The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-02-06
Enrolment.

| Three facts stand out conspicuouSlys
first, the enrolment in the elementary
| schools has been almost stationary
during the entire period; second, the
| enrolment in the high school has
greatly increased; third, the number
of boys has increased more rapidly
than the number of girls. particularly
in the high school, where the number
of boys has more than doubled in each
ten-year period.
Significant Facts.
A remarkable gain in the high
school enrolment, as a whole. in pro
portion to the enrolment in the entire
system, the increase being from 3.8
per cent in 1S90-1891 to "a per cent
in 1S99-190O and to 14.6 per cent in
! 1909-1910.
In 189O-1s91. II per cent of the en-
tire enrolment of the elementary
schools was in four lower grades and
only % per cent in the four higher
grades, while in 1909-1910 the mum
| in the four lower grades had fallen
to so per cent and the number in the
four higher grades had increased TO
40 per cent.
A study of facts in connection with
change in age of admission, etc, con-
cludes that our schools are becoming
more and more attractive to the older
| boys and girls, especially those who
have passed the age of compulsory
school attendance.
In connection with tho problems of
persistence and examinations it is in
teresting to consider the increase in
the number of high school graduates.
The graduates numbered As in 1890,
IS in 1900 and A in 1910.
Teachers.
Number of teachers employed in
kindergartens. elementary schools and
high school increased from 12O in
1S9O-1S91 to 225 in 1909-191o.
Financial.
By strictest economy and careful
business administration of the affairs
of our schools almost $4,000 of out
standing warrants have been taken up
within the past five years and the cost
of sites and construction of the new
Central Park and Washington schools
has been paid, together with about
$4,000 paid on the Mckinley school,
the remodeling of the State Street and
Buchanan schools, an addition to Polk
school, the building of fire escapes and
sundry repairs, total expenditure of
over $150,000 in five years for perma-
nent improvements. The new Van
Buren, school, for the construction of
which contracts have been made to
the amount of $4,000, will also be
paid for from the ordinary income
from the building fund.
An examination of the cost of our
schools for the past twenty years
shows that the increased cost has been
largely due to the advance in salaries,
while the general operating expenses
have not increased in proportion.
Manual Training.
An important extension of the in
struction given in the schools has
been made in recent years by the in
PRODUCTION of manual training, first in
the elementary schools and subse-
quently in the high school.
The cost of such equipment is not
far from $500 for school which ac-
commodities from 200 to 500 pupils.
The cost of operation in 19O9-1910 in
Guiding the salaries of teachers was
about $500.
The High School.
During the last twenty years the
most remarkabl changes in the pub
lie school system of Topeka are those
which have characterized public edu-
cation generally, viz: The Introduction
of manual training and the develop