<p>I care. I found this thread by a link in another thread. I know the value of small classes. I teach at a public university in Europe where --for the last three years-- 0% of classes are under 20 and about 70% are over 50! Amazingly, we have no admissions policy to speak of. All academic high school graduates have a right to attend a university. Popular majors do have cutoffs based on GPA. Although my D could get a free college education here, you will understand why I am happy to pay for a U.S. university.</p>
<p>The class size issue is blown outof proportion. Like there is a difference between an average class size of 18 and an average class size of 27. Let us face it, at the university level, concepts are so broad and deep that only the student can teach her/himself. I agree that there is obviously a difference between have an average class size of 12 and an average class size of 102. But if we are talking about anything over 15 or under 30, you are pretty much on the same boat.</p>
<p>As for Europe, their education system is as good as it comes. Let us face it, if their education system were so bad, its citizens would be behind in terms of intellectual development and production. And yet, Europeans are just as well rounded intellectually and win more major academic awards than the citizens of any other part of the World. For example, 28 (compared to just 11 from the US) out of the 44 Fields Medalists have been European, including 9 of the last 10. Also, 413 (compared to just 155 from the US) Europeans have won the Nobel Prize, including 125 nobeal prize winners since 1980. </p>
<p>I agree that European universities aren't as well endowed as their US counterparts, but they have very high standards and their students do well. Not bad when you consider the fact that US citizens must shell out over $100,000 for a good education when Europeans get it for practically free.</p>
<p>When i found this data, I was surprised to see northwestern having one the the smallest class size.... I always had the perception that it was similar to a public university</p>
<p>My experience has been that public education at the high school level is better in Europe--especially for the top 33% of the population in terms of academic ability--those who get university qualification. But on the whole, American university education is still better-say at the top 50% of institutions. All my students who study in the U.S. come back and tell me how much harder they worked and how much more they learned. On the other hand, they notice that many of their American classmates are less well-prepared for college level work.</p>