Letters (continued)

I don't understand why Gregory J. Cizek would offer the analysis of the class-size debate that appears in the Commentary section of your Dec. 8, 1999, issue ( "How Cartoons and Calculators Resolved the Class-Size Debate" ). In his essay, Mr. Cizek argues that the key variable affected by variations in class size is the amount of time a teacher can use attending to each student in a class. In the example he presents, a teacher with a class of 25 students, in a 50-minute period, can give 36 seconds to each student (out of the 15 minutes allotted for individual attention). Reduce the class size by 10 percent, Mr. Cizek suggests, and each student would then get 40 seconds of individual attention.

From what I've read of his previous writing, Mr. Cizek is a thoughtful and serious academic. Perhaps he is being facetious, and I'm just missing his intent. If he is serious, then his own example betrays his conclusion. No competent teacher teaches by moving around the room, every day, giving 40 seconds to each and every student. The example is...