Evening journal., 1921-01-03
100 MANY LAccARDs IN SCHOOLS.

ENOO many Delaware children quit sohooi 100 carly
IL Our city. our State and county lose much in
consequence OF such a condition.
Knowing that something must be done about 1t, the
hing to do is to ascertain the and TO eliminate IT,
ooias teachers parents and children must CO.
operate II end to be put to such injurious con-
dition.
Figures compiled by the United states Bureau OF Edu-
cation show that OF every thousand children who enter
school only 1879 get through high school.
Only % OF that thousand finish college
But SO per cent. OF them reach the sixth grade
Less than 35 per cent OF the original thousand enter
high school These drop out rapidly that but $50 OF
them attain the fourth grade and but i39 graduated
These figures Of specialist in educational statistics
OF the United states Bureau OF Education.
They are not pleasing to Americans who point with so
much pride to the high educational plane this country
has set for It's goal
They not encouraging TO those who hope FOR a
better, intelligent, progressive ciizenry to-
morrow
They aren't nattering
Something somewhere, must be wrong.
This nation has no ambition to become nation Of
sixth graders
1t has desire to population OF which than
"a per cent have finished high school.
When our forofathers made an educational system a
part OF the government they hoped for high school
education for every chdand far larger percentage than
23 OF college graduates.
II has been argued that poverty and low wages have
something to do with the dwndng Of the original thous-
and nrs-grade pupils That this does not play prom
nent part proven by their records in so-caed pros
porous and hard-tme years. when schools lose about
the same number OF pupils.
The Bureau OF Education has the idea that what is
wrong is the cloggng OF early grades by "repeaers"
repeater is a school aggard one who fails OF pro-
motion and must do the work OF the last term.
For every 1000 beginners there 0iO repeaters in the
FIRST grade OF Americas public schools
The number OF repeators in the FIRST grade represents
about one-tentl OF the total public school enrolment
There more repeaters in the FIRST grade than there
are pupils enrolled in all the high schools
Frst-grade repeaers alone cost the public tenth OF
the sum spent upon public schools
Then there epeaers in the second grade and in all
the grades higher
The percentage is greatest in the rs grade and
smaller for each succeeding grade
Repeating Is costly.
II is largely responsible for overcrowdng OF schools
That, however, is not where II is most costly
Repeating holds a child back.
The child develops dislike for school.
Ills classmates are younger than he. He sezes. or
creates opportunity to leave school as soon as the
compulsory attendance law releases him.
We have many such repeaters in Delaware
Repeating be cut down, teachers say, II parents
will cooperate with them.
Parents may aid studying children in many ways and
not the least OF these is by encouragement
The child who wins promotion Is anxious to face the
next term The child who fails pass" is the one who
wants to quit school.
And every time child is permitted to do H. II adds
to the worlds burden OF Ignorance and inefnciency