CHAPTER VIII. PUBLIC AND PRIVATE HIGH SCHOOLS. The progress in secondary education continues with increasing rapidity. The report for 1911-12 shows 1,075 more high schools and 131,501 more high-school students than the report for the previous year. The increase in the number of high schools for the year is only a little less than 9 per cent; the increase in the number of high-school students is more than 12 per cent. The increase in high-school students for the year is nearly 50 per cent more than the average increase for four years previous and more than four times as great as the average increase of the preceding 20 years. The proportion of highschool students to the scholastic population was about three times as great as in 1890. It is estimated that about 23 per cent of the children of this generation in the United States receive some education in the high schools. The increase in the number of high schools and of high-school students belongs both to the public and private schools, but has been greater for public than for private schools. Nearly 90 per cent of all high-school students are enrolled in public high schools. Not only do more boys and girls enter the high schools than in former years, but they also remain longer. The proportion of students in the fourth year of the high schools as compared with all high-school students was 8.3 per cent larger in 1912 than in 1907. More than 90 per cent of the high schools reporting are four-year schools. In no section of the country is the per cent of four-year schools less than 72. Public and private high schools since 1889–90. Relative progress of public and private high schools in 22 years. Public and private high-school students classified by year of course and sex. Schools Boys. Girls. Boys. Girls. Boys. Girls. Boys. Girls. Boys. Girls. 11,224 213, 852 247, 436 131, 263 168,041 85, 440 115,871 58, 493 84, 961 489,048 616, 312 1,900 21,653 23,919 16,619 18,473 12,941 14,394 10,567 12, 202 61,780 68,959 13,124 235,505 271,355 147,882 186, 514 98,381 130,265 69,060 97,166 550,823 685,300 Number and per cent of students in each year of high-school course. Number and per cent of students in each year of high-school course-Continued. 1 Ratio of enrollment to total public high-school enrollment. Distribution of public high schools with reference to length of course. TABLE 1.—Public high schools-Number of schools, secondary instructors, secondary students, and elementary pupils, 1911–12. United States.. North Atlantic Division.. North Atlantic Division: New Hampshire.. Massachusetts. Rhode Island. Connecticut. New York.. 11, 224 22,923 28,930 51,853 489, 048 616, 3121, 105, 360 5,721 10, 800 16,521 176, 774 2,319 5,877 8,677 14,554 153, 203 187, 230 340,433 798 1,481 2,279 23,111 459, 820 1,779 2,897 4,676 89,701 76, 177 1,349 2,902 4,251 28,595 114, 480 1,612 3, 288 4,900 26,413 114,450 183 232 415 40 8,954 11,747 6,621 65,712 6,788 8,153 66, 896 121,436 |