third the number of elementary pupils, indicating a significant dropout 

 rate. 



There are many reasons why pupils leave school immediately after 

 reaching the compulsory attendance age. Aside from low aptitude, health 

 or emotional condition, and economic conditions at home, many capalile 

 pupils possess a poor attitude and lack of interest in academic subjects. 

 They have no incentive. Encouragement from parents is not always 

 forthcoming and, particularly among small high schools, there is a lack 

 of guidance. Also, the small high schools do not ordinarily offer voca- 

 tional programs for the development of skills. To counteract this situa- 

 tion it might be assumed that the more urban centers, in which the 

 larger high schools are located, offer more opportunities for employ- 

 ment at an earlier age. 



It is not possible to measure statistically all the reasons why pupils 

 drop out of school. Information has not been available to study the sit- 

 uation beyond the material obtained from the State Department of Edu- 

 cation. Rather extensive tabulations were completed in an effort to deter- 

 mine whether or not maintaining a high school and providing pul)lic 

 transportation would have any effect on withdrawals as determined by 

 the number of high school pupils per 100 elementary pupils. Districts 

 are grouped according to total equalized valuation in each case. There 

 is no significant relation between the size of the district as measured by 

 equalized valuation and the number of high school pupils as percent of 

 elementary pupils. Because of many factors not taken into consideration, 

 obviously the results should not be interpreted as all conclusive. A sum- 

 mary of the results of these tabulations follows: 



All Districts 



Transportation Provided 

 Transportation Not Provided 



High School Maintained 

 High School Not Maintained 



High School and Transportation 



Both Provided 

 Neither High School nor 



Transportation Provided 



It appears here that providing pulilic transportation increased the 

 number of high school pupils per 100 elementary pupils liy 16 percent, 

 whereas maintaining a high school increases the number by only eight 

 percent. The effect of providing both a high school and public transpor- 

 tation amounts to 20 percent, an appreciable amount. 



15 



