MORE MEN IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 447 



were women, competent above the average, but they were not interested 

 in that side of life, and they simply could not, except in rare instances, 

 make a success in it. A flood of protest poured in from them to the 

 county superintendent, and the subject was shortly discontinued. In 

 view of the situation, we should not be surprised that almost every- 

 where in our public schools the esthetic has the preference over the 

 practical — that poetry and literature receive more attention than arith- 

 metic; painting and art than mechanical drawing; and music and the 

 languages than physics, chemistry and industrial training. 



Mr. Calvin M. Woodward, president of the St. Louis Board of 

 Education, has made a study of the causes which impel pupils, and 



l$5$ '6,0 '6S '70 '7S '%0 ''SS '90 '<?S <9oo 



IS 00 000 



or SCH06Ltee(b-2i) 

 / 060000 



sco ooo y\y^ — WM8e)\ emoLLBD m schools 



Gbowth in Number of Children of School Age and of Pdpils Enrolled, in Typical 

 State of Illinois. The gap between these lines widens with increasing number of women 

 teachers. Boys outnumber girls in primaiy grades but are outnumbered in upper grades. 



especially boys, to drop out of school between the ages of 12 and 15. 

 Circumstances are seldom such as to render it necessary for them to 

 go to work for wages. Mr. Woodward says: 



My deliberate conclusion, after a careful study of the matter, is that the 

 prime causes for the abnormal withdrawals are : First, a lack of interest on the 

 part of the pupils; and secondly, a lack on the part of parents of a just appre- 

 ciation of the education now offered, and a dissatisfaction that we do not offer 

 instruction and training of a more practical character. 



The pupils become tired of the work they have on hand, and they see in the 

 grades above them no sufficiently attractive features to invite them. They be- 

 come discontented and neglectful; failure follows, they get behind, and then 

 they stop. 



As for the boys from 12 to 15 years old, their discontent is not unnatural. 

 They are conscious of growing powers, passions and tastes which the school does 

 not recognize. They find the restraints of the school room and grounds irksome. 

 Their controlling interests are not in committing to memory the printed page; 

 not even the arithmetic serves to reconcile them to school hours and school 

 studies. They long to grasp things with their hands; they burn to test the 

 strength of materials and the magnitude of forces; to match their cunning with 

 the cunning of practical men and of nature. 



The dissatisfaction of parents springs from several sources. The discon- 

 tent of the boy or girl contributes to the feeling that the cost of books and the 

 loss of a child's labor are too great price to pay for what the child is getting. 

 As for going to the high school, it seems to the parent to be out of the question. 

 The school is too far off, too costly in books, in dress and car fare, and not 

 sufficiently practical in its course of study. 



