The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-29
EVENING SCHOOLS.
New York's Figures as Reported Compared
With Those. Of Other Cities.

To TIE EDITOR OF The SUN-Sr. The
writer Of the letter entitled New, York's
Evening Schools" in you issue Of April %.
saws The, real test Of efficiency. the signif-
cant measure Of service rendered. is not in the
figures of enrolment, or even OF actual regis
ter, what OH Rht 10 be. but in the record Of daily
attendance. What is. Here New night
schools fall behind the general standa Of
the city schools, True enough The report
Of evening schools does not tell US upon what
city reports the statement is based that the
percentage of pupils registered who are in
average attendance varies in other cities from
20 per cent. 10 40 per cent The following
figures are given in school reports taken at
random. Washin gton. 2 c., 1905. 7ss per
cent, Philadelphia 1904, 81 per cent. Chica go.
1908. IS per cent Baltimore. 1903, az per
cent. Newark, 1919. so4 per cent
It,would seem by this showing that New
FORKS rate Of 81 plus leaves much 70 be de-
sired, If this is indeed. as seems reasonable.
the real test Of sfficienc"
According 10 this same test. again, one is
puzzled 70 account for the ststelhent,that the
large group Of non En- ghsh speaking pupils in
the night schools Is "distin Sulshed by a gen.
aine desire to take advantaS e Of the oppoI-
steady progress toward a definite end 'Bv
the reported figures the per cent OF attend
81 per cent. lower then the average attend
ance OF all pupils.
st %ndtIs sn 4 may s5ri 2: f 6af f i.ts,s eot aea rs G sFouG q
a mean of SIS per cent in New York. this
does not suggest. and We do not find IN
the report as Summarized IN the letter Of
April 23 any explanation OF the wide varia-
tion IN rhe per cent of attendance in .the
feGSTds s fsaooi pef or c e919us Yf atte asds 9ls'r oT
register as high as u and as low, as 80.
and of attendance on enrolment as high a.
90 and as low as so and the individual school
records, which are given only for attendance
on register. show the enormous variations Of
20 to 81 per cent In a city itself a. various
as New ! ork uniformity IL not to be. expected
might be significant of conditions which, IL
carefully studied, might, lead 20 roising the
general low standard Of the whole
New York spends on its evening schools
SIC 80 per pupil. the per capita being based
on average attendance. as against a per
evening schools had, in 1908 and 1904 four
sessions a week for about twenty-five weeks,
or one hundred sessions Of two hours each,
t~otaling, two hundred hours The day
schools had a session Of 1913 days. Of which
the majority We're Of five hours each. or ees
for the part time dav school sessions, that
still leaves about four times as much actual
time OF instruction given 10 the pupils in the
day school at the per capita cost to the CITY
of S42.4t as 10 the night school pupil at the
per capita cost of sle.s9. In other words. az
a uniform rate Of cost in relation TO time 81
instruction. the night schools, al the present
about ,slo;el per capita or. lnversely. the
dar schools, al the present rate OF cost OF the
night schools ought TO cost about SCI. So ref
capita, The highest rate of cost of evening
INSTRUCTION would not seem wholly TO explain
this difference Again. 10 compare with other