Truth. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1901-1908, 1905-03-25
ORNATE SCHOOLS VS.. PUBLIC
SCHOOLS.

,l,,,or in the Educational Worlu LII
pow n+;cle which follows, the question
Uncovered in the affirmative:
an aus The wear 1903, according to the
.,n,oto If the bureau of education,
,Sore we're 1,O93,S76 pupils in our prl'
unelo ,obools This fact alone is suf-
s sa,o indication of the Importance OF
nol' ar;vote school as an institution.
H SThe claim is sometimes MADE that
tho nrivate school is undemocratic IN
;ts tendencies, that it creates caste
s 40 and hence has no right to ex-
iet IN the other hand, many parents
,"n,ore certain real or imaginary ten
S Sopcies in the public schools.
"With the idea of investigating the
,,otter from the viewpoint of the pri-
rote school, the publishers of Serb
nor,c Magazine have sent out over 400
norconal letters to the principals OF
sucb schools. each letter accompanied
bv a card bearing the questions below
with the request that they be answered
and returned to the Educational Direc-
tory of the magazine.
81 Number of pupils in 1905.
40 Number of pupils in 1900.
80 To what causes do you attribute
the increase or decrease since 1902
"a Do you see any signs of grow
ing tendency among parents who can
afford to send their children to pri-
yate schools instead of public schools?
"5 If so. what deficiencies in the
public schools may, in your opinion, be
held responsible for such tendency?
These questions have met with
ready answer from all sections of the
country-from endowed academies,
boarding-schoOls, day-schoCls. military
schools, the preparatory departments
of colleges-from practically all classes
of private schools except commercial
and industrial institutions.
up to the date of this writing, over
60 per cent. of these cards have been
returned.
"Tabulated briefly, the results of
these inquiries are as follows:
"66 per cent. of those replying report
an increase in attendance since 1900.
20 per cent. report a decrease.
III per cent. report the same num-
Der of pupils as in 1900. Most of these
latter are boarding schools with a linn
tied capacity.
THE remaining IA per cent. were
unable for one reason or another) to
give figures for five years.
THE schools whose figures show an
increase had a total of 10,202 pupils in
1900 and 14,607 in 1905, gain of Al
per cent.
Those reporting a decrease show q
loss of 22 per cent.
Adding together the enrolment Of
all the schools which have given fig
ures, We find for the whole q net gain
IN five years of 33 per cent.
SO far as these figures go, they GER
talnly indicate very substantial grow
ing tendency among the better class
OF private schools.
The large number of very interest
ing replies to the third question, ITO
what causes do you attribute the in
crease or decrease since 1902" will
ject.
AS to the fourth question, DO you
oee any signs of growing tendency
among parents who can afford it to
SEND their children to private schools
Instead OF public schools?' sc per cent
Vi the answers were Yes and IA per
u u were No. showing a great pre-
pohuerance of belief that there is such
a tendency. The fact that these same
~ fLnools nave grown so rapidly during
owe, past nVe years is in itself strong