SAN JOSE, CALIF. – Are overloaded classrooms negatively affecting students and teachers? Almost all first and seventh period classes are over the limit of students they’re supposed to have. This can have an effect on the students taking the class and the teachers who educate them. 

Statistics from Walden University show that overloaded classrooms can lead to a more chaotic classroom environment, higher risk of illness being spread around students in the class and less individual help being received for those who need it. The more chaotic a classroom environment is the more likely students will stack up on disciplinary issues, like referrals. This has a chance to either postpone their graduation or just stop them from graduating at all. 

Photo by Bao Nguyen

Students working on their classwork.

To get a perspective on things, students who had either first or seventh period classes were interviewed. Freshman Saphire Ha says, “being in a classroom that has more people than it’s supposed to makes it harder to get individual help and it’s also harder to focus because the more students in one classroom, the louder it can get.”. 

Ha also says that “being in an overfilled classroom during seventh period after all my classes is so tiring. After a whole day of classes it can be hard to learn when there are so many people in a class. The amount of people can easily cause more distractions like side conversations.”

Freshman Justin Nguyen says, “Getting help in crowded classrooms takes longer and it also feels like I’m taking up other people’s time when I’m asking the teacher questions and they have to wait.”

Freshman Vincent Nguyen says, “I sometimes need to stay back after class to talk and get help from my teachers because during class time there are too many people asking the teacher questions.”

Freshman Alex Nguyen said that, “Having to work after class is annoying for me and I feel like being in an overcrowded classroom will have a bad effect on my grade.”

Photo by Bao Nguyen

Students staying back after class to finish up work and get individual help.