University of Virginia Library

Naval Science

Two instructors in naval science indicated
that their course size had decreased in recent
years but that they preferred smaller classes to
allow for more individual attention to the
student.

One government professor indicated that the
larger classes (in one of his courses the number
of students went up from an average of 60 to
117) made him prepare his lectures more
thoroughly and still allowed for class
discussion. He cited his hope, however, that his
first year and graduate seminars would remain
small.

A teacher in philosophy indicated that his
enrollment had doubled to over 200 students
since last year. He stated that any class of over
30 students allowed too little give and take.
This give and take is especially necessary in
philosophy, he continued. "Where the primary
goal is cultivating a certain sort of intellectual
discipline."

One associate professor in the department of
speech and drama stated that his survey course
was presently at 120 students. Twelve years
ago, he said, there were only 20 students in the
course. He added, however, that there were 220
students in his course last spring.

A sociology teacher stated that one of his
courses had to open a second section and that
the total number of students in both sections
was over 180 while it had been only 60
students, in one section, in past years. He
further described the extremely increasing size
of lecture classes as a "prostitution of teaching
and of the University."

The increasing size of classes warrants an
investigation, he continued, and the University
should not allow a norm of increasing size to be
fixed. He stated that once such a norm was
fixed only the gods or a revolution could
change it.