The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1917-05-19
HOW SCHOOLING PAYS.
Striking Statistics Show Value of
High School Education.

9L0SA0eASH oNS" value Ol
! High School Education.
| Discussing the subject, at Paws tt
Stay in School," Principal r. S. Wick.
ers of the Donaldsonville High School
in the course of an address to parents
at the closing exercises of the school
Friday forenoon, advanced the fol.
lowing effective and enlightening ar.
gumentS:
"a short time ago happened to
pick up a photograph of a group OF
pupils of this school taken about eight
years ago. / was struck with the lack
of familiar faces, and it brought home
to me as nothing else could the over
whelming proportion of pupils who
drop out of school before completing
the high school course.
"This particular group was then
one of the elementary grades and was
composed of some seventy pupils. !
compared this photograph with the
same class which is now one of the
upper grades in the high school. /
found that the number in the class
had shrunk from seventy to thirteen,
and that of the original pupils there
remained only four, or about 6 per
cent. After making due allowance
for the comparatively few whose fam
lilies have moved away from Donald
sonville and who are possibly attend
| ing other schools, and for the very
few who, having dropped behind, are
still in lower grades of this school,
the net result of the comparison shows
an appalling tendency on the part of
the pupils-especially pronounced in
the case of boys-to drop out of
school before completing the high
school course. And what is true of
this particular grade, found upon
investigation to be practically true of
all other grades in the high school,
and is simply typical of condition
which exists in this school and COM
munity and probably in many others.
sThat such condition is deplor-
able, of course no one can doubt How
people with modern, well-appointed,
public school in their very midst, can
show themselves SO lacking in appre-
citation of the advantages of an edu-
cation as to neglect such opportunities
at their very doors, is Incompetent
sible and absolutely inexcusable. To
find proper remedy for this state of
apathy and indifference is the prob
lem that confronts both the school
authorities and every patriotic citi-
zen who has any concern for the fu-
ture of his community and state.
Admitting, for the sake Of argu-
ment, that in a few isolated cases the
school itself is to blame whether
from the paucity Of the teaching
force or othet causes undoubtedly
in the vast najerity of cases the re-
sponsibility for this condition rests in
rfle last analysis directly on the par
ent. In some cases, the child, espe-
cially in the case Of boys, is with
drawn permanently from school by
the parent and put to work. In other
cases, the child is kept at home SO
frequently to help with work that he
finds it impossible to keep up with his
grade, and failing of promotion he
becomes discouraged and is permitted
by an indifferent parent to drop out
of school altogether. In still other
cases, .indulgent parents allow their
children to absent themselves from
school unnecessarily, or to attend So
cial functions too frequently, with
the inevitable result of failure Of
promotion, and most probably with
the consent of such short-sighted par
ents to stop school. In numerous
cases, too, retardation which nearly
invariably ends in withdrawal from
school, results from such physical de-
fects as adenoids, decayed teeth, or
defective eye-sight. All of these de-
fects are easily treated and quickly
cured, and parents who allow their
children to suffer from these all
ments to the detriment of their school
work and future welfare are lacking
in the most elemental sense of duty
both to their offspring and their coun-
try.
"Now, after fixing on the parent
the responsibility for the pupils drop
ping out of school, let us see what
this delinquency on the part OF the
parent means to the child.
statistics furnished by the U. s.
Bureau of Education show that the
average high school graduate begins
work at 18 years old, with an average
wage Of SO per week, while the av-
erage uneducated worker begins at
ID years old with an average wage OF
Sd per week; that the high school
graduate at 25 years old is receiving
a weekly wage of S31, while the un-#
trained worker at the same age is re-
ceiying only $13.75. They show,
further, that during period Of nifty
years high school graduates earn on
the average $1,000 yearly, while those
who have dropped out before reach
ing the high school earn on the aver
age only $500 yearly.
sThis means that the average high
school graduate will have earned be-
tween the ages Of IL and % the sum
Of $4,000, while the average poorly
educated employee, commencing four
wears earlier, will have earned by the
time he reaches SO years, that is, dur
ing a period Of 54 years, total sum
of only $27, 900. In other words, the
increased earnings Of the high school
graduate, due to four years of addl-
tional schooling, amount to $4,000.
Or putting it another way, after re-
ducing four years to 72O schools days,
we find that each additional day spent
in school adds to his life's earnings
inst s31.94. Please remember, all
YOU parents, whether selfish, indiffer-
ent. indulgent, or thoughtless, that
every day your child goes to the high
aohoos is worth to him lust 1874.