The Importance of a Small Class Size
The Importance of a Small Class Size
There are many harms resulting from overcrowded Sunday School classes, especially with regard to children. Therefore, we advise reducing the number of students in classes as much as possible, for the following reasons:
1- For Maintaining Order:
The teacher often finds it difficult to maintain order in a class crowded with children, especially since their age naturally inclines them to movement, talking, and restlessness.
2- To Facilitate Individual Attention:
It is difficult for a teacher to care for dozens of students individually. In a small class, questions can be distributed to all the students, and the teacher can ensure that each one understands. He can have them repeat the information they received, thus ensuring their comprehension and understanding. But when the class is crowded, individual attention is often lost in the midst of the large number. This also applies to monitoring the child’s spiritual life.
3- To Facilitate Pastoral Follow-Up:
A small number can be visited and followed up. The teacher can know his students by name, one by one, and understand each of their conditions. It is not difficult for him to visit and care for them.
4- For the Possibility of Growth:
A teacher who has 10–20 students in his class will seek to increase their number. When they grow to 30–40, for example, they can be divided into two classes at the beginning-of-year organization. But if the class already has forty or fifty or more, it is unreasonable for the teacher to seek growth while he is already exhausted from the current number.
5- To Preserve Quietness:
If the number of students is small, the teacher can explain in a calm and low voice, and the students can respond in the same quiet manner. But if the number increases, the teacher must raise his voice to be heard, and the students shout as well, and noise fills that branch of Sunday School—especially if they are in a limited church space.
6- To Preserve the Teacher’s Humility:
So that he does not boast of the large number, while the spiritual condition of the class is weak and he is not fulfilling his work faithfully.
7- For Faithfulness in Service:
In a small class, the teacher can assign homework and organize notebooks for the students, reviewing them all. This is difficult to do with a large number. This also applies to the many activities a student may undertake under the teacher’s supervision: memorization, receiving hymns, conducting various competitions, and supervising all artistic, academic, and spiritual activities, and so forth.
The necessity of maintaining a small number of students in each class leads us to another subject: the sufficiency of the number of teachers. This inevitably directs us to pay attention to servant-preparation classes.
We leave this to another opportunity prepared by the Lord.
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