STATE SCHOOL SYSTEMS. STATISTICAL TABLES FOR 1885-96. TABLE 1.-School year, population, and school population. From Table 1, it appears that the population of the United States 6-14 years of age is 10,928,943, which may be regarded as fairly representing the elementary school demand. As this is the first year for which the population between these ages has been computed the increase as compared with any previous year cannot be indicated. The population of legal school age is given for all the States and for ten Territories, either for the current year 1885-86 or some previous one. This shows an increase, as compared with the preceding year, in 24 States and 3 Territories, and decrease in 2 States and 1 Territory. Data is wanting for determining the nature of the change in the remaining States and Territories. The periods of legal school age remain the same as for the previous year, excepting in South Carolina, where there has been an extension of two years, and in Washington Territory, where there has been a diminution of two years. The statistics of population 6 to 14 years of age, and of total population, afford the means of estimating the extent of the school demand in each State, and its comparative relation to the adult portion of the population, upon whom the obligation of meeting the demand rests. The computations have not been carried into this particular, but a few contrasts which excite attention upon a very cursory examination of the columns are suggestive. For instance, it can hardly escape notice that the ratio of the population 6-14 years to the total population in the States of the Southern Central Division is much greater than the corresponding ratio in the States of the North Atlantic Division, the ratio of the former group ranging in fact from 21 to 23 per cent., and that of the latter from 15 to 17 per cent. Moreover, the rate of increase in the legal school population is higher in the Southern Central than in the North Atlantic Division. In other words, the former States have a greater and a more rapidly increasing school burden than the latter. TABLE 2.-Enrolment, attendance, duration of schools, and sittings. |