the belief that the recorded
success in Regents' examinations may sometimes be artificially high,
due to the subtle influences at work to make it so. In New York City
absence is the sole condition for debarring any pupil, since he must
have pursued a subject the prescribed time. Such a ruling is highly
commendable, and it should not in fairness to the pupil be otherwise
anywhere in the state. The following distribution discloses that 72.8
per cent of the 3,085 failing pupils who were recorded as taking the
Regents' examinations were successful, and that 78 per cent of those
succeeding passed in the same semester in which the school failure
occurred.

SUCCESS OF THE FAILING PUPILS IN THE REGENTS' EXAMINATIONS

Pass the Pass a Fail First,
Same Semester Later Semester then Pass Only Fail

1333 Boys 809 143 38 343
1752 Girls 946 193 117 496
------------------------------------------
Per Cent of Total 72.8 27.2

The divisions of the above distribution are distinct, with no
overlapping or double counting. Of the pupils who pass these
examinations in a later semester than that in which the failure occurs,
a major part belong to the two schools which restrict their pupils
mainly to a repetition of the subject after failing before they attempt
the Regents' tests. Otherwise many of them would pass the Regents'
examinations at once, as in the other schools, and would not need to
repeat the subject. It was pointed out in the initial part of this
chapter that 3.2 per cent of the instances of failure were followed by
both repetition and examination. In one of the two schools referred to
90.8 per cent of the pupils failing and later taking Regents'
examinations repeat the subject first. That most of such repetition is
almost entirely needless is suggested by the fact that only 2.1 per
cent more of their pupils pass, of the ones attempting, than of the
total number reported above, and that too in spite of the loss of
pupils' time and public money by such repetition. It may be, and
doubtless is, true that an occasional omission occurs in recording the
results after such tests have been taken, but, since it is the avowed
policy of each school to have complete records for their own constant
reference (excepting t