The High School Failures | Page 9

the records
were left incomplete. Their previous records and their prospects of
further partial or complete failure seem to justify an estimate of 55 per
cent (1,070) of these uncompleted grades as either tentative or actual
but unrecorded failures. Therefore we virtually have 1,070 other
failures belonging to these pupils which are not included in Table I.
Accordingly, since the number can only be estimated, the fact that they
are not incorporated in that table suggests that the information which it
discloses is something less than a full statement of the school failures
for these pupils. In the distribution of the totals for ages, the mode
appears plainly at 16, but with an evident skewness toward the upper
ages. The failures for the years 16, 17, and 18, when added together,
form 68.1 per cent of the total failures. If those for 15 years are also
included, the result is 86 per cent of the total. Of the total failures, 65.7
per cent are found in the first two years (11,801 out of the total of
17,960). But the really striking fact is that 34.3 per cent of the failures
occur after the end of the first two years, after 52.2 per cent of the
pupils are gone, and with other hundreds leaving in each succeeding
semester before even the end of the eighth. In Table II we have similar
facts for the pupils who graduate.
TABLE II
THE DISTRIBUTION OF FAILURES ACCORDING TO THE AGES
AND THE SEMESTERS OF THEIR OCCURRENCE FOR THE
GRADUATING PUPILS
AGES SEMESTERS 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 TOTALS
1 B. 0 66 84 60 5 2 3 .. .. .. 220 G. 4 68 123 68 23 4 0 .. .. .. 290 510 2
B. 0 30 95 96 41 3 2 .. .. .. 267 G. 1 25 119 121 30 11 2 .. .. .. 309 576 3
B. 0 6 108 98 71 22 1 3 .. .. 309 G. 1 15 101 158 78 20 5 0 .. .. 378 687

4 B. .. 4 54 157 107 36 6 0 .. .. 364 G. .. 1 45 186 143 51 7 2 .. .. 435
799 5 B. .. 1 10 82 142 82 17 4 3 .. 341 G. .. 0 9 145 187 88 22 9 0 ..
460 801 6 B. .. .. 4 34 158 139 32 9 2 .. 378 G. .. .. 2 70 235 178 40 13
1 .. 539 917 7 B. .. 1 0 10 115 140 65 4 4 1 340 G. .. 0 2 7 130 187 69
19 0 0 414 754 8 B. .. .. .. 0 31 122 65 25 2 .. 245 G. .. .. .. 2 45 150 95
37 2 .. 331 576 9 B. .. .. .. .. 0 24 23 13 1 .. 61 G. .. .. .. .. 4 32 40 24 0 ..
100 161 10 B. .. .. .. .. .. 1 11 5 3 .. 20 G. .. .. .. .. .. 3 12 6 1 .. 22 42
Summary B. .. 108 355 537 670 571 225 63 15 1 2545 G. 6 109 401
757 875 724 292 110 4 0 3278 5823
[Footnote: In the facts which are involved and in the manner of reading
them, this table is similar to Table I. The mode of the distribution of
totals for the ages is at 17 in this table. Further reference will be made
to both Tables I and II in later chapters of this study. (See pages 36, 37,
41, 42).]
A further analysis of the failures is here made in reference to the
number of pupils and the number of failures each.
TABLE III
A DISTRIBUTION OF FAILING PUPILS ACCORDING TO THE
NUMBER OF FAILURES PER PUPIL, IN EACH SEMESTER
NO. OF SEMESTERS TOTALS FAILURES 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 B. 459 430 375 352 271 221 157 113 22 11 2411 G. 561 535 428 421
328 261 167 123 35 9 2868 --------------------------- 32.5% 5279
2 B. 271 242 211 206 149 144 79 68 19 4 1393 G. 271 253 238 204
177 142 127 84 17 6 1519 --------------------------- 34.9% 2912
3 B. 144 106 81 73 59 60 45 27 6 2 603 G. 207 103 81 75 75 83 52 38
20 3 737 --------------------------- 35% 1340
4 B. 83 39 33 30 27 32 10 10 1 1 266 G. 95 50 38 35 27 39 19 19 3 0
325 --------------------------- 31.8% 591

5 B. 6 3 5 8 7 8 7 2 0 .. 46 G. 3 2 6 5 1 10