Last week, as I was restlessly awaiting the end of a politics lecture, I looked around and noticed the large number of students in class with me. My deep thoughts on class sizes, however, were rudely interrupted by someone who was telling me to move so that he could go to the washroom! After the hour came to a merciful close, I decided it was my patriotic duty to look into the matter of increasing class sizes.

Last year’s Rae Review of post-secondary education found that the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at St. George campus has lost around 15 per cent of its teaching staff over the past two decades. During this decline, enrolment at St. George has gone up by 40 per cent.

The consequence of these two trends is quite clear: with the decline in the number of faculty members here at U of T, the university’s classes have grown in size to become on average well above most other top universities throughout the world.

According to the Princeton Review, U of T currently has one faculty member for every 28 students, which is up from one faculty member for every 19 students a decade ago. Now compare our 28:1 student-faculty ratio with the 15:1 ratio at UBC, the 7:1 ratio at MIT, or the cozy 4:1 ratio at the University of Chicago, and you get a sense of how disproportionate our system is.

This trend towards larger class sizes is not just a U of T phenomenon, however. The problem is prevalent throughout Ontario’s education system, from elementary schools right up to its universities. The leading causes of the larger class sizes in Ontario’s post-secondary institutions are the double cohort and, more importantly, the lack of proper funding.

Now some might say that large classes do not affect the students too much. I, however, beg to differ. The growth in class sizes greatly affects the quality of education in negative ways. In bigger classes, students tend to have fewer opportunities to meaningfully interact with their professors during and after class. This lack of one on one time with professors and TAs penalizes students by making it more difficult to get answers to questions or other concerns that arise.

This absence of personal access also means that the professors will not be able to get to know most of their students very well. This is an issue since most graduate schools require recommendation letters as part of the admissions process, and students who can’t get to know their professors are deprived of this valuable source of effective letters.

Large class sizes also breed mediocrity and contempt amongst students by cramming them in the air-conditionless confines of 200-year-old buildings for two to three hours per week.

The problem is quite clear for everyone to see. Something should be done now to prevent the further deterioration of our education system. Many might think that pressuring the federal and the provincial governments to invest more money into the system will solve the problem of overcrowding, while others may say that privatization is the answer.

Whatever the case, you, as a university student, should quit being apathetic and start pushing for change.