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Costs of Different Subjects of Instruction

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Pursuing the matter further, we find that there are the widest discrepancies in costs due to differences in the subjects taught, to differences in the number of pupils assembled in class, and to other less conspicuous differences.

In order to bring out the differences between subjects in the same school, Professor Bobbitt has calculated the cost, per thousand student hours, of instruction in twenty-five medium-sized high schools, and presents in Table IV the median22 cost of each subject.

TABLE IV. COST, PER THOUSAND STUDENT HOURS, OF INSTRUCTION IN HIGH SCHOOLS IN THE VARIOUS SUBJECTS OF THE CURRICULUM23

SubjectsMedian Cost
Shopwork$93
Normal training92
Latin71
Commercial69
Modern languages63
History62
Household occupations61
Science60
Mathematics59
English51
Agriculture48
Music23

Translating this table into the form of a series of questions which school authorities and communities must face, we may ask: Is it desirable that shopwork be supplied in a school when it costs nearly twice as much as English? Is Latin enough better than modern languages to justify its retention in the program of a school when it costs eight dollars more per unit of instruction?

Like series of facts for the elementary schools can be borrowed from an unpublished study by Mr. G. Lee Fleming of Hibbing, Minnesota, and are reproduced in Table V. Certain selected facts are also exhibited in Fig. 5. The table shows that reading absorbs nearly two thirds of the expenditures of the first grade, while in the third grade the same subject gets a little less than one third of the expenditures, and in the sixth grade about one sixth. Opening exercises require about the same expenditure in all grades. Geography comes into prominence first in the fourth grade. A study of the table will show that financial statements of this type are indexes of academic organization.

TABLE V. THE PORTION OF EACH THOUSAND DOLLARS SPENT FOR INSTRUCTION IN EACH SUBJECT IN EACH OF THE FIRST SIX ELEMENTARY GRADES24

Subjects First Grade Second Grade Third Grade Fourth Grade Fifth Grade Sixth Grade Average
Reading $611 $407 $307 $240 $150 $156 $312
Arithmetic 5 101 176 187 181 190 140
Language 95 110 126 130 178 105 124
Music 86 90 84 67 58 67 75
Spelling 3 92 90 93 80 71 71
Geography 9 102 124 152 64
Writing 49 68 61 61 52 59 58
Drawing 60 80 55 66 32 42 56
Manual arts 23 9 60 76 28
Opening exercises 34 21 23 21 24 25 25
Physical culture 11 15 14 40 39 20
Folk dancing 11 22 25 10
Hygiene 3 6 10 11 13 7
Construction work 28 5
History 10 5 2
Handwork 4 6 2
Sense training 3 1
Total $1000 $1000 $1000 $1000 $1000 $1000 $1000


Fig. 5. Distribution in the various grades of each thousand dollars expended for instruction

The relative expenditure in six grades of the schools of Hibbing, Minnesota, for four of the chief school subjects is shown by the height of the columns

Introduction to the scientific study of education

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