|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 19
We see that 84 per cent of the pupils enter at age 14, 15, and 16, or,
what is perhaps more important, that nearly 40 per cent enter under 15
years of age. The similarity of percentages for boys and for girls is
pronounced. The slight advantage of the boys for ages 12 and 13 may be
due to home influence in restricting the early entrance of the girls,
thus causing a corresponding superiority for the girls at age 14. The
mode of this percentage distribution is at 15 for both boys and girls.
What portion of each entering-age-group has no failures? This question
and the answer presented below direct our attention to the superiority
of the pupils of the earlier entering ages. That these groups of
earlier ages of entrance are comprised of pupils selected for their
capabilities is shown by the successive decrease in the percentages of
the non-failing as the ages of their entrance increases, up to age 18.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE PUPILS WHO DO NOT FAIL, FOR EACH ENTERING-AGE-GROUP
AGES
Totals 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
1061 B. 11 102 320 309 186 56 9 4 4
1575 G. 3 133 522 545 256 73 29 7 6
% of -----------------
Entrants 58.0 50.0 43.4 40.0 39.8 37.7 55.0
Here is definite evidence that the pupils of the earlier entering ages
are less likely to fail in any of their school subjects than are the
older ones. Those entering at ages 12 or 13 escape school failures
altogether for 50 per cent or more of their numbers. Those entering at
age 14 are somewhat less successful but still seem superior to those
of later entrance ages. It is encouraging, then, that these three ages
of entrance include nearly 40 per cent of the 6,141 pupils. There is,
of course, nothing in this situation to justify any deduction of the
sort that pupils entering at the age of 17 would have been more
successful had they been sent to high school earlier, except that had
they been able to enter high school earlier they would have represented
a different selection of ability by that fact alone. There is also a
sort of selection operative for the pupils entering at ages 18, 19, or
20, which tends to account at least partly for the rise in the
percentage of the non-failing for these years. It is safe to believe
that for the most part only the more able, ambitious, and purposeful
individuals are likely to display the energy required or to discern the
need of their entering high school when they have reached the age of 18
or later. The appeal of school athletics will in this case seem very
inadequate to explain their entrance so late, since the girls
predominate so strongly for these years. Then it may be contended
further that the added maturity and experience of those later entrants
may partly compensate for a lack of native ability, if such be the
case, and thereby result in a relatively high percentage of non-failing
pupils for this group.
It is readily conceded that the avoidance of failure in school work
serves as only one criterion for gauging the pupils' accomplishment. It
is accordingly important to inquire how the different age-groups of
school entrants compare with reference to the persistence and ability
which is represented by school graduation. A truly striking array of
percentages follows in reference to the question of how many of the
entering pupils in each age-group do graduate.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE PUPILS GRADUATING FOR EACH ENTERING-AGE GROUP
AGES
Totals 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
796 B. 14 115 290 253 99 20 2 1 2
1140 G. 5 151 465 363 121 26 5 1 0
% of Entrants 79.1 56.6 38.8 29.9 20.0 13.4 9.1 10.0 13.3
These percentages bear convincing testimony in support of the previous
evidence that the pupils of the earlier entering years are highly
selected in ability. Of all the high school entrants they are the 'most
fit,' the least likely to fail, and the most certain to graduate. The
percentage of pupils graduating who entered at the age of 12 is
approximately four times that of pupils who entered at the age of 16.
Thirteen is more than four times as fruitful of graduates as age 17;
fourteen bears a similar relationship to age 18; and the percentage for
fifteen is three times that for age 19, as is apparent from the above
figures. The fact that the decline of these percentages ceases at age
19 is probably due to the greater maturity of such later entrants.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|