ngle semester. One cannot avoid feeling
that a statement of facts for so limited a period may or may not be
dependable and representative for all periods. The percentages for
Paterson[10] are reported for about 4,000 pupils, in all classes, for
two successive semesters, and are based on the number examined. For
Denver,[11] the records are reported for 4,120 pupils, and cover a
two-year period. The percentages for Butte[12] are based on the records
for 3,110 pupils, for one school semester. The figures reported by
Rounds and Kingsbury[13] are for only two subjects, but for forty-six
widely separated high schools, whose enrollment for these two subjects
was 57,680.

PERCENTAGES OF FAILURE BY SUBJECTS--QUOTED FOR OTHER SCHOOLS

Math. Latin Ger. Fren. Eng. Hist. Sci. Bus.
Subj's.

13 N.J. H.S.'s. 20.0 18.0 16.0 .. 14.0 11.0 .. 11.5
St. Paul 21.8 13.6 14.3 17.0 10.0 10.9 7.3 11.7
St. Louis 18.0 [-------16------] 13.0 7.0 19.0 ..
Paterson 23.1 21.6 23.4 .. 12.2 13.9 18.3 8.5
Denver 24.0 21.0 12.0 .. 11.7 11.0 17.0 11.0
Butte 18.6 25.0 24.0 32.6 5.4 7.0 13.0 8.4
R and K 24.7 .. .. .. 18.5 .. .. ..
Our 8 H.S.'s 16.0 18.7 13.5 11.6 8.2 10.4 9.8 8.0

In some schools the reports were not available for all subjects. It is
not at all probable, so far as information could be obtained, that the
failures of the drop-out pupils for any of the schools were included in
the percentages as reported above, or that the percentages are based on
the total number in the given subjects, with the exception of one
school. Moreover, it is certain for at least some of the schools that
neither the failures of the drop-outs nor the pupils who were in the
class for less than a whole semester were considered in the percentages
above. So far, however, as these comparisons may be justified, the
suggestion made in Chapter I that the schools included in this study
are doubtless a superior group with respect to failures appears to be
strengthened by the comparisons made above.

It becomes more apparent, as we attempt to offer a statement of
failures as taken from the various reports, that they are not truly
comparable. The bases of such percentages are not at all u