272 
Folkmar—The Duration of School Attendance. 
mum limit just reached, and the minimum limit as establishsd 
under the deductive method. The largest Milwaukee figures 
should not be given consideration, as they do not represent the 
enrollment of real classes, but “ average membership. ” 
Average Amount of Schooling per Pupil. —With these conclu¬ 
sions shomd be stated the number of grades reached by the 
average pupil. This is easily obtained from Table IX by divid¬ 
ing the total number of grade enrollments (one and one-half 
million) by the total number of pupils (one-half million). This 
gives approximately three grades to the average pupil. This 
is the least possible limit, because the first grade enrollment 
(one-half million) is more times too large than the total enroll¬ 
ment is, as was shown on page 267. If we use the figures of 
the same table after the correction for double enrollment, we get 
in the same way nearly four and one-half grades to the average 
pupil. This is the maximum estimate, because, as shown on the 
same page, the first grade is now reduced more times than it 
should be in comparison with the reduction of the grand total. 
There can be but little doubt, therefore, that the average pupil 
get less than four grades of schooling, and certainly he does not 
go beyond the primary grades. 
In conclusion it should be clearly kept in mind just what our 
proposition is. It has not been proven, either as regards the 
average amount of schooling, or as regards the per cents that 
drop out at each grade, that these figures hold true outside of 
the two cities named, or even outside of the public schools in 
those cities; and when it is remembered that about one-third 
of the total school enrollment in each of these cities is in paro¬ 
chial and private schools, 1 it will be evident that we will need 
to bear this qualification in mind. Exactly formulated, our 
statement is this: “ Of the children that attend the public schools , 
32 per cent, drop out before reaching the second grade, 66 per 
cent, before reaching the fourth, ” and so on. That this state¬ 
ment, however, holds true of all schools, seems apparent from 
several lines of evidence that cannot be entered into here. One 
that falls within the scope of our inquiry, is the fact, that no 
1 Table XXIV. Public and Private Schools of Chicago , 1893-94, 
p. 305. 
