DD currently has a long-term substitute teacher who is one of those old-school "iron fist" teachers and it seems like the behavior issues in the class are actually getting worse. The teacher is completely stressed out. Maybe some kids respond well to it but DD only is motivated for teachers that are warm and fuzzy toward her. She doesn't act out, she simply refuses to do any work with iron-fist teachers. DS would probably do well with an iron fist (but not overly so or he becomes anxious). So what am I saying? I guess that I'm skeptical that a large class size could ever work well for everyone, given different kids respond differently to different teaching styles.