I don't mean to shut down your point about hiring more teachers and smaller-sized classes, but as of this year I'm in a pre-calculus class in my high school. There are 9 of us including myself. Teachers and administrators who walk into the class occasionally say this should be like "one-on-one" tutoring and should be the easiest class.

Instead, it's pretty infuriating for a couple of reasons. First, I'm not trying to be r/iamverysmart, but I would say that I have some of the highest grades in the class, and am probably the most intellectual, yet I still feel like I'm suffocating to get to the next test, so we can get to the next subject so we can cover all of the TEKS (I'm a Texas student) that our teachers are given to instruct.

Second, no one else utilizes the advantage of the small-sized class they've been granted with. This is excruciating because although I understand some concepts being taught, I don't know everything. But no one knows anything, but no one wants to try to say anything, which doesn't make any of us smarter.

I believe the problem lies in the lack of motivation. Our heads are turned off. Ignorance really is bliss. And if success in this world is so small probably, then why would we want to make even the smallest mistake to hinder that success? Is that our fault? Is that the teachers fault? I don't know. But I do know I sense a massive shift from previous years in the amount of lightbulbs turning on in the classroom. We are all dead.