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Page 13
The failures as reported by subjects for other schools and other pupils
will provide a comparison which may indicate something of the relative
standing of this group of schools in reference to failures. The
failures are presented below for thirteen high schools in New Jersey,
involving 24,895 grades, as reported by D.C. Bliss[7] in 1917. As the
schools were reported singly, the median percentage of failure for
each subject is used here for our purpose. But Mr. Bliss' figures are
computed from the promotion sheets for June, 1915, and include none of
those who had dropped out. In this sense they are not comparable to the
percentages of failure as presented in this study. Yet with the one
exception of Latin these median percentages are higher. The percentages
as presented below for St. Paul[8] are in each case based on the total
number taking the subject for a single semester, and include about
4,000 pupils, in all the classes, in the four high schools of the
city.[B]
[Footnote B: It is a significant fact, and one worthy of note here,
that the report for St. Paul is apparently the only one of the surveys
which also states the number taking each subject, as well as the
percentages of failure. Percentages alone do not tell the whole story,
and they do not promote the further utilization of the facts to
discover other relationships.]
The facts presented for St. Louis[9] are for one school only, with
2,089 pupils, as recorded for the first half of the year 1915-16. All
foreign languages as reported for this school are grouped together.
History is the only subject that has a percentage of failure lower than
that of the corresponding subjects for our eight schools. The figures
for both St. Paul and St. Louis are based on the grades for all classes
in school, but for only a single semester. One cannot avoid feeling
that a statement of facts for so limited a period may or may not be
dependable and representative for all periods. The percentages for
Paterson[10] are reported for about 4,000 pupils, in all classes, for
two successive semesters, and are based on the number examined. For
Denver,[11] the records are reported for 4,120 pupils, and cover a
two-year period. The percentages for Butte[12] are based on the records
for 3,110 pupils, for one school semester. The figures reported by
Rounds and Kingsbury[13] are for only two subjects, but for forty-six
widely separated high schools, whose enrollment for these two subjects
was 57,680.
PERCENTAGES OF FAILURE BY SUBJECTS--QUOTED FOR OTHER SCHOOLS
Math. Latin Ger. Fren. Eng. Hist. Sci. Bus.
Subj's.
13 N.J. H.S.'s. 20.0 18.0 16.0 .. 14.0 11.0 .. 11.5
St. Paul 21.8 13.6 14.3 17.0 10.0 10.9 7.3 11.7
St. Louis 18.0 [-------16------] 13.0 7.0 19.0 ..
Paterson 23.1 21.6 23.4 .. 12.2 13.9 18.3 8.5
Denver 24.0 21.0 12.0 .. 11.7 11.0 17.0 11.0
Butte 18.6 25.0 24.0 32.6 5.4 7.0 13.0 8.4
R and K 24.7 .. .. .. 18.5 .. .. ..
Our 8 H.S.'s 16.0 18.7 13.5 11.6 8.2 10.4 9.8 8.0
In some schools the reports were not available for all subjects. It is
not at all probable, so far as information could be obtained, that the
failures of the drop-out pupils for any of the schools were included in
the percentages as reported above, or that the percentages are based on
the total number in the given subjects, with the exception of one
school. Moreover, it is certain for at least some of the schools that
neither the failures of the drop-outs nor the pupils who were in the
class for less than a whole semester were considered in the percentages
above. So far, however, as these comparisons may be justified, the
suggestion made in Chapter I that the schools included in this study
are doubtless a superior group with respect to failures appears to be
strengthened by the comparisons made above.
It becomes more apparent, as we attempt to offer a statement of
failures as taken from the various reports, that they are not truly
comparable. The bases of such percentages are not at all uniform. The
basis used most frequently is the number enrolled at the end of the
period rather than the total number enrolled for any class, for which
the school has had to provide, and which should most reasonably form
the basis of the percentage of failure. Furthermore, the failures for
pupils who drop out are not usually counted. Yet, in most of the
reports, the situation is not clearly indicated for either of the facts
referred to. Still more difficult is the task of securing a general
statement of failures by subjects, since the percentages are most
frequently reported separately for each class, in each subject, and for
different buildings, but with the number of pupils stated for neither
the failures nor the enrollment. The St. Paul report[8] is an exception
in this regard.
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