LARGE CLASSES AND SMALL
ONE OF THE most vulnerable points of attack in the curriculum of the American college some years ago was that of the large class. It was argued that the student had no personal contact with the instructor and had no satisfactory way of expressing himself on the questions under discussion. This system, with its implied complement, the lecture system, was put on the defensive in the growing protest against conditions as they then existed, a protest which resulted, among other things, in smaller classes and a greater degree of individual instruction. A recent survey in a middle west university has reopened the whole subject of small classes versus large and seems to prove that the lecture system with the attendant large class was much more potent in education than most people had given it credit for being.
Many institutions have been considering the lecture system anew in these later days because of its greater economy. The introduction of talkies points toward their use before large classes. Few colleges, however, would consider entirely abolishing small group teaching and tutorial systems. These have been tried and found to have many advantages, and all these advantages must be retained. The emphasis will doubtless go in many places to the very small groups and to the very large groups.
In certain respects this seems ideal. It would mean placing definite emphasis upon honors work already begun. It would mean an enlargement of the possibilities for students to meet instructors personally as at present. On the other hand it would mean an upbuilding of the courses to which prerequisites now bar the way except for those who have special training. It would enable many more students to come in contact with instructors under whom they wish to study. If the survey proves anything besides emphasizing the benefits of the larger courses, it possibly indicates that a man in a moderate sized class receives less benefit than a man in a very small class, and also less benefit than a man in a large lecture course.
In view of Dartmouth's emphasis in recent years on the value of small sections and personal conferences for all students, it would seem wise to move slowly in the reverse direction, though economy may urge such a trend. Departments should study their personnel carefully in order to determine which men shall handle large sections and which should have small sections.
In the past it has been too quickly assumed that if the sections are small, instruction is good. This is a fallacy. The fact is, however, that some men are more effective when they have a large group before them than when they have small groups, and vice versa. A happy solution of the question might well be found in a careful and intelligent study of faculty personnel with the end in view of assigning teachers to the number of students which they are best qualified to handle.
