In a report concerning the
working children of Cincinnati, H.T. Wooley remarks[33] that
"two-thirds of our children leaving the public schools are the
failures." This seems to suppose failing a large cause of the dropping
out. But this investigation of failure indicates that the percentage of
failure for those leaving is no higher than for the ones who do not
leave. A similar illustration is credited to O.W. Caldwell[34], who
makes reference to the large percentage of the failing pupils who leave
high school, without taking any recognition of the equally large
percentage of the failing pupils who continue in the high school.
There is in no sense any intention here to condone the large number of
failures simply because it is pointed out that they do not operate
chiefly to cause elimination from school. The above facts may lead to
some such conviction as that expressed by Wooley,[33] after giving
especial attention to those who had left school, that "the real force
that is sending a majority of these children out into the industrial
field is their own desire to go to work, and behind this desire is
frequently the dissatisfaction with school." A somewhat similar
conviction seems to be shared by King,[35] in saying that "the pupil
who yields unwillingly to the narrow round of school tasks ... will
grasp at almost any pretext to quit school." W.F. Book tabulated the
reasons why pupils leave high school,[36] as given by 1,051 pupils.
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