This article makes a lot of logical sense. While there are so many cases like JKat, above, I've also read that the country spends so much money on chemotherapy, which is still our best "tool" to use against cancer since the 70's, yet on average nationally, it doesn't "really" give that much of an extension of life and is a huge burden on the health care system.

http://www.chrisbeatcancer.com/freakonomics-and-cancer-treat.../

I'm quite positive that one could argue this point quite well from both sides, and I've personally dealt with both sides of this argument (lost, and gained a good friend and family members for more time) due to this. I also assume that since many doctors have access to specialized care, they opt for a more private route if they believe it's worthwhile.

Bottom line, this makes good sense, they are around the pain and anguish daily, and maybe are a bit more desensitized to it, so they make less decisions based on emotion.

Sir Ken is amazing. I really enjoy listening to the way he presents information.

On the perceptiual differences, I think that adults are more prone to develop, both intentionally and unintentionally, fixed mindsets on the environment. As I get older, I feel that we tend to migrate towards the simple and common, and children remain open learners, being that there is new stimulation around every corner. They are used to adapting, because they must, to learn how to survive (primally speaking), yet we can pick and choose out of several way; often we choose the path of least resistance, which makes us weaker.

If I were to choose one over the other, in a flat choice, I would always choose the highly effective teacher, they would strive to do whatever it took to create gains in the children, and be humble enough to take on criticism.

On the other hand, if I were designing a school system, the best answer in my opinion, is that the question of how many students should be in a class should depend on the kids, and the circumstance. For young children, with many social-emotional concerns, having a smaller class so that you could manage the higher level of relationship and personal needs would trump the academic support. However, you could move that same group of smaller students to a larger group of students within that same year, if you effectively were dealing with their needs, as well as reduce to smaller groups, should you need to intervene more effectively. This should be a data driven decision based upon students' needs.