In a recent tabulation by the Superintendent of Schools for the term 1924-25, there were found to be 31 white schools caught by 96 teachers at an average monthly salary of slightly more than $94. Forty-five percent of the children on census of one-teacher schools, of which type there are 11, attended regularly; 55 per cent of the children on census of two-teacher schools, there being eight such schools, attended regularly; 62 per cent of the children on census of schools having from three to six teachers, there being eight such schools—attended regularly, and 80 per cent of children on census of schools with 7 or more teachers—there being four such schools—attended regularly.
This indicates efficiency in the larger schools to a greater extent than in smaller schools, or, to say it another way, greater loss by failure of pupils to attend in smaller schools.
The teaching load averaged 24 pupils to each teacher in one-teacher schools, 20 pupils to the teacher in two-teacher schools, 26 pupils to the teacher in schools of three to six teachers; 30 pupils to the teacher in schools of seven or more teachers. Considering the fact that a teacher in a one-room school must hear 42 recitations in six hours and manage 24 pupils classified in seven grades, the job appears impossible. Yet some teachers are willing to add to their teaching load high-school subjects. While, on the other hand, the teacher in one of the schools of the larger type teaches six subjects in a day and manages a room of 30 pupils on an average. Is it any wonder we can not get the best trained teachers to take the small schools?
The average monthly salary paid teachers in one-room schools was slightly less than $60; the average monthly salary paid teachers in two-teacher schools was slightly less than $70; the average monthly salary paid teachers in schools of three to six teachers was $95; the average monthly salary paid teachers in schools of seven or more was $115.
The lowest cost for teaching a child per day was 8 cents and 3 mills, while the highest cost for teaching a child per day was 23 cents; and both of these schools were one-teacher schools representing an elastic range in cost of approximately 15 cents. To say it another way, the one-teacher school may e either the cheapest school or the most expensive one. The lowest cost for teaching a child per day in a two-teacher school was 13 cents and 4 mills, while the highest cost was 21 cents and 7 mills, representing a range in cost of 8 cents from lowest to highest. The lowest forteaching a child per day in schools of three to six teachers type was 15 cents and 6 mills, while the highest cost was 17 cents and 8 mills, representing a range in cost of approximately two cents. The lowest for teaching a child per day in schools of seven teachers or more was 17 cents and 7 mills, while the highest cost of teaching in this type of school was 19 cents and 9 mills, indicating a range of approximately two cents from lowest to the highest cost in this group. It would appear that there is less fluctuation in teaching costs in larger schools.
The training which a teacher of Martin County has is equivalent to one and a third years of college training. One-third of the counties of North Carolina have better trained teachers than our county has, while approximately two-thirds of the counties have teachers of less average training than we have.
The large fluctuation in teaching costs is indicative of the board’s efforts to secure good teachers in the small schools; that is, the success and failure of their effort is reflected in it. Twenty-five per cent of the cost of salaries is usually necessary to provide miscellaneous operating expenses for a school, and the average cost of teaching a pupil a day in the schools of the county was 17 cents and 7 mills, while the average cost of miscellaneous operating expenses was 3 cents and 7 mills.
From the front page of the Enterprise, Williamston, Martin County, Tuesday, Dec. 1, 1925. A mill is a cost per 1,000, so 17 cents and 7 mills is $0.177 for the average cost of teaching a pupil a day in the schools of the county, and miscellaneous operating expenses was 3 cents and 7 mills, or $0.037.
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073995/1925-12-01/ed-1/seq-1/
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