‘I can’t concentrate:’ Overpopulation in classes affects learning

Overpacked+cafeteria

Kilynn Hammons

Overpacked cafeteria

Kilynn Hammons, Howler Staff Writer

Edmond Public Schools’ growth of 697 students between Oct. 1, 2021, and Oct. 1, 2022, marks the largest one-year increase in the district’s history, begging the question of whether overpopulation in schools hinders classroom performance and efficiency. 

At Edmond Santa Fe High School, students believe it does.

“My biggest class is AP government with 30 plus students,” junior Ivy Bennan said. “I can’t concentrate because there are many kids behind me that talk.”

With crowded hallways, classes are difficult to get to during passing period. An example of the overpopulation in Santa Fe is that it takes nearly five minutes to get from class to class during passing periods if you are going from one side of the school to the other.

“It’s scary to be there with so many people, people walk slowly and step on the back of my shoes often,” sophomore Lydia Hall said. 

Edmond Santa Fe High School has 2,801 students in the school, the most out of Edmond’s three public high schools. Edmond North High School has 2,558 students and Edmond Memorial High School has 2,622 students. 

With this many students, Edmond Santa Fe High School would need a considerable amount of faculty to be able to manage the students properly. 

Santa Fe has a total of 150 faculty members including counselors, administration, teachers, and other parties that work for Santa Fe High School. 

According to Walden University, classes with ‘30-40 students’ are harder to learn in because of noise and the inability of the teacher to be able to lecture, answer questions from students and manage classes. This leaves students with less personalized time to ask questions which makes for lower test scores. 

“The less welcoming the class culture feels, making it even more difficult for students to engage, making them feel less comfortable to ask questions, and directly affecting their ability to process and retain information,” Mr. Beiri said.

Students are also losing the ability to join in on extracurricular activities due to the lack of spots in different clubs. In Mr. Beiri’s E-sports class, there are 24 gaming chairs but many more students that want to take the class. 

“I feel like it’s a disservice to a lot of those students that they can’t be in, but there’s just physically no space,” Mr. Beiri said.