11 102 320 309 186 56 9 4 4
1575 G. 3 133 522 545 256 73 29 7 6
% of -----------------
Entrants 58.0 50.0 43.4 40.0 39.8 37.7 55.0
Here is definite evidence that the pupils of the earlier entering ages
are less likely to fail in any of their school subjects than are the
older ones. Those entering at ages 12 or 13 escape school failures
altogether for 50 per cent or more of their numbers. Those entering at
age 14 are somewhat less successful but still seem superior to those
of later entrance ages. It is encouraging, then, that these three ages
of entrance include nearly 40 per cent of the 6,141 pupils. There is,
of course, nothing in this situation to justify any deduction of the
sort that pupils entering at the age of 17 would have been more
successful had they been sent to high school earlier, except that had
they been able to enter high school earlier they would have represented
a different selection of ability by that fact alone. There is also a
sort of selection operative for the pupils entering at ages 18, 19, or
20, which tends to account at least partly for the rise in the
percentage of the non-failing for these years. It is safe to believe
that for the most part only the more able, ambitious, and purposeful
individuals are likely to display the energy required or to discern the
need of their entering high school when they have reached the age of 18
or later.
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