<p>Small classes are definitely a good reason to consider prep school, in my book. Not sure whether this is peculiar to our school district, or a more general trend, but here, more and more students are encouraged to take honors classes. So the average ability of the students in honors classes is declining, the classes are increasing in size, and behavior problems are occupying more of the teacher’s time. In the words of one teacher, “we are reducing the level of difficulty to meet the needs of the students who take the honors classes, until we start losing too many top students to private schools.” I took that as a hint.</p>