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Show WHEN CHILDREN FAIL IN SCHOOL Too njany children quit school tOO early. Thin results in lose to theai. ;ind to the country. The thing to do, knowing thai something, must be dune about it, is to tind what is wrong, and KM eliminate thai. The problem is one (or parents and teacher.- These are; the in (ver thousand children who n Lm tor school only get through bigil j J Only 23 of thai thousand tinish col j Hj lege. But 83 per cenl oi Ihem reach ihcj sixth grade. II Less than per ' in pi the original amand ... i i Igjh school Thi Be, MP out so rapidly that bill 150 ol 'V..vq taln fjjf fourth grade, and but I It? nrr- graduated. These are figures ol a specialist in j educational slatistics of Hie United Btatej bureau of education. They are r.nt pir?.dng to Americans who point with go much pride (o the high educa-1 ilonal plane '.Ms countrv has set lor its goal. They are not encouraging to those who hope for a belter, more in-! tHIigent. u.oo progressive cltizenr;. tomorrow. They aren't flattering. Somelhlrty, somewhere, . must be j wrong. This nation has no ambition to become a nation of sixth-graders. It ' has no desire to halve a population of aaBBBBBB whirl, less than 14 ner cent have fin I Iisbed high school. When our fore fathers made an educational system a part of the government they hoped for a high school education for every' .child and far larger percentage than 2.3 of college graduates. It has been argued that poverty and low wages has something to do with tbe dwindling of the original thousand lirat-cia.de pupils. Thai this does not day so prominent a part is proven by tbe records In so-called prosperous and bard-time years, when schools lose about the same number of pupils. The bureau 01 education has the ) idea that what is wrong is the clog glng f early grades by "repeaters."' A "repeater" is a school laggard, ti one who fails of promotion and must ? do over the work of the last term. H: for every 1000 beginners there are ; 1010 repeaters In the first grade of our public schools. The number of re-peaters re-peaters In the first grade r pres- n'-Hk n'-Hk about one-tenth of the total public H I school enrollment There are more B jrpyi'r-rp in tbe first grade than are pupjfl enrolled In all the high schools. Firs.i-R7e.de repeaters alone ccst tbe I! . j public a tenth Of tbe sum spent upon Iy.Jdic schools 1-hcn there are ri peAU n in Lhe BSC end j;rade and In all the grades higher. . The percentage is greatest In the first I gi?de. '.nd grows smaller or each su cueitot grede. IBH Uepe. ting is cosily. It te larg. P ' H! spouaible or ovororowdlng of schools '"UaL howarrer, I not where li is most , j eostl. Repeating holds a child back ! H The child develops a uicltkc Cor school. ma classmates ar ?eu06ffr than h I He seizes (or creates) an opportunity ' to leave school as qoon BS '.'ie coi" pulsory law 'eleaKe3 him. I Repeating can be cm down, teachers .-ay If parents will co-i perai e wlili them. Parents maj aid studying chil ! drcn in man ways, and not the eas i of these Is b fncouragemeni. The child that wins a promotion Is anMouj I to face the next term, the child who j tails to "pass" is the one who wantf I tu quit school |
