ing the grades for
the subjects may tell the tale that two semesters were required to
complete one semester's work in a subject. Some of these situations
were easily discernible, and the indisputable failures treated as such
in the succeeding tabulations; but in many instances this was not
possible, and partial statement of these cases is all that is
attempted.

How far these selected schools, their pupils, and the facts relating to
them are representative or typical of the schools, the pupils, and the
same facts for the states of New Jersey and New York, cannot be
definitely known from the information that is now available. It seems
indisputable, however, that the schools concerned in this study are at
least among the better schools of these two states. If we may feel
assured that the 6,141 pupils here included are fairly and generally
representative of the facts for the eight schools to which they belong
and which had an enrollment of 14,620 pupils in 1916; and if we are
justified in classing these schools as averaging above the median rank
of the schools for these states, then the statistical facts presented
in the following pages may seem to be a rather moderate statement
regarding the failures of high school pupils for the states referred
to. It must be noted in this connection, however, that it is not
unlikely that such schools, with their adequate records, will have the
facts concerning failure more certainly recorded than will those whose
records are incomplete, neglected, or poorly systematized.

A partial comparison of the teachers is possible between the schools
represented here and those of New York and New Jersey. More than four
hundred teachers comprised the teaching staff for the 6,141 pupils of
the eight schools reported here. Of these about 40 per cent were men,
while the percentage of men of all high school teachers in New Jersey
and New York[4] was about 38 for the year 1916. The men in these
schools comprised 50 per cent of the teachers in the subjects which
prove most difficult by producing the most failures, and they were more
frequently found teaching in the advanced years of these subjects. It
is not assumed here that men are superior as high school teachers, but
the endeavor is rather to show that the teaching force was by its
constitution not unrepresentative. It may be added here that few high
schools anywhere have a more highly selected and better paid staff of
teachers than are found in th