some major problems in US schools are caused by an obsession with small class sizes. I started out disagreeing with you, but we're definitely on the same page

some major problems in US schools are caused by an obsession with small class sizes. I started out disagreeing with you, but we're definitely on the same page here. In the US, there's a cult of small class sizes. It frequently seems as if class size itself is taken as a proxy for the quality of the education, to the exclusion of any other factor. But all the literature I've been able to find is inconclusive on the impact of class size -- and the very fact that it's inconclusive should boldly demonstrate that it's not the single, overriding factor. The only thing I can find that seems to be accepted is that smaller classes can help "at-risk" generally minority inner-city students who aren't getting educational support at home. But in the general case, nobody's been able to show conclusively that it's got any impact at all. So why do we still make this an end goal rather than a means to an end?