(continued from page 19...) pay for one teacher for 30 students as an upfront cost, rather than for one teacher for 10 to 15 students. It is a real conundrum for school authorities to figure out how to make schools convenient primarily for students, rather than primarily for adults. They are involved in a balancing act, between cost and result. And sometimes, this balance is out-of-balance. In reality, one-size-fits-all as a concept in schools is usually applicable to the standardization of room size in standardized schools, for an expected number of students. This has come to mean rooms usually designed for 30, but as it plays out in actual schools, this number may reach 40 or more in some high schools. Whenever school districts have attempted to lower the student-teacher ratio across the American continent, it has cost billions of dollars for them to hire more teachers. To make dramatic changes from the way it is now is very costly, and not just for salaries. Once class sizes are smaller, the rooms can then be smaller, or the school needs more rooms, and this requires those carpenters mentioned before to adjust the spaces. This whole venture causes adults to pay more up front for the service of education, making politicians and parents more nervous, because taxes will probably have to rise to cover it. Paying now is often seen as less advantageous than paying later for the inevitable cultural costs of the results of large class sizes. “Pay later� has a really appealing ring to it, and many of us fall for it. However, the reality is that paying later usually involves enormous societal problems, such as the social issues caused by young adults who have not received the individual attention they needed, and the resentment they feel from this deficit. Illiteracy, shop lifting, smoking, drinking, drug use, risky 20 // Community Now!
and aggressive behavior, self-harm, poor decision-making based on arbitrary or non-existent reasons, ineffective problemsolving skills, selfish and non-empathetic responsiveness toward others, and other social vices, simply lead to our society having to pay later to remediate the problems that result. These problems are what institutionsmeant-to-reform-youth end up working on, and sometimes this mitigation effort can last a lifetime. This includes communication courses, psychological interventions, mediation services, homeless shelters, adult education upgrading courses, pre-employment training for unskilled laborers, medical intervention for drug and alcohol misuse‌and countless hours of misery for people caught up in failed marriages, unemployment or lost jobs, as well as the many costs they encounter for lawyers and judges to sort out the real messes. If, on the other hand, class sizes were small enough in the first place that teachers could actually get to know their students and follow their life stories, they could possibly notice when dysfunctional behavior arose, and they could intervene appropriately to work with these students while they are young. Our youth need so much in the way of inspiration and understanding, and options to address the problems they face. They need to experience teachers who care whether they learn and whether they can get along with others. They need assistance with realizing the necessity to honor the rights of others, as well as realizing their obligations and power to take care of their own needs and rights. They need to use their voices to express their thoughts and opinions respectfully. This all requires meaningful relationships between students and teachers, so that teenagers can learn to trust adults, since they will be one soon. This trust will build most easily if the class sizes are small. And it helps if the overall