

EDUCATION, UNITED STATES BUREAU OP. 



251 



year, or 1-56 per cent. The school population, it 

 is to be noted, represents 29-61 per cent, of the 

 total population of the country, and a constant 

 decrease is shown to have taken place since 1870 

 in the proportion of children to the whole popu- 

 lation. In addition to the pupils enrolled in the 

 public schools, there are nearly 1,000,000 in the 

 elementary private schools ; 402,089 were pursu- 

 ing the secondary course of study in public high 

 schools, private academies, and preparatory 

 schools : nearly 150,000 pursuing courses of 

 higher education in colleges and technical and 

 professional schools, including normal schools ; 

 or, in other words, 1 in 5 of the population was 

 enrolled in some elementary school, 1 in 160 in 

 some secondary school, and 1 in 439 in some in- 

 stitution for " higher education. Considering 

 only the so-called academic course of study in 

 colleges, the proportion was 1 in 895. In the 

 whole country, according to the statistical re- 

 turns for 1892. there were 2,269 pupils out of 

 each 10,000 of the population that attended 

 school some time in the course of the year, and 

 nearly 23 per cent, of the whole population were 

 enrolled in school for some period in that year. 

 This enrollment has been increased in twenty 

 years from 20 to 23 per cent, of the whole popu- 

 lation, besides increasing the period of the aver- 

 age attendance from seventy-nine days in 1871 

 to eighty-nine days in 1892. Reducing our 

 average schooling to European standards, it is 

 found that we are not giving so much education 

 to our people as Germany is giving, but a larger 

 number attending school for some portion of 

 the year is shown than in any nation of Europe. 

 The average daily attendance in 1891-'92 was 

 8,547,551 (or 64-73 per cent, of the enrollment), 

 an increase of 142,539 over the year previous, 

 and the aggregate number of days' attendance 

 was 1,172,261.842. The average number of days 

 the schools were kept was 137'1, an increase of 

 1-9 days over 1890-91. An increase of 4,656 

 public schoolhouses over the year previous gave 

 a total of 229,118, and the value of public-school 

 property was placed at $382,457,167. The 

 teachers employed numbered 374,460, of whom 

 121,638 were males and 252,822 females. The 

 large increase in the number of female teach- 

 ers over males dates from 1880. The average 

 salary of male teachers is $45*48 a month, 

 and that of females $37.56. The total revenue 

 of the public schools in 1892 was $156,778,751, 

 of which $29,693,487 were from State taxes, 

 $105,551,726 derived from local taxation, and 

 $8,084,582 from permanent funds. The increase 

 of State taxes for public-school purposes was 

 $1,586,403 over the year previous, and of local 

 taxes, $5,094,726. The total expenditures dur- 

 ing the year were $155,991,273, an increase of 

 $8,812,569 over 1891. Of this amount, $100,- 

 333,071 were for salaries of teachers and super- 

 intendents (or 64-3 per cent, of the whole), and 

 $29,504,414 (or 18-9 per cent.) for permanent 

 improvements. The expenditure per capita of 

 population in 1891-'92 was $2.41. It was $2.31 

 in 1890-'91, when it was shown that the expendi- 

 ture for common schools per capita of popula- 

 tion was higher than ever, having increased 50 

 per cent, in eleven years. The increase of the 

 total expenditure for public schools in that year 

 was shown to be more than double the annual 



rate of increase of the population. The average 

 expenditure per pupil is $18.25 a year, and the 

 cost of educating each child is 13-3 cents a day, 

 of which 8'6 cents was for salaries to teachers 

 and superintendents. Of the 13.205,877 children 

 enrolled in the public schools, 10,608,800 (or 

 80'33 per cent.) are under fourteen years of age, 

 and the maximum attendance is from nine to 

 eleven years. 



The first attempt to secure complete statistics 

 of secondary education in the United States was 

 made by the- bureau in 1891. In 1894 there 

 were 247,660 pupils receiving secondary educa- 

 tion in public institutions (239,556 in public 

 high schools), and 154,429 in private schools, 

 preparatory departments of colleges, etc. The 

 public schools give 91*54 per cent, of all ele- 

 mentary instruction, 61*59 per cent, of all sec- 

 ondary, and 35-39 per cent, of all higher instruc- 

 tion. In public schools and colleges the propor- 

 tion of elementary pupils is 97'73 per cent., and 

 in private schools and colleges 82'76 per cent. 

 It is shown that more boys are enrolled in the 

 public schools than girls, the percentage being 

 larger in 31 States than can be accounted for by 

 the excess of boys in the school population. In 

 secondary schools, however, more girls are en- 

 rolled in the public schools (principally in pub- 

 lic high schools) than boys, the proportion being 

 3 to 2 ; while in private secondary schools 55 

 per cent, are boys and only 45 per cent, girls. 

 The reason assigned for this is, that boys, after 

 completing their elementary course, are often 

 obliged or prefer to go to work, while those who 

 intend to prepare for college enter largely pri- 

 vate schools or preparatory departments of col- 

 leges. Of the 72,460 college students in the 

 United States, 49,100 (or 67'8 per cent.) are 

 males and 23,360 (or 32-2 per cent.) are females. 

 Of those in the public universities and colleges, 

 81 per cent, (or more than four fifths of the 

 whole) are males, and, in fact, except in the 

 North Central and Western States, the number 

 of female students in public universities and 

 colleges is insignificant. In the private collegi- 

 ate institutions the proportion of female stu- 

 dents is 35-4 per cent. In the whole United 

 States, 36 women attend college for every 100,- 

 000 persons. Nearly half of these are in co-edu- 

 cational institutions, public and private, and 53-5 

 per cent, attend colleges for women only. Fe- 

 male college education is developed by far to 

 the greatest extent in the South, the two south- 

 ern divisions of the country having nearly twice 

 the average of the rest of the Union, the prefer- 

 ence being for colleges for women only. In the 

 North Atlantic States the proportion of female 

 college students is less than in any other section 

 of the Union (25-3 per 100,000 persons), notwith- 

 standing the fact that all the female colleges of 

 a higher grade, with three exceptions only, are 

 found in this division. More than two thirds of 

 the female college students are found in exclu- 

 sively female colleges in this division also. In 

 the North Central States less than a sixth of the 

 female students attend colleges for women only ; 

 and in the Western States 29 out of 30 are 

 found in co-educational institutions. Female 

 students in public colleges in the East and 

 South are almost nonexistent, Of the 39,137 

 professional students in normal schools, 12,412 



