The High School Failures | Page 8

rapid decline in numbers.
THE PERSISTENCE OF PUPILS IN SCHOOL, BY SEMESTERS
END OF SEMESTER 1 2 3 4 5 6 Graduate
6,141 (Total) 4,723 3,893 3,508 2,935 2,697 2,234 1,936
Percentages 76.9 63.4 57.1 47.8 43.9 36.4 31.5
As was pointed out in Section 3 of Chapter I, the above group does not
include any increment to its own numbers by means of transfer from
other classes or schools. We find, accompanying this reduction in the
number of pupils, which shows more than 50 per cent gone by the end
of the second year in school, that there is no corresponding reduction in
the percentage of pupils failing each semester on the basis of the
number of those in school for that semester.
PERCENTAGE OF PUPILS FAILING OF THE PUPILS IN SCHOOL
FOR THAT PERIOD
Semesters 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Per Cent 34.2 37.3 38.5 40.2 38.2 37.1 30.0 24.0
There is no difficulty in grasping the simple and definite significance of
these figures, for they tell us that the percentage of pupils failing
increases for the first four semesters, slightly declines for two semesters,
with a greater decline for two more semesters. These percentages of
failures are based on the number of pupils enrolled at the beginning of
the semester, and are accordingly lower than the facts would really
warrant since that number is in each case considerably reduced by the

end of the same semester.
3. THE DISTRIBUTION OF FAILURES
That the failures are widely distributed by semesters, by ages, and for
both boys and girls, is shown in Table I.
TABLE I
THE DISTRIBUTION OF FAILURES ACCORDING TO THE AGE
AND THE SEMESTER OF THEIR OCCURRENCE[A]
SEMES- AGES UNDISTRIB- TERS 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
UTED TOTALS
1 B. 0 20 321 650 575 167 34 16 2 .. .. 10 1795 G. 1 19 356 813 611
236 67 3 0 .. .. 13 2119 3914 2 B. .. 2 95 423 534 256 57 27 4 .. .. 5
1403 G. .. 6 99 483 589 280 91 5 0 .. .. 7 1560 2963 3 B. .. 0 17 267
443 363 96 22 5 0 .. 2 1215 G. .. 1 28 318 548 317 99 15 0 2 .. 1 1329
2544 4 B. .. .. 5 101 437 403 169 32 7 2 .. 5 1161 G. .. .. 4 102 475 425
160 39 6 2 .. 6 1219 2380 5 B. .. .. 1 19 195 377 214 61 13 3 .. 6 889
G. .. .. 0 15 277 438 212 60 15 0 .. 3 1020 1909 6 B. .. .. .. 4 70 322 326
99 33 3 .. 6 863 G. .. .. .. 9 117 407 349 78 33 4 .. 3 1000 1863 7 B. .. ..
1 0 17 155 227 106 16 4 1 4 531 G. .. .. 0 2 14 200 299 127 38 0 0 3
683 1214 8 B. .. .. .. .. 0 42 173 109 49 2 .. 5 380 G. .. .. .. .. 2 58 244
140 49 10 .. 3 506 886 9 B. .. .. .. .. .. 0 31 32 18 1 .. .. 82 G. .. .. .. .. .. 4
39 67 31 5 .. .. 146 228 10 B. .. .. .. .. .. .. 1 16 9 3 0 .. 29 G. .. .. .. .. .. ..
3 13 10 3 1 .. 30 59 Summary B. 0 22 440 1464 2271 2085 1328 520
156 18 1 43 8348 G. 1 26 487 1742 2633 2365 1563 547 182 26 1 39
9612 17,960
[Footnote A: The expression of the above facts in terms of percentages
for each age group was found to be difficult, since failures and not
pupils are designated. But the total failures for each age group are
expressed (on p. 36) as percentages of the entire number of subjects
taken by these pupils for the semesters in which they failed. Such
percentages increase as the ages rise. A similar statement of the
percentages of failure by semesters will be found on p. 41.]

Table I reads: the boys had 20 failures and the girls had 19 failures in
the first semester and at the age of thirteen; in the second semester, at
the age of thirteen, the boys had 2 failures and the girls 6. For each
semester, the first line represents boys, the second line girls. There is a
total of 17,960 failures listed in this table. In addition to this number
there are 1,947 uncompleted grades for the failing non-graduates. The
semesters were frequently completed by such pupils but