TABLE I.-Common school statistics of the United States. Average length of school term (days).. Total number of days attended by all pupils... 539, 053, 423 Average number of days attended by each Average number attended by each pupil en Average monthly wages of male teachers d. Average monthly wages of female teachersd. General items of statistics for the country as a whole may be seen in the table preceding (Table I). In it is given a comparative summary of items of attendance of pupils, number of teachers, receipts and expenditures, showing the increase from decade to decade for more than thirty years in what are called the common schools, including under this designation schools of the elementary and secondary grades supported from public funds. The per cent of the total population enrolled in the common schools the past year is 20.04, the same being not quite 71 per cent of the enti e number of persons from 5 to 18 years of age. The average number in daily attendance during the sessions of the schools has risen from about 4 millions in 1869-70 to something over 11 millions in the past year. The attendance has increased in regularity during the past thirty years; that is to say, the number in average attendance has approximated more closely to the number enrolled. In 1869-70 the average attendance was only 59.3 per cent, while the past year it has been 69.2 per cent. As I have pointed out in my previous reports, the increase in average attendance and the increase in the length of the school term is due to the growth of villages and cities. A continually growing quota of the population lives in large villages and cities, and holds its schools open for a larger number of days each year. On page 1168 of this Report a copy of one of the wall charts in the exhibit of the Bureau of Education at the world's fair in St. Louis presents the relation between the city population and the rural population, and the relative per cent of school enrollment and attendance in the two regions. The population in the cities is 33 per cent of the whole, while the country population is 67 per cent. The school enrollment in the country, however, amounts to 74 per cent of the whole enrollment; but the rural schools have very short sessions, running from 50 days up to 70 or 80 days in sparsely settled districts. The existence of a railroad in a rural district builds up villages about the railway stations; the village school holds a school session from 140 to 200 days in the year, and thus raises the average of the length of the school session in the rural district. The past year showed a remarkable increase in the length of the school term. While in 1880 the schools were in session for only 130.3 days, the past year they were in session for 147.2 days, while each pupil enrolled attended on an average nearly 102 days. The normal length of the school session in villages and cities is 9 or 10 months of 20 days each, vacation days being excluded; but public holidays that fall within the school year, for example, Washington's Birthday and Memorial Day, are included in the school year, which amounts in cities to 200 days and in the majority of villages to 180 days. The number of women teachers has risen to 332,252 out of a total of 449,287 teachers in the common schools of the United States. While the percentage of male teachers in 1880 was nearly 43 per cent, the past year it had fallen to 26 per cent. The average salary of teachers shows some increase over the previous year, the salary of male teachers reaching $50 a month (less 2 cents), while the average salary of women teachers had risen to $40.51. The aggregate of school property arose to the sum of $643,903,228, the increase over the previous year being nearly $43,000,000. The amount of money for the support of schools derived from local taxation-that is to say, from municipal and county taxation-has steadily increased, owing chiefly to the incorporation of large villages into cities and the provision for the support of schools out of the municipal tax fund. The entire expenditure had reached the sum of $251,457,625, the same being $3.15 for each inhabitant, an increase of sixteen cents per capita. Of this expenditure 18 per cent was devoted to the purchase of sites and buildings, 62 per cent to the salaries of teachers and superintendents, and 19 per cent to miscellaneous expenses, such as janitor hire, fuel, apparatus, text-books, etc. The expenditure per day for each pupil was nearly 10 cents for the support of teachers and 15 cents for all purposes. ED 1503- -11 TABLE II.-Number of pupils and students of all grades in both public and private schools and colleges, 1902-8. NOTE.-The classification of States made use of in the following table is the same as that adopted by the United States census, and is as follows: North Atlantic Division: a Including pupils in preparatory or academic departments of higher institutions, public and private, and excluding elementary pupils, who are classed in columns 2 and 3. A classification of public and of private secondary students, according to the character of the institutions in which they are found, is given in Chap. XXXVII, vol. 2. This is made up from the returns of individual high schools to the Bureau, and is somewhat too small, as there are many secondary pupils outside the completely organized high schools whom there are no means of enumerating. Including colleges for women, agricultural and mechanical (land-grant) colleges, and scientific schools. Students in law, theological, and medical departments are excluded, being tabulated in columns 9-11. Students in academic and preparatory departments are also excluded, being tabulated in columns 4 and 5. There are, in addition to this number, 23,889 students taking normal courses in universities, colleges, and public and private high schools. (See Chap. XXXVI, vol. 2). |