Arizona republican., 1913-01-06
SAGE STUDY OF
 SCHOOL SYSTEM
Some Interesting Figures and Facts Are Brought Out Through Results of Latest Study by Russel Sage Foundation
ASSOCIATED PRESS DIsPATcH1

the FoundatiOn Division of Education. Ihe bulletin is entitled "A Compara- e. tive Study of State School Systems III the FOrty-eight States" and sets forth. among other things that in IS out Of 48 states the average annual 1 wage of public school teachers is less | than one dollar q day and that one state rents its conVicts per annum for more than it pays it's teachers: that the United States has the shortest school year in the world; that Ameri- can public schools burn down at the rate Of one for every school day in the wear; that the amount per child invested in school property ranges from $4 in Mississippi to $I15 in Mas sachusetts, and that the providing of free text books in one state resulted in ten per cent increase in high school attendance.
 Rhode Island has the longest school year of any state-193 days-but if these 193 days of schooling were di- vided equally among the children of school age in the state, the result would be 116 days of schooling each. The report terms this the reflective school year." and compares the 48 '9t''ttS 'Ii l4lctA l'stSl9- III IlT-'ll " ' quarter of the states the effective school year is less than three months As q nation. the United States has q shorter school day. a shorter school week. and a shorter school year than any other highly civilized country in the world. American expenditures for public education have more than doubled in the past ten years. accord ;,,o h,,l1 h.,
 Die of the United States spend nearly half q billion dollars a year on their public schools The expenditure per child of school age ranges all the way from $3 in South CarOina to nearly eleven times as much. or $32 in Washington
 The amount that the state has in vested in school buildings is an index of it's past interest in education. In Mississippi. the average investment per child in school buildings and prop erty is $4 while in Massachusetts it is nearly % times as much, or $115. A significant fact in connection with this expenditure is that as nation we allow our public schools to burn down at the rate of more than one for every school day in the year.
 The bulletin sets forth that many states through lack of compulsory att
 tendance laws. or through their non enforcement, waste much of the mon ey that they eXpend on their schools Some states have long school years and short attendance years. The per cent of attendance ranges from about 60 in Maryland and Mississippi to more than so in Oregon and Wash
 ingtOn.
 In North Carolina. New Mexico, Arkansas and Alabama. the attend ance period is so short that the aver age pupil would need about 22 years to complete an elementary course of eight grades of nine full school months each If he were compelled to live up to this standard he might en- ter school at the age of five and not get his eighth grade certificate until he was 27 Tn IS of the AS states the average annual wage of public school teachers amounts to less than one dol lar day. In only five states is it more than two dollars a day. The highest average salary paid in the United States is $91S, in California, and the lowest is $2OO, in North Carolina.
 ACCOIQlllS lO lIllS SNN9bN lIit ''N'l''SN wage of carpenters in the United States is about $S02. of coal miners $500. of factory workers $550, of common Iaborers $513, and of teach CTS $4S5.
 Throughout the southern states thousands of rural teachers earn less than $150 per year. In one New Eng land state hundreds of teachers earn
 In one county in a Central Atlantic state the average for all teachers IS SlZ9 per year. One Southern state rents it's convicts to contractors at little more than S400 per year, while 1t pays it's public school teachers slightly over $500.
 In each school system there is series of leaks through which the children escape before completing the course. For this reason the member ship of the lower grades is large that of the upper ones much smaller; the high school enrolment smaller yet; and when the college is reached. few of the original beginners remain In this process of elimination great differences are found between the states. with the result that in some parts or the country t idI St pl'p'' ton of the young people are recelN- ing higher education, Whiel in other localities the proportion is low. So great are these differences that the proportion of college students Tn Massachusetts. California and Indiana is greater than the proportion of those receiving a high school education Tn twelve of the southern and western states The report quotes but does not vouch for an estimate by the United States Bureau of Education to the effect that in the country as a whole less than half of the children finish more than the first six grades; only about one in four ever enters high school and less than in 100 go to college. The right of the state to tax the property of the state to educate the children of the state is now firmly established. A free com mon school education is the common birthright of every American child. l,.l.,