American Enterprise Institute’s Fred Hess is a schmuck.

You’re probably one of those misguided people who think that smaller class sizes are a good thing.

Oh, you silly boy and girl!

You probably think that the loss of thousands of teaching jobs and the resulting increase in class size is bad.

That’s because you probably don’t work for a think tank, dummy.

AEI’s Fred Hess can explain that the over six thousand teachers that may be laid off in the New York public school system is a golden opportunity. It’s a feature, not a glitch.

But not only would the layoffs of thousands of teachers not mean the sky is falling. If the layoffs are done right, it could mean the sun shines even brighter for the city’s students. For while parents have a natural affinity for smaller classes, smaller classes generally don’t boost achievement – it’s teacher quality that does. And smaller classes actually make it tougher to boost teacher quality.

Stupid parents. Having a natural affinity for small class sizes.

Fred Hess is a schmuck.