276 Folkmar—The Duration of School Attendance. 
The method used by Dr. Harris in the reports named is much 
different from those of this paper. His words should be quoted 
in full: “ If we divide the school population, which has been stated 
to form 34 per cent, of the total population, roughly into three 
classes, allowing for primary or elementary schools all between 
the ages of 6 and 13, inclusive, we shall set apart 20 per cen¬ 
tum of the whole; the population aged from 14 to 17, inclusive, 
amounts to 8 per centum for secondary education; 6 per cen¬ 
tum remains for the number aged 18 to 20, inclusive, for higher 
education. These percentages applied to the results shown by 
the statistics for the year 1889 give us the following ratios: 
“ For the 12,000,000 of school age for elementary instruction 
there were actually enrolled in public and private schools 
12,931,259, or an excess of nearly 1,000,000. For the 4,750,000 
of school age for secondary instruction there were actually en¬ 
rolled only 668,461, or less than one-seventh of the youth of age 
for that grade of work. Of the 4,000,000 of right age for 
higher education there were enrolled only 126,854, or less than 
one-thirtieth of the quota. ” 
This is one of the methods at first attempted in this investi¬ 
gation. It was despaired of, however, for the ages actually 
found in the city schools varied so greatly from Dr. Harris’s 
premises as to make it nearly useless. Thus, while he takes 
the years from fourteen to seventeen as the high school age, 
the pupils actually in the high school in 1893-94 were of the 
following ages: 1 
From ten to eleven years of age...2 
From eleven to twelve years of age...6 
From twelve to thirteen years of age.43 
From thirteen to fourteen years of age.261 
From fourteen to fifteen years of age.809 
From fifteen to sixteen years of age.1,395 
From sixteen to seventeen years of age.1,471 
Over seventeen years of age.2,202 
Even if this method were sufficient in regard to secondary 
education or elementary education, as a whole, it would be 
manifestly insufficient to show the number dropping out of 
each grade. 
1 Report of the Board, 1894, p. 201. 
