A few
pupils will elect to 'skip' the regular term examination, and then
repeat the work of that semester, but no failures are recorded in such
instances. Some teachers, when recording for their own subjects, prefer
to indicate a failure by a dash mark or by a blank space until after
the subject is satisfied later, and the passing mark is then filled in.
One school indicates failure entirely by a short dash in the space
provided, and then at times there occurs the 'cond' (conditioned) in
pencil, apparently to avoid the classification as a failure by the
usual sign. One finds some instances of a '?' or an 'inc' (incomplete)
as a substitute for a mark of failure. Again, where there is no
indication of failure recorded, the dates accompanying the grades for
the subjects may tell the tale that two semesters were required to
complete one semester's work in a subject. Some of these situations
were easily discernible, and the indisputable failures treated as such
in the succeeding tabulations; but in many instances this was not
possible, and partial statement of these cases is all that is
attempted.
How far these selected schools, their pupils, and the facts relating to
them are representative or typical of the schools, the pupils, and the
same facts for the states of New Jersey and New York, cannot be
definitely known from the information that is now available. It seems
indisputable, however, that the schools concerned in this study are at
least among the better schools of these two states.
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