TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 



189 



Educational Statistics of Bradford. By James Hanson. 



The object of this paper is to furnish a brief statistical accoiint of the state of 

 education in Bradford. The term education is employed to denote the ordinary 

 agencies concerned in imparting knowledge and promoting culture in the earlier 

 periods of life. After giving a brief history of the establishment of day schools in 

 Bradford, the author considers the question of what number of children ought to be 

 under instruction in Bradford. The Eegistrar-General estimates that in the middle 

 of the present year the population of the borough would be 156,609. At 2.31 per 

 1000, between the ages of three and thirteen years, we shall have in the borough 

 30,170 children of school age. Deducting 10 per cent, for sickness and other causes, 

 there remain 32,553 of school age, constituting the gross number that ought to be 

 under instruction. What are the facts of the case ? One seventh of the children 

 between three and thirteen belong to the middle and upper classes. Taking one 

 seventh from 32,553, we have 27,903 as the number of children of the poorer classes 

 that require to be educated in schools where the fee is less than ninepence per week. 



The number of children in the fifty public elementary schools which exist in 

 Bradford are then given, the total on the books being 15,434. The number of 

 childi-en in the 65 private adventure schools was found to be, in 1871, 2866 ; and it is 

 estimated that the number is the same at the present time. This gives a total 

 nimiber of childi-en in schools where the weekly fee is less than Qd. as 22,300. It 

 has been found on inquiry, however, that of the seventh part of the entire juvenile 

 population belonging to the upper and middle classes, 4650 in number, only 2517 are 

 provided for by middle-class schools, private tuition, &c. ; and it may fairly be 

 concluded that the balance, 2133, are educated in the public elementary schools. 

 "We must then add the 2133 to the number that require to be provided for in public 

 elementary schools. The figures amended will then stand thus : — 



Children between three and thirteen of the working class 27,903 



Children sent to popular schools by well-to-do people 2,133 



Total 30,036 



Children actually in popular schools 22,300 



Left without day-school instruction 7,736 



It must especially be borne in mind that the figures we have hitherto been deal- 

 ing with simply represent the children on the school-register. Nothing is told us 

 about the character of the education that is being receivedby these 22,300 children ; 

 and yet this is a most vital point in attempting to ascertain the state of education 

 in a community. With one exception the adventure-schools of this kind were in 

 1871 deemed mefficient by the Inspector of Returns, and were not taken into 

 account at all in reckoning the school provision of the borough. As to the educa- 

 tion given in the advanced schools, the author believes it to be equal to that of 

 similar schools in any part of the kingdom ; and in the last twenty years the 

 standard of teaching in these schools has been very materially advanced. Coming 

 to the education obtained in the popular elementaiy schools, we must take into 

 consideration several circumstances. 1. In the first place, the difference between 

 the numbers on the registers of the schools and the average attendance is very 

 great. The numbers on the registers of the fifty schools are, as we have seen, 

 19,434, while the average attendance only amounts to 12,028. Here is an elimi- 

 nation of 7400 children at once. An able inspector, Mr. Fitch, has remarked that 

 " it cannot be said of a school that it is, in any efi'ective sense, educatmg a larger 

 number than that represented by its average attendance." The Bradford schools, 

 therefore, cannot be said to be really educating more than 12,028 children out of 

 the 19,434 on the books. The others are irregular attenders, that gam httle good 

 from their casual visits. 2. The diflerence between the registers and the average 

 attendance is rendered so large owing to the presence of a great number of half- 

 timers in the Bradford schools. This feature must be deemed a hindrance to the 

 effective education of the children of the working classes. There are in the schools 

 of the borough about COOO half-timers. The system can only be accepted as a boon 



