GROUP BEHAVIOR 143 



of mankind. This is particularly true in the United 

 States, where we are engaged in mass education on 

 an unprecedented scale. This teaching of the young 

 to the extent to which we are attempting it is an 

 expensive business in time, in effort and in money. 

 We need to know, therefore, the number of these 

 interesting young animals that can be trained to- 

 gether with best results. In other words, what is the 

 optimal class size for the various levels of training 

 from pre-school days through the preparation for 

 the doctor's degree and further? 



In part, the proper answer to this question calls 

 for a statement of educational objectives. The devel- 

 opment of strong individuality, for example, is not 

 necessarily accomplished by the same teaching meth- 

 ods and class size which favor the growth of conform- 

 ity to group patterns; and the rapid development of 

 mastery of so-called skills may call for difiEerent num- 

 ber relations than those needed for the mastery of 

 logical thought. 



Even without positive information we can guess 

 that the tutorial method with individuals or very 

 small groups will best serve some ends while others 

 will be achieved most readily in larger groups. The 

 question, or a simplified part of it, thus becomes: 

 What class size favors optimal rate of learning of the 

 usual class material presented at different ages? 



