average superior to that of the non- 

 college group, it did not include the 

 many able and often brilliant high 

 school graduates who could not pay 

 the college bills. 



— The Student and His Knowl- 

 edge, by W. S. Learned and Ben D. 

 Wood. Carnegie Foundation for the 

 Advancement of Teaching; Bulletin 

 29, 1938. 



In Minnesota a study was made of 

 students who graduated from high 

 school in 1938 to see what they were 

 doing a year later. About 22,000 

 young people were included in this 

 study which showed the following: 



"What were youth doing a year 

 following graduation? Minnesota 

 high school graduates of June 1938, 

 fall into three broad groups of ap- 

 proximately equal numbers. One- 

 third found full-time employment 

 within a year following graduation. 

 Another third continued their train- 

 ing in either collegiate or preparatory 

 schools. The third group was made 

 up of graduates who secured part- 

 time employment only, of the unem- 

 ployed, and of those graduates for 

 whom principals were unable to sup- 

 ply information. 



"Of the 22,306 young people who 

 finished high school in June 1938, 

 35 percent were employed full time 

 and 7 percent had secured part-time 

 employment in April 1939; 12 per- 

 cent were unemployed; 23 percent 

 were enrolled in colleges or univer- 

 sities, and an additional 12 percent 

 were receiving training in other 

 kinds of schools — trade schools, com- 

 mercial colleges, schools of nursing, 

 high schools as postgraduates. High 

 school principals were unable to re- 

 port the whereabouts of 1 1 percent. 



"Was there a relationshif between 



scholastic achievement in high school 

 and em'ployment or further training 

 for Minnesota high school graduates? 

 When the relationship of scholastic 

 success in high school to the post- 

 high school status of the graduates of 

 June 1938 was studied, these three 

 trends were found : As one goes down 

 the ability scale (1) the percentage 

 of graduates employed increased, (2) 

 the percentage of unemployed gradu- 

 ates also increased, and (3) the per- 

 centage of graduates who continued 

 their training beyond high school de- 

 creased. When, however, only those 

 graduates who presumably were in 

 the labor market (not continuing 

 their education) were considered, 

 high school success bore little rela- 

 tion to employment and unemploy- 

 ment. 



"Many able graduates, however, 

 were not attending college. Consid- 

 erably less than half of the high 

 school graduates who ranked in the 

 upper 30 percent of their high school 

 classes were enrolled in college. More 

 than 15 percent of these able gradu- 

 ates who did not continue their train- 

 ing were unemployed. High marks 

 in school are doubtless desirable, but 

 they were not the open sesame to 

 college halls or employment for those 

 graduates" (p. 35). 



For every (high school) graduate 

 who ranked in the upper 10 percent 

 of his high school class and entered 

 college, another graduate who also 

 ranked in the upper 10 percent did 

 not enter college. 



For every graduate who ranked in 

 the upper 30 percent of his class and 

 entered college, two graduates who 

 ranked in the upper 30 percent did 

 not enter college. 



"Was there a relationship between 

 socio-economic status as indicated by 

 the fathers' occu-pations and the sta- 



171 



