NY Times article

Where is the outrage at the ignorance of those in the position of power and decision making?  Why are school administrators  and superintendents remaining so quiet when the institutions they have been given charge of are being insulted, torn apart in the press with the use of data that misinforms and outright lies, and is basically being set up for ultimate destruction?  No money for schools means more students in the classroom and Eric k Hanushek, a Stanford Economist, argues that the impact of small classes on achievement has been exaggerated.  Arne Duncan, the Secretary of Education, says he would prefer to put his own school-age children in a classroom of 28 students led by a "fantastic teacher" than one with 23 students and a "mediocre" teacher.  Dr. Roza, who is Bill Gates adviser, says average class sizes have not ballooned, "Maybe the national average went up one kid, but I don't think we've jumped to 30 kids per class."  They're all kidding right?  Of course smaller class size enhances the educational experience for students, at all levels, and if the research that we've clung to that confirms this is being replaced with new research that refutes it, please publish the research (and don't bring Japan into this, our entire system of education is different, if you want to have 60 students be successful in a classroom, then track, discipline, hold students and parents accountable, respect the teaching profession, and weed out the ones who can't quite keep up, oh and send the best and the brightest to the country that our leaders would have us believe has a dismal education system!).  To Mr. Duncan I would just like to say, what planet are you on?  What public school district has had class sizes of 28 students in recent history?  And please, "fantastic" and "mediocre"?  Teachers are professionals, and the job they do encompasses so many duties, obligations and challenges that to describe their performance as you would a contestant in a game is downright insulting. Finally, Bill Gates, you need to rid yourself of the adviser,  You deal with numbers and hers are way off.  Yes, we have ballooned to 30 students in a classroom and beyond!  So I ask again, where is the outrage?

Rosemary