CHAPTER XIX.

STATISTICS OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS.

This chapter is devoted to a statistical review of secondary education in the United States for the year ended June, 1906. In most of the State school systems the public schools are divided according to a well-devised scheme of studies into twelve grades. The first eight are known as the elementary grades, and the grades from nine to twelve, inclusive, are the secondary or high school grades. In one or two States all above the sixth grade are known as secondary grades, but generally the secondary school is the high school. The grades in private schools correspond very closely to the grades of the public schools. Public secondary or high schools, private high schools, academies, and seminaries, and college preparatory schools maintain practically the same grades. The table which follows gives in condensed form the four courses of study recommended by the committee of ten on secondary school studies to the National Educational Association in 1893. The figure "1" indicates that the study is to be pursued a whole year, and the "" limits the study to half a year. The notes explain the provisions for optional studies.

Secondary school studies recommended by the Committee of Ten (1893), showing time devoted to each study.

The four courses of study.

a German or French.
Latin, German, or French.
c Geology or physiography.

So far as could be ascertained by this Bureau the number of secondary students enrolled in all institutions in the United States for the year ending June, 1906, was 924,399, a gain of 48,349 over the preceding year, nearly all the increase being in the public high schools.

The secondary students reported for the two years were distributed among eight classes of institutions as follows:

The aggregate enrollment in the schools and colleges of the United States for the year ending June, 1906, was 18,434,847. In the elementary schools, public and private, the enrollment was 17,231,178. Of this number the public common schools had 15,919,278, while the estimated number in the private elementary schools was 1,311,900. It will be seen that the 924,399 secondary students comprise over 5 per cent of the aggregate enrollment in all the schools. The enrollment of secondary students in public and private institutions is given by geographical divisions for the two years mentioned in the following table, the percentage of increase or decrease being indicated:

Students receiving secondary instruction in public and private high schools and academies and in preparatory departments of colleges and other institutions.

The number of secondary students in both public and private institutions in 1890 was 367,003, or about 5,900 to the million of population; in 1895 the number had increased to 539,712, or 7,900 to the million; in 1900 the number was 719,241, or 9,500 to the million; while for the year 1906 the number of secondary students aggregated 924,399, or about 11,000 to the million population, or over 1 per cent. The following table makes the comparison for each year since 1890:

SECONDARY SCHOOLS.

Secondary students and per cent of population.

In private institu-
tions.

In both classes.

23

370, 435

58

402,089

.62

23

410, 420

.62

26

480,358

.71

1894-95.

361,370

.53

178,342

26

539,712

79

1895-96.

392, 729

.56

166,274

23

559,003

.79

1896-97.

420,459

59

164, 445

584,904

.82

1897-98.

459,813

.63

166, 302

626, 115

.86

1898-99.

488, 549

.66

166, 678

655, 227

.89

1899-1900.

530, 425

70

188,816

719,241

.95

1900-1901

558, 740

72

177,260

.95

1901-2.

566, 124

72

168, 636

22

734.760

.94

1902-3.

608, 412

.76

168, 223

.21

776,635

.97

1903-4.

652, 804

.80

169, 431

.21

822,235

1.01

1904-5..

695,989

.84

180,061

.22

876,050

1.06

1905-6.

741,950

.88

182,449

.22

924,399

1.10

The remainder of this chapter will be devoted to a presentation of the statistics of the 9,560 public and private high schools reporting to this Office for the year 1905-6. While the number of secondary students in the preparatory departments of colleges and other institutions is given above, it has been found impracticable to collect complete statistics of such departments. The following table shows the progress of public and private high schools since 1890:

The remarkable growth of public high schools in the last sixteen years is shown in the above table. In 1890 there were 2,526 public high schools, with 202,963 students, while in 1906 the number of schools had increased to 8,031, with 722,692 students. The number of private high schools increased up to 1895. Since that date there has been a decrease, the number reporting in 1906 being 1,529, with 101,755 students. The number of these private schools is now less than in 1890, although the number of students is considerably greater.

The relative progress of public and private high schools since 1890 may be learned from the following table:

Relative progress of public and private high schools in sixteen years.

From the above table it is seen that in 1890 about 68.13 per cent of the secondary students were in the public high schools and in 1906 over 87.66 per cent.

PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS.

The more important items of public high school statistics are summarized by States in Tables 1 to 13 in this chapter. Information in detail concerning the 8,031 schools is given in Table 31.

Table 1 shows that there were 30,844 teachers of secondary students in the 8,031 public high schools in 1905-6. This force included 16,508 men and 14,336 women. Of the 722,692 secondary students, 305,308 were boys and 417,384 girls. There was an increase of 16,917 in the number of boys and 26,073 in the number of girls in these schools over the preceding year. In the elementary grades connected with the high schools there were 176,604 pupils.

Table 2 shows that 36, 151 students were preparing for the college classical course and 29,842 for college scientific courses. The number of graduates for the year ending June, 1906, was 85,449, an increase of 5,852 over the preceding year. Of the total number of graduates, 30,419 were college preparatory students, an increase of 2,123. The schools had 9,427 in military drill.

Tables 3 to 8, inclusive, show the number of students in each State in each of the leading high school studies. A synopsis of these tables is given below, preceded by items relating to the number of students preparing for college and the number of graduates.

Students in certain courses and studies in public high schools.