One table vs. multiple tables

[wojo1086]

Quick question...is it better to have one big table or many small ones? Example: What are the pros and cons of having one table with a list of teachers and one table with a list of all the students belonging to those teachers as opposed to each teacher having their own table of students?

[guelphdad]

See Normalization, that is the important concept to learn, not whether or not you have a certain number of tables.

As for splitting tables so you don't have "too many" rows, properly normalized and indexed tables with appropriate server tuning and you can get into the hundreds of millions of rows without taxing your server.

[Old Pedant]

More succinctly: One table per teacher is a *terrible* design. Don't even think about it.