New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-01-06

extremely unlikely that every school IN
, Minneapolis affords all OF It's chlldfen
IN, opportunities for work, study ana
pIsy Tor eight hours day which are
afforded in the shops, laboratories
Fairgrounds. gymnssiums, swimming
pools. Libraries, auditoriums al regular
classrooms Of these two Gary schoois'
II Is moro likely that the Minneapolis
schools, with their acute part~tine
problem, furnish the same limited eau
cational opportunities which are aHoru
cd in the traditional fvc-hour day OF
academic instruction in most American
cities.
The real question, from the point OF
view Of economy, Is, which woulh cos'
Tho Citv Of Minneapolis more TO pro-
vida for all of its children the facilities
afforded by Mr.. Writ in Gary the pres
ent type of school organization. IN
which a large proportion Of the plant
would always be idle, requiring n cor
rcspondingly greater amount or space
and equipment for every facility. or the
Gary duplicate-sch type OF organlza,
ton. in which all Of the facilities would
be I'm operation all tho time and cor
respondingly less amount OF space ana
equipment required for every oneE
Estimates Of Per Capita Costs lncor-
rect.
Aside from ignoring this fundamental
point, however, Mr. Spaulding has made
several statements, which, when turther
explained. invalidate his conclusion that
the Minneapolis schools would cost
much more per capita n they were re
organized on the Gary plan. For ex-
- "a "A
for teachers in Gary as S8f9.57 and IN
Minneapolis as S1,163.70, and concludes
that if the salaries in Gary were made
equal TO those in Minneapolis the per
capita cost of instruction in Gary would
be S3614 instead of SPILL, as against
S29 SO in Minneapolis. He fails TO point
out, however, that according TO these
very figures the average size or class
i'm Gary is 3l3, as against 369 IN
MINNEAPOLIS. If Mr.. Writ should in
crease tn size of hts classes about ~
per cent to correspond 20 those IN
MINNEAPOLIS, II is obvious that he could
reduce his per capita cost Of lnsruc-
ton accordingly. which would Offset the
difference in per capita cost due to the
difference in salary scale. The ques-
ton might therefore be raised, how
much more than at present would IL
cost 10 reduce the size OF classes In
Minneapolis 20 per cent under the eX-
isting type of organization. II one takes
into consideration not only the extra
teachers, but also the extra classrooms
and the overhead expense required TO
operate the new buildings needed TO
house these additional classrooms?
Moreover, in calculating the per
capita cost Of overhead expenses Mr..
- 4 II - la " irnnQrfauf
statistical correction. In Minneapolis
the schools are running far above ca
pacity, as indicated by the acuteness
Of the part-time problem, while the
two Gary schools which Mr.. Spaulding
uses as basis for comparison are run
ming far below capacity. Al the time
of Mr.. Spaulding's calculations the en-
rollment i'm the Emerson school was
800 and in the Froebel l,s47, although
the capacity of each Is 400. status
tically il is manifestly unsound TO
compare the per capita cost of the two
plans without weighing the data IN
such way rs TO eliminate factors
which have nothing 70 do with the
plans as such. If the per capita cost
is based in one city on an enrolment
which runs the school system even be
yond capacity, then 1t must be assumed
that the other system also be run to ca
pacity; otherwise the relative economy
Of operating the two systems under
similar conditions cannot be accurately
computed.
If the two Gary schools were run
ming 10 capacity, as are those IN Min
neapolis, and had a total enrolment
OF 1890 instead OF the 2,742 which Mr..
Spauldng used, it is evident that there
would have been reduction OF APP
proximately 80 per cent in the per
capita cost Of such items as principals
salaries, janitors' wages. fuel. water,
insurance, investment, interest on in
vestment, etc. The per capita cost for
salaries Of principals, for example,
would have been reduced from Sl.lS 10
81 cents. and for the interest on IN
vestment from Sl1 SO to 1864.
The most striking reduction, how
ever, would have been in the per capita
cost OF investment. This Mr.. Spaulding
gives as 1922. With the foregoing cor
rection i'm enrolment IL would have
dwindled to sl66, which is not extrava-
CANT when compared with the Sl55
quoted as the cost of the average Min
neapolis school II one bears in mind,
as Mr. Spaulding points out in another
connection, that the two Gary schools
are new and modern in every respect
and contain all the play, shop, suditori-
um and other facilities above referred
to, while large number of the Min
neapolis schools are very old and con
tain very few Of such facilities.
Cost of Reserved Seat Plus Enriched
Activities.
Here again a question would be peril
nent: What would be the per capita
cost of replacing all Of these old
schools in Minneapolis by others OF
modern construction like those in Gary
and provide, in addition to a reserved
sea. for nyery child. the SPACE and