they gave reasons which seemed quite inadequate. In the one school in which this information was given the register showed that of 33 children enrolled 24 had dropped out at the end of three months. Of these, 10 left school to work on the farm, 9 because of sickness, and 5 moved. None returned to school during the remainder of the year. This may not be typical of all schools, but it indicates a serious condition, even if it occurs in only a few.

THE ATTENDANCE RECORD OF 77 CHILDREN.

The table which follows gives the attendance record for one year of 77 white children attending four country schools.

These figures show that more than half of the children (57 per cent) attended school fewer than 70 days, or 3 months in the year, and nearly four-fifths (77.2 per cent) attended not more than 80 days or four months. The median time attended is 60 days, or three months. Comparing these country childern with city children, in well administered city schools, who attend regularly the full 91 months term usually prescribed, the country child in Glynn County would have to spend 21 years in order to accomplish what the city child who is regular in attendance accomplishes in 7 years. It is inevitable that, unless accurate and adequate means of ascertaining when children are in school and why they are not there, if absent, are employed, many children will attend irregularly or not at all.

All the data collected from the rural schools, including the age and grade tables and those showing the number enrolled in each grade, indicate that the attendance matter is serious. Many children leave school with only the meager education received in the first two or three grades. All of the problems which arise wholly or in part from irregular attendance and short school life are more difficult to solve in the country than in the city schools. For this reason preventive measures in rural schools are even more essential than in city schools. It is confidently believed that the appointment of an attendance officer as herein suggested, holding him

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responsible, in cooperation with teachers and principals, for compiling accurate data relating to all these matters, will go far toward meeting this serious situation.

4. THE HOLDING POWER OF THE SCHOOLS IS LOW AND SHOULD BE INCREASED.

The general efficiency of the school system and the appreciation of the value of education and of the principles which underlie public school work are reflected in the success with which children of school age are kept in regular attendance continuously until the close of the school term and the school course. There is a tendency on the part of the school authorities and the community itself in both county and city to underestimate the importance of elementary education and of the necessity of extending school facilities to all the children. Back of the whole idea of public education is the principle that universal intelligence is essential to the preservation of ideals of democracy. It is because of the conception that the minimum essentials of education, at least, must be made common to all that compulsory attendance laws become necessary. The school board is morally and legally intrusted with the responsibility of furnishing elementary education and of enforcing the laws which insure that all children shall receive at least the minimum amount contemplated by the State. The elementary school is the most important part of the school system because it provides all the education that most of the children receive, and because it lays the foundation for high school and college work. It is essential, then, at whatever sacrifice, that the board shall take whatever steps are necessary in order that all of the children shall complete at least the six elementary grades.

COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE LAW SHOULD BE ENFORCED.

The study of the whole problem of school attendance shows a good deal of laxity on the part of school officials and of general indifference on the part of the citizens in Brunswick and Glynn County. There is no attendance officer for either, unless we consider as such the ex officio function performed by the county superintendent. These efforts scarcely extend outside the City of Brunswick. Even in the city they are not definitely connected with the children of school age who should be in school, but are confined largely to the children already enrolled. The census enumeration apparently plays very little part in the enforcement of the compulsory law. Hence, it concerns at best only regularity of attendance rather than universality. It is the business of the school system, once estab

lished, to get and keep in school all those of school age who have not completed the courses furnished or who have not passed beyond the compulsory age limit.

In order to ascertain the success with which the system brings children into school, a comparison was made between the census enumeration and the enrollment. The census for the City of Brunswick shows that there are, between the ages of 6 and 18 years, 1,791 white and 1,723 colored children. The school membership at the close of the month of February was 907 white and 560 colored, or about 41 per cent of the total census enumeration.

These data indicate that the number of children of school age not in school is very large. The condition is especially serious because in Georgia the census age and the actual school age are practically the same. The fact that a large number of the census children are not enrolled in school leads one to expect an increased rate of illiteracy among those of school age for which there is no reasonable excuse, and for which the school system is responsible.

GREATER REGULARITY OF ATTENDANCE.

It is evident that enrollment is only part of the difficulty. When children are enrolled, they must attend school regularly, if they are to receive the advantages of an education, and they must remain in school throughout the full school year. To secure information of the kind referred to it is necessary to go back to the school year 1918-19. A complete record of attendance and enrollment for the Glynn grammar school for the year 1918-19 shows that the enrollment began at 611 and increased throughout the year to a maximum of 774. At the close of the school year there were 530 still belonging, a loss of 244. The average daily attendance at the close of the year was 448, a loss over that at the beginning of the year of 286. The average daily attendance during the year varied from 488 to 590 and is at its best during the first four months. Because complete and cumulative data are not kept in Brunswick, it is not possible to know how many of those lost during the school year were lost through illness or because they moved away. The loss is a large one and is probably not accounted for by necessity.

The above data are too general to show definitely just how much schooling the average child obtains or to indicate in any sense the regularity with which such a child attends school. In order to ascertain this more definitely, complete attendance records of 631 children for the school year were examined. The results are shown in the following table:

Actual number of days attended by 631 children in elementary grades of Brunswick.

Only actual enrollment was considered in this summary. All children who had moved away or who had been dropped because of illness or other good reasons were omitted as "excused." The data represent, then, the attendance record of the children who were or should be actual members of the school. The record shows that, of the total number considered, only 66 remained in school throughout the complete term. The median time attended was seven months. A considerable number (75) remained in school fewer than 80 days, or 4 months. The school was closed for one month in December because of influenza. Aside from this, attendance seems very slightly influenced by that or any other epidemic, as the percentage of attendance based on membership is about the same throughout the term, and both diminished gradually and quite uniformly from the beginning to the end of the school year. The table shows that, while many children attend with reasonable regularity, a significant number are in school only a fraction of the term. It should be remembered in considering attendance that irregularity is not alone disastrous to the child directly affected because it results in his obtaining only a portion of the education which he should have, but it has a serious effect on the children who attend regularly. Those frequently absent demand special attention from the teacher, who must make some effort to preserve uniform progress. Children absent long enough to get behind in their grade must, to a considerable extent, retard the progress of the class as a whole.

The situation in the colored schools is similar but much worse. There were enrolled in the colored school, for the week of February 20, 560 children, or 32 per cent of the census list. The average daily attendance for the same week is 419, or about 24 per cent of the total children of school age.

HOLDING CHILDREN IN SCHOOL.

Some idea of the success with which the system holds children in school until they have completed the course may be obtained from the table which follows. This shows how many children are in attendance in each of the grades for every 100 enrolled in the first grade. Some falling off is, of course, normally to be expected. Comparison with similar data from other cities may be made from the data given in the table. It is noticeable that the falling off is heavy and also that it differs widely between the two schools in the city and between the city and country. In a well-organized system, reasonable uniformity of results should be expected. Certainly the wide difference observed in the two schools in Brunswick is an unfavorable indication. For example, for every 100 enrolled in the first grade, there are in the sixth grade in the Glynn School 70, in the Purvis School, 50. For the two schools, taken as a whole, 62. A similar difference is found by comparison between the enrollment of colored children in the city and country.

Number of children in each grade, based on 100 in the first grade (1918-19).

1 Less than 1. 2 Average of 30 cities of U. S. with a population of 10,000 or under.

3 Thorndike.

The majority of cities show a rapid falling off of enrollment at the end of the compulsory attendance period; that is, at about 14 years of age, or about at the close of the sixth grade. However, the cause of children leaving school in Brunswick and Glynn County is evidently not due to the fact that the compulsory period has ended, because the law is not enforced. The rapid decline from the first to the second grade in the county and the gradual decline throughout the grades in the city indicate a prevalent laxity concerning attendance; indifferent methods of instruction; lack of interest in the courses offered, and general ineffectiveness in the system. The very marked falling off of children as they pass through the grades in the rural schools indicates that something is radically wrong. It seems probable that only those children with exceptional opportunity or with special ability finish the upper grades or the high school. The great majority of children in the country are apparently satisfied with the very limited education offered in the first few grades.