I recently stumbled across this blog from the Fiske Guide website. He has an interesting link to report by Rice justifying why it needs to increase in size by 30%.
But as one undergrad quoted in the report explains, “I feel that we are too small and that increasing by 30 percent at least, if not more, would benefit us in so many ways, socially and academically. Many of my upper-level courses have 10 people or less, which limits me in choosing a study group, project partners, and in class participation.” I hate it when that happens. My bet is that we won’t be seeing this quote in the viewbook any time soon. Alas, the only thing that benefits from smallness is teaching and learning, an item far down on the list of priorities at most institutions.
My initial reaction to the student’s comment was “you’ve got to be kidding.” So that’s why UT Austin required a minimum of ten students in an undergraduate class for it to make.
After thinking about it some more, I realized how the student could have reached that point–but it is still a pathetic comment. I would guess that her lower division classes were between the 15 to 30 range with occasional big hall lectures. So she experienced an “ideal” class size that most have to wait until graduate school.
But what does that say about her ability to imagine what those “ideal” size classes will be like once they start expanding the number of students? What does it say about an institution and it’s graduates that believes the students would benefit more from a stronger “national” reputation than smaller classes?
Maybe the Rice graduates who feel like they are at a disadvantage when applying for jobs because no one knows what Rice is should consider applying to other less shallow sounding jobs. But given the comments in the report, it sounds like those are exactly the type of people Rice has been and will be recruiting.
Well, at the least students won’t have to make sure they’re prepared for their classes and will be able to select from a wide range of potential project partners after they have figured out their names.
