good as another teacher and did not have developed teaching skills.
Pointing out that by having smaller classes this will result in more teachers and will result in having to pay more money and with the type of economy Canada is already in, can we really afford to pay more unnecessary money when we could have stricter rules with teachers. I think if the government would ask the opinions of actual students who participate in various classes and have different teachers, then they could get the opinions of someone who actually has the classes and the teachers. With this it could how a teacher behaves, teachers and interacts with students.
With this comment, I would like to say that I am not saying all teachers are not great at teacher but what I am saying is that teacher requirements should be stricter in order to be able to teach. There still are teachers in Canada that are brilliant and admirable; the problem is which teacher might you end up with?
June 14, 2010 at 4:22 PM
When learning, it is both the teacher’s and student’s responsibility to gather information and fully comprehend on what is being taught. A teacher needs to have the skills to communicate to the population in his /her class no matter the number of students. Not every student understands the curriculum on the first try; it takes time and patience of the teacher to succeed in teaching.
I have had brilliant teachers in the past years. They had the ability to teach two grades at once. In grade three I had a spilt grade two/three class. Although I had to share a class room with a younger grade, I had experienced the best teaching from a teacher as possible.
Most of the time, you hear teachers going on strike to raise their wage. Some teachers deserve that, while most do not at all. Teachers need to be paid on their skills to teach. Some teachers should be fired from teaching, as Keerthana stated everyone has experienced the “teacher games.” Well, this has to stop! Because of some teachers’ carelessness, us (the next generation) are having to face the downfall in the near time future.
June 14, 2010 at 5:16 PM
Malcolm Gladwell pointed out a very interesting point. If teachers were all good at "teaching," then kids could have a better chance of being successful. I do not think that having smaller size classes matters. Personally, I like large classes, like around 20 people. It allows for kids to have more class discussion. Also, it allows the kids to meet more kids. If there are classes with 30 kids, perhaps that is too much. But Malcolm Gladwell does bring out a good point that it's better to have good teachers than small classes.
June 21, 2010 at 4:01 PM
Malcolm Gladwell indeed pointed out a valid point. The quality of a teacher is infact better than the qauntity. Having a smaller class in my eyes means more people can be focused on so it does make a slight difference, but I do think having a larger class with a teacher who teaches well is the equivalent to that and having a small class and a teacher who teachers well would be greater than the both of those. I have learned from many expeirence when you have a teacher who is not that great at teaching the class it is a harder expeirence and even harder when the class is a big class, because the teacher has no time to focus on the problems students have as it will slow down the timeline teachers plan out. In conclusion smaller classes are better and having a great teacher will make it even better for us students. So I strongly agree with Mr.Gladwell