(Pupils who registered but failed to take up school work were entirely
disregarded.) These individual records were classified into the failing
and the non-failing divisions, then into graduating and non-graduating
groups, with the boys and girls differentiated throughout. As fast as
the records were read and interpreted into the terms required they were
transcribed, with the pupils' names, by the author himself, to large
sheets (16x20) from which the tabulations were later made. There was
always an opportunity to ask questions and to make appeals for
information either to the principal himself or to the secretary in
charge of the records. This tended to reduce greatly the danger of
mistakes other than those of chance error. The task of transcribing the
data was both tedious and prolonged. This process alone required as
much as four weeks for each of the larger schools, and without the
continued and courteous cooperation of the principals and their
assistants it would have been altogether impossible in that time.
Some arbitrary decisions and classifications proved necessary in
reference to certain facts involved in the data employed in this study.
All statements of age will be understood as applying to within the
nearest half year; that is, fifteen years of age will mean within the
period from fourteen years and a half to fifteen years and a half. The
classification in the following pages by school years or semesters
(half-years) is dependent upon the time of entrance into school.
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