Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 136, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 June 1911 — HIGH COST OF LIVING NO EDUCATION HINDANCE. [ARTICLE]

HIGH COST OF LIVING NO EDUCATION HINDANCE.

Statistics Shew Increase In Number Who Receive High School Education Over Former Years. The high cost of living has not operated to cut down, seriously the average daily attendance or enrollment in the public schools by figures compiled from reports in the hands of the state superintendent of public instruction. In spite of conditions, that, in theory, might demand that the boys and girls leave school early and become wage earners, incident to the solution of the high cost of rearing families, the tendency, as shown by the figures has been toward, an increase in high school and eighth grade attendance. The earliest. figures obtainable, by are for the school year .of 1907-1908, and/ the latest are for the year 1909-1910; However, persons who are interested in statistics as indicators of the effects of changed industrial and economic conditions, covered by the period bounded by these figures are sufficient to show whether the increased cost of living has seriously affected the patronage of the public > schools. While the scfcol enumeration for 1907, and that for 1909, showed a net increase in the two years of 26,622, the enrollment in all the schools including the high schools, showed a net increase of only 272. The decrease was all in the enrollment in the grades, and in the high schools an increase was shown. The total enrollment in the high schools for 1909-1910 was 51,003, or a gain of 6,637 over the corresponding 7 enrollment for 1907-1908. The total enrollment in the grades was 480,456, or a decrease of 5,909 when compared with corresponding enrollment for 19071908.

The percentage of the enrollment in average daily attendance for 19091910, which was .792, was only onetenth of 1 per cent less that the rate for 1907-1908. The percentage of pupils who were enrolled, however, showed a gain of 1.7 the rate for 1909-1010 being 56.1 per cent Increases in enrollment were noted in all the four years of the high schools. For the first year, the increase was 906; for the second year, 1,878; for the third year, T. 554, and for the fourth year, 1,559. The rate of gain for the high school enrollment was 12.4 per cent. The increased number of township high schools and the tendency among children from the farms to complete high school courses, is said to account largely for this increase.

In increases were ndted only in the first, sixth and eighth grades. All the other grades showed increases. In the first grade, the increase was 1,273; in the sixth it was .511 and in the eighth, 945. In the second grade the decrease ■Ursa 1,849; in the third, 1,676; in the fourth, 1,552; in the fifth, 1,564; in the seventh, 2,127. The net decrease in enrollment in the grades was only 1.2 per. cent. '•//