eent. is less than one-half the rate of increase of school population (1.62 per cent.); this last quantity, however, is computed from such defective data that entire reliance can not be placed upon it.

Proportion of children enrolled.-In the proportion of children enrolled in the public schools, the North Central States are far in the lead, having 121 pupils in the public schools for every one hundred children six to fourteen years of age. That this result should be a matter of congratulation, considering the relatively low density of population of these States, has been already noted.

Notwithstanding the tremendous strides that have been taken in the development of the school systems of the Southern States during the last ten years, as exhibited in Table 17, they are still far behind the Northern States in regard to proportion of children enrolled in the public schools. In the South Atlantic States only 89, and in the South Central States only 79 children out of every 100, 6 to 14 years of age, are enrolled as pupils in the public schools. This results in a great degree from the excessive proportion of children to grown persons met with in the Southern States; for if we compare the proportion of total population enrolled, the disparity which appears to the prejudice of the Southern States almost disappears, and in one case is quite reversed, i. e., the proportion of total population enrolled is actually greater in the two Southern divisions (being 19.06 and 17.49 in the cases referred to) than it is in the Western Division (16.86).

No account is taken here of the duration of attendance at school, but only of the circumstance that the pupils were on the school registers. If the element of time is taken into consideration, the South appears much more at disadvantage.

The great advantage which the Northern States possess is the much larger number of tax-payers in proportion to the number of children to be educated. Even if the relative wealth of the North and South were equal, which is far from being the case, each tax-payer of the former section would have a far less burden to bear in the work of getting all the "schoolable" children within the schools.

e Only the States for which the increase or decrease is given are represented in this summary. fExcluding Aluska.

AVERAGE DAILY ATTENDANCE.

[Table 4, Page 62.]

According to the most recent returns, the number of pupils daily attending all the public schools of the United States while they are in session is, on an average, 7,571,416. As in the case of enrolment, it is not possible to determine the exact yearly increase, but a very fair approximation places it at 218,500, or at the yearly rate of 2.89 per cent. The greatest increase in average attendance is observable in the South; in both of the Southern divisions it is not only remarkably large, but it is to be noted that it exceeds the increase of enrolment; in other words, not only more pupils are going to school there, but also the attendance of those who do go is more regular. This is an evidence of increased appreciation of public schools not to be overlooked.

Florida shows the greatest growth of average attendance, viz, 13.94 per cent.; in the District of Columbia, Virginia, and Georgia the growth is also exceedingly noteworthy. Indiana stands in the same relation to the States on her east and west borders as in the case of enrolment.

The average attendance has decreased in six States, so far as reported, viz, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and South Carolina. The greatest decrease, 3.64 per cent., took place in New Hampshire.

Regularity of attendance.-The rate of increase of average attendance for the United States (2.89 per cent.) exceeds slightly the rate of increase of enrolment (2.66 per cent.) as estimated; this indicates a greater regularity of attendance for the country at large. Column 7 of Table 4 gives this regularity of attendance explicitly. The average for the United States is 64.13; that is, for every one hundred pupils enrolled during the school year, sixty-four have attended daily, on an average, during the sessions of the schools; or, looking at the matter in another light, each pupil enrolled was present, on an average, sixty-four days out of every one hundred his school was in session. Regularity of attendance is greatest in the Western Division (66.51), and least in the South Atlantic Division (62.79), but it is nearly uniform in the different sections of the country, more so, perhaps, than any other single item which admits of statistical record. When the individual States are considered, a greater inequality is observed; in Maine and Arizona the regularity of attendance is 82.79 and 84.26, respectively, while in Minnesota it drops to 49.17; it is possible, however, as in other instances, that this inequality may be due in some measure to inaccuracy or incompleteness in the school reports, or to a lack of uniformity in the methods used.

This regularity of attendance is far from being as high as is to be desired. Compulsory attendance laws do not seem to affect it to any appreciable extent, as it is somewhat higher in the South Central States, where there are no compulsory laws, than in the North Central States. It will probably depend for improvement upon a growing appreciation of the benefits of a public school education.

Such as it is at present, however, it is far in advance of any former period, and the progress it has made in the last semi-decade is especially noteworthy. This virtually uninterrupted growth in the regularity of school attendance will become very apparent from an inspection of the following tabular statement:

Ratio of average daily attendance to enrolment at various periods since 1871-72; computed from the Annual Reports of the Bureau of Education.

The tendency suggested by the above figures is unmistakable; they show conclusively the steady growth of a sentiment in favor of popular education-a growth not confined to any one part of the country, but extending throughout its length and breadth.

This remark will be seen to possess greater force when it is considered that there has been an increase in the proportion of children enrolled as pupils, as well as an increase in the proportion of the number enrolled who attend regularly (see Table 3).

Average number of pupils to a teacher.—This (as given in Column 8) may be said to be a measure of the sufficiency of the teaching force. It is only given for those States that report the number of teachers' places; and as that highly important item is reported from only a few States, the column is mostly blank.

As far as it is possible to ascertain, the number of pupils to a teacher is very nearly uniform in the different sections of the country, ranging from 23.59 in the Western Division (founded on two States only) to 28.06 in the North Atlantic Division (founded on three States). The figures for the individual States, however, show great inequalities, enough so to throw some suspicion on the accuracy or uniformity of the returns.

TOTAL ATTENDANCE; DURATION OF SCHOOLS.

[Table 5, Page 64.]

The total number of days attended is reported by but thirteen States. This quantity is so important for statistical purposes, however, and withal so simple and easy to obtain, that it has been deemed best to retain it in the tables, in the hope that it will come to be more generally reported.

It should be obtained by aggregating, or summing up, all the days attended in all the schools as shown by the school registers, and by no other method.

Comparative amount of schooling given.-Column 3 shows how many days' attendance each child 6 to 14 years of age would have been able to obtain if the actual attendance had been divided up among such children equally. This quantity possesses greater significance, as a measure of the amount of schooling given in a community, than perhaps any other single one that can be deduced from the data supplied to the Bureau. The results are comparative merely; any other minor age might have been selected, with the result of giving another series of numbers of virtually the same relative values.

It will be seen from this table that, so far as reported, the greatest relative amount of schooling was given in Massachusetts-enough, in fact, to provide each child six to fourteen years of age, with 194.79 days, or 9.74 months of twenty days each. From this the numbers range down to 39.51 days, given in Alabama, about one-fifth of that given in Massachusetts.

The summary of Column 3 by geographical divisions exhibits vividly the disparity in the amount of schooling given in the different sections of the country. The statistics given in Tables 3 and 4 related only to the number of pupils going to school, without regard to the length of time they went; the inequality under those circumstances was considerable, but still within bounds. It is when the element of time is introduced, and the whole school population brought into consideration, that the disparity between the sections is brought into strong relief.

Actual average amount of schooling given to each pupil enrolled.-Column 4 furnishes an entirely different set of numbers. Only the pupils on the school registers are taken into account, and the number of days each one on an average attended is shown. This quantity is of inferior significance to that contained in Column 3 or that in Column 5; but as it may be found useful to know in certain inquiries, it has been computed and tabulated here.

Average duration of attendance.-This quantity, given in Column 5, gives the average length of session of the schools in days, when to each school is given a weight proportioned to its average daily attendance. This is manifestly the proper basis upon which to compute the average number of days the schools were in session during the year. school with ten times the average attendance of another school should count for ten times as much.

A

The average duration of schools in days," tabulated in Column 6, is presumed to give the simple mean of the number of days of session of the different schools, regarding all the schools as equal units. This quantity is of no practical use, or would be of none, if the material existed for computing Column 5. It is less than that contained in Column 5, since the larger city schools with their greater number of days of session are not given their proper weight.

In the case of some States the numbers tabulated in Columns 5 and 6 are equal. This shows that in these States the average duration of schools in days (Column 6) has been derived from the average daily attendance or total attendance (Column 2), or vice versa, while in other States these quantities have been computed independently of each other.

This want of uniformity should be noted for the purpose of guarding against it. The quantities contained in Columns 2 and 6 are independent of each other, and each should be derived as previously stated.

The average duration of attendance, then, it may be repeated, is the average number of days the schools were in session, giving to each school a weight proportioned to its size (or number of pupils), and is found by dividing the total number of days' attendance by the average daily attendance.

The greatest duration of attendance, 189.62 days, is found in the North Atlantic Division, the least 94.23 days, in the South Central Division, so far as can be ascertained. Increase in the duration of schools. Of the States which furnish data for tabulating the change in the duration of schools, 18 show an increase, 8 a decrease, and 3 no change from the previous year. This indicates a decided balance in favor of more days of schooling in a year, but no estimate has been made of the extent of this change. Whatever it Hay be, however, taken into consideration with the increased regularity of attendance previously set forth, it shows a condition of affairs full of promise as regards the number of days' schooling given to each pupil.

It is hoped in the next Report of this Office to give more definite information regarding the increase over previous years in the duration of schools.