d These statistics are for white schools only; for those in which colored schools are included, see Table I of appendix. e Includes proportion paid to colored schools. TABLE II.-Average expenses per capita of daily average attendance, &c.- Continued. Table II presents the statistics of 251 cities, as against 244 in 1880. Their school population is above 17 per cent. of the whole school population of the country, enrolment above 17 per cent. of the total enrolment, and average daily attendance, exclusive of private schools, 26 per cent. of that reported for the entire country. The relative importance of the school interests of these cities is more plainly indicated by the financial statistics. Their annual school income is about 33 per cent. of that reported for the whole country, the expenditure 32 per cent. of the total expenditure, and the value of school property 49 per cent. of the total valuation. Cities. The school system is well organized in the majority of the cities and upon essentially the same plan. The general management is in charge of a board of education; the practical administration is intrusted to a superintendent, who is a salaried officer. Since the creation of this office and its general adoption the schools of the different cities have been brought into remarkable agreement as respects gradation, courses of study, and standards and methods of examination; instruction has greatly improved; and school funds have been used with more economy and better returns for the outlay. The following are the chief matters now demanding attention: (1) The increase of school accommodation; (2) the control of truants and absentees; (3) adaptation of studies and methods; (4) the conditions affecting the health of pupils, viz, the construction and sanitary arrangement of school buildings, physical training, and amount and continuity of intellectual effort. SCHOOL ACCOMMODATION. A careful study of Table II, appendix, will show that in a large proportion of the cities, especially in the Northern States, school accommodation is kept well up to the demand. Deficiency in this respect in southern cities arises from lack of funds and from the fact that the establishment of public schools is so recent. Where such deficiency exists in the northern cities it is due to the rapid increase of population and is complicated with the problems of immigration, pauperism, and the labor of children. Hon. Stephen A. Walker, president of the board of education of New York City, reports 9,189 children turned away during the year from lack of accommodation. No definite statements of this kind have been received from other cities, but New York is not alone in the experience. Chicago has established "double divisions" to meet the pressure, and reports 6,668 half time pupils for the current year. Other cities have adopted the same expedient. The following statistics show the status of four of the largest cities of the United States with reference to elementary school provision: It will be seen that Boston is the only one of the four in which the number of sittings is very nearly equal to the school population. The school age in this city includes only the ordinary period of school attendance, viz, 5-15 years; 2,294 pupils above 15 years of age are reported in attendance and 42 below 5 years of age, or a total of 2,336, which would make very little difference in the estimates. The ratio of school population in Boston to total population is 168 to 1,000. Estimated by this ratio the school population of the other cities under consideration would be as follows: New York, 202,643; Brooklyn, 95,199; and Chicago, 84, 535. By comparing these figures with the respective number of sittings it appears that for the accommodation of the estimated number of children New York would require 52, 159 additional sittings; Brooklyn, 33, 291; Chicago, 34, 232; whereas the sittings in Boston are only 4,879 less than the school population. Again, Boston is the only one of the four cities in which the enrolment is less than the accommodation, while at the same time the attendance upon private schools is very small. In other words, the problem of school accommodation appears to have been solved by the public schools of that city. The school committee report 40 per cent. of school childen in the primary schools, a number about equal to the total of children from 5 to 8 years of age inclusive, which is the ordinary period of primary school attendance. They report 54 per cent. in grammar and high schools. It must be remembered that these gratifying results have been accomplished in a city affected by emigration and the conditions which lead to the early employment of children, but they have not been accomplished without the liberal use of funds. From the report of the committee previously mentioned it appears that the average expenditure upon a primary scholar in Boston is $18.45; upon a grammar scholar, $28.20; and upon a pupil of the high and normal schools, $87.42. The matter of school accommodation will not be satisfactorily adjusted until, in addition to overcoming the existing deficiency, measures are devised for anticipating the growth of population. Upon this point the record of the school board for London is full of suggestion. In the organization of the London board the work under consideration is assigned to the statistical committee, which is directed to ascertain the number of children of school age in a given area, the number of school places already provided, and—after making the necessary deductions for illness and other causes-to recommend to the board the new schools that it may be necessary to provide for the balance. In reviewing the work of this committee for the year the chairman of the board, Mr. Edward North Buxton said: Looking at the extraordinarily rapid growth in some of these parishes, which is as certain to continue as the sun is to rise in the morning, the question arises whether we are always justified in waiting till the children are on the ground before providing for them, and whether we should not look a little more forward than we have been in the habit of doing in the purchase of sites and building of schools. Not only will it be an economical measure to anticipate by a year or two the arrival of the population, because the sites may be so much more cheaply purchased, but when we remember that an interval of two years elapses from the first recommendation of a school by the statistical committee to its opening, and that the numbers are in the meanwhile in many districts increasing annually with rapid strides, it is clear that large numbers of children will be left for a time without schooling, unless we have regard, not to the present population, but to that which we may predict with certainty will be the population two years hence. Probably it may be well to tabulate the annual rate of increase in each registration district, and have them before us in considering the accommodation needed. I commend this matter to the statistical committee. SCHOOL ATTENDANCE. The legal school age in cities is determined by State laws; the great diversity in this respect, there being no less than 16 different ages, makes it difficult to estimate the comparative status of the cities as indicated by the reported enrolment in the schools. The lowest limit of the school ages is 4 years, the highest 21, and the average duration of the period 12.7 years. In the majority of civilized countries the period extends from 6 to 13 or 14 years, 16 years of age being the extreme limit outside of the United States. A large enrolment above and below these limits is not to be expected, and all estimates of non-attendance founded upon the difference between the population of legal school age as established in the several States and enrolment or average attendance must necessarily be misleading. By agreement with the superintendents the inquiries sent out from this Office have been shaped with the purpose of ascertaining if possible the ratio of school attendance for the ages from 6 to 16. Only 47 cities are able to supply the necessary data. The number is too small to justify generalizations, but the general bearing of the information is significant. It is sufficiently indicated by the following statement, comprising the returns from eight cities: |