TABLE 65.-Percentages of schools in different groups controlling the financing of nonathletic interscholastic contests through various officers

Officers controlling funds required for nonathletic interscholastic contests. The officer in direct control of the financing of interscholastic nonathletic contests is seen in Table 65 to be the principal in almost a third of the schools. Other officers are utilized with varying degrees of frequency in most of the school groups. The schools with enrollments of 301-750 lead in control through the general activity treasurer, and the schools in the Middle Atlantic division lead in control through the school treasurer. The schools with enrollments of 101300 have the highest frequency in control through faculty committees, and the schools with enrollments of 301-750 lead in administration by faculty-pupil committees. The New England division leads all groups in the use of miscellaneous practices. A small percentage of the schools either had no funds for promoting interscholastic contests or failed to specify practices.

Accounting practices with respect to funds.-In accounting for funds used in the support of interscholastic nonathletic

activities, 65.2 per cent of the schools follow the practice of auditing the funds regularly and 17.1 per cent do not. Three and eight-tenths per cent of the schools reported no funds, 1.3 per cent reported that each pupil defrayed his own expenses, and 12.7 per cent did not specify a practice. The data presented in Table 66 show that the practice of regular auditing of funds is followed to the greatest extent in the schools of the Southern division, by the 6-year high schools, and by the small schools enrolling 100 or fewer pupils. The practice of regular auditing is least observed in the schools in the Middle Atlantic division, the junior high schools, and the large schools with enrollments in excess of 2,000 pupils.

TABLE 66.-Percentages of schools in different groups reporting various practices with respect to auditing of interscholastic funds

3. MEMBERSHIP OF SCHOOLS IN INTERSCHOLASTIC
ASSOCIATIONS

Schools holding and not holding membership in associations or leagues sponsoring interscholastic contests.-The adoption of a program of interscholastic activities by a secondary school necessitates the establishment of relations with other schools. This is facilitated through membership on the part of the school in interscholastic organizations or associations designed

to promote interscholastic contests among schools of similar interests and class or of convenient geographical location. Fully half of the 224 schools studied hold membership in associations or leagues designed to sponsor contests in interscholastic nonathletic activities. (Table 67.) The school groups which lead in holding such membership are the Middle Western and Southern divisions, the 6-year high schools, and the enrollment group 101-300. The New England and Middle Atlantic divisions, the junior high schools, and the large schools with enrollments of more than 2,000 are lowest in order of mention in percentage of schools not holding membership in interscholastic associations.

In the junior-senior and undivided 5-year or 6-year highschool types of schools the junior high school grades are allowed to participate in 56 per cent of the schools and are not allowed to participate in 24 per cent. In a few schools the ninth grade is allowed to participate, but not the seventh and eighth grades.

TABLE 67.-Percentages of schools in different groups holding and not holding membership in associations or leagues sponsoring interscholastic nonathletic contests

Types of associations favored by the schools for sponsoring nonathletic interscholastic contests.-The types of associations or leagues sponsoring interscholastic nonathletic contests in

TABLE 68.-Percentages of schools in different groups favoring membership in different types of nonathletic interscholastic associations

the different school groups are indicated in Table 68. The State type of association has the largest following in New England (probably due to size of States) where 100 per cent of the schools are members and the smallest following in the Middle Atlantic division where only 10 per cent are members. The district type of organization finds greatest favor with the large schools enrolling more than 2,000 pupils; the county organization, with the schools of the Middle Atlantic division (probably due to prominence of county civil organization); and the city organization, with the junior high schools. The combination of State and district association is favored most by the 6-year high schools and by the schools in the Southern division; the State and county combination, by the small schools with enrollments of 100 or fewer and by the 4-year high schools; the State, district, and county combination, by the junior high schools, the schools in the Western division, and the small schools with enrollments of 100 or fewer; and the combination of State, district, and city by the large schools with enrollments in excess of 750. The schools which lead in having membership in miscellaneous types of associ

ations are found in the Middle Atlantic division, the senior high school groups, and the large schools enrolling 750-2,000 and more than 2,000 pupils.

The advantage usually claimed for membership in an interscholastic association or league is the uniform requirements for participation exacted of all schools. About a fifth of the schools (19.5 per cent), however, desire to go beyond the general requirements of associations and add local requirements of a specific character. The requirements found to obtain in these schools were: Permission of parents, citizenship qualities, one year of residence, preliminary tryouts, and additional scholarship requirements. The fact that 73.2 per cent of the schools have no requirements in addition to those prescribed by the league or association in which membership is held reveals the dominance of practice with respect to requirements for participation in interscholastic nonathletic activities.

4. SCHOLARSHIP STANDARDS FOR PARTICIPANTS

Schools maintaining and not maintaining scholarship standards for participation.-In order to prevent pupils and schools from overemphasizing interscholastic activities the associations generally establish standards for participants in interscholastic contests based on attainments in the regular work of the school. Such standards are usually regarded as minimum in character, and may be increased by a local school if considered desirable. The extent to which participants in interscholastic nonathletic contests are held responsible for maintaining scholarship standards in their regular work is shown in Table 69. The percentage of schools maintaining scholastic standards for participation is 70.9, and the percentage not requiring such standards is 18.3. Considerable variation is found among the different school groups. For example, standards are required in less than half of the schools in the Middle Atlantic division and in more than threefourths of the schools in the Middle Western division, a difference of almost a third. In the enrollment groups a difference of 25.7 per cent is found, the lowest being 61.3 per cent for the schools with enrollments of 301-750 and the highest 87 per cent for schools enrolling 100 or fewer pupils.