Asa Hutchinson: “Average class size has dropped from 27 in 1955 to 17.3 today. It has dropped dramatically. And while it has dropped…”

“Average class size has dropped from 27 in 1955 to 17.3 today. It has dropped dramatically. And while it has dropped dramatically, student achievement has decreased. Twenty-one countries tested in the 12th grade math and science competency; the United States ranked 19th. There is no disputing our schools have problems, but it is also very evident that simply reducing class size, as we have done over the last 40 years, will not be the magic bullet. It will not be the panacea that suddenly is going to give us great academic achievement. What we do need is, in fact, greater local control, greater flexibility. The issue is not, as my colleague tried to make it, whether we will eliminate the Department of Education; that is a red herring, a straw man. The issue and the debate is whether we are going to provide greater flexibility and greater control at the local level, or whether we continue down the path that Washington, DC, is the fount of all wisdom.”