TABLE 8.-Aggregate number of days schooling given to all pupils, compared with the population 5 to 18 and with the enrollment.-Length of school term.

e Rough estimate of State Superintendent Russell for 1889-90. A later estimate by Superintendent Sheats, received too late to incorporate in the tables, places the present school term of Florida at 100

days.

LENGTH OF SCHOOL TERM, ETC.

The average school term of the United States in 1891-'92 was 137·1 days, as against 130-3 in 1879-'80, and 134-7 in 1889-'90. There has thus been an increase of 6-8 days in 12 years.

The length in days of the school term of each State in 1891-'92 is given in Column 5 of Table 8, and the same is also shown graphically in Diagram 6, where the several States are arranged according to their length of school term.

It will be noticed that New Jersey has the longest school term, viz, 190 days, while North Carolina has the shortest, 62-4 days, or somewhat less than a third of that of New Jersey.

Whole amount of instruction given. - The total number of days attended by all pupils, or, what is the same thing, the total number of days schooling given, in 1891-'92 was 1,172,261,842, which allows an average of 61.1 days for every child 5 to 18 years of age. (Columns 7 and 8 of Table 8.)

This average number of days schooling given for every child 5 to 18 years of age is in fact the result of a comparison of the amount of instruction given with the number of children of school age, and is the best single quantity for determining the extent and prevalence of school education in one community as compared with another. A State may have a good attendance at school, but only for a brief period; or, on the other hand, it may have a long school term but comparatively few pupils in attendance. The quantity under consideration takes into account both the attendance of pupils and the length of school term, and compares the total amount of instruction given with total number of children who are subjects for instruction.

In Column 8 of Table 8, and in Diagram 7 (p. 50), is shown this average number of days schooling given for every child of school age for each State. The order of States in Diagram 7 differs from that of either Diagram 5 or 6; in fact the former diagram is in a sense compounded of the two latter. Massachusetts stands at the head of Diagram 7, and so gives the most school instruction as compared with its school population, though it does not rank the highest in either number of pupils or length of school term taken singly. Where a State has both a low attendance (Table 7, Column 9) and a short school term it makes a very poor showing on Diagram 7, so that the contrasts exhibited in it are stronger than in either 5 or 6. Massachusetts, for instance, is seen to give more than four times as much school instruction as North Carolina, considering their relative numbers of children of school age, the numbers being 91-8 and 21-3 days, respectively, per child of school age. The summaries by divisions at the foot of Diagram 7 bring into sharp relief the small amount of school instruction in the South as a whole when considered in reference to the number of children of school ageabout one-half of what is given in the North and West. This is an unquestionable conclusion, despite inaccuracies here and there in the statistics.

DIAGRAM 6.-Average length of school term in days, in 1891-92. (See Table 8, Column 5.) NOTE. The school term of the States printed in italics is uncertain.

But there is another face to the matter. The South teems with children, but has comparatively few adults; conversely the North, and especially the far West, have few children and a large ratio of adults. (See Diagram 1, p. 32.) It is the male adults in general who provide and pay for the schools. It will be in order to inquire, then, What is the relation between the total amount of instruction given and the number of male adults? or, How many days' schooling does each male adult provide and pay for? The answer to this question is given in the following table:

Average number of days' schooling provided for by each male adult.

Here the South is well up to the North and considerably in advance of the West.

The facts in the case, then, may be summed up as follows: The average male adult in the South provides nearly as many days' schooling as in the North and more than in the West. But, on account of the excess of children in the South to be provided for and the few adults, the total amount of schooling provided is only sufficient to furnish each child in the South with about half as many days on the average as falls to the Northern or Western child.

Observations on ascertaining the average length of school term.-The aggregate number of days' attendance given in Table 8, when not reported direct by State superintendents, has been obtained by multiplying the average daily attendance of pupils by the average length of school term in days. Either of these three quantities is thus made a simple function of the other two, and can be readily obtained when the other two are given. This relation between these three quantities does not rigidly subsist in the statistical systems of some of the States, owing to the diverse methods of computing average attendance and average length of school term. It is believed, however, that it would conduce to the accuracy and uniformity of school statistics if such were the case.

A practical application is made of this principle in finding the average length of school term of a number of States, as recorded in the summaries of Column 5, where the aggregate attendance in days in each division and in the United States is divided by the corresponding average daily attendance to get the average length of school term in days of each group of States.

By this method the school term of each State in taking the average is in fact given a weight proportioned to the school attendance of the State, as should be done under a correct interpretation of the expression "average length of school term." The result might more properly be called "average length of attendance," which is essentially what it is desired to know.

ED 92-4

DIAGRAM 7.-Showing for 1891-92 the average number of days schooling given for every child 5 to 18 years of age; or the amount of instruction given (in days) compared with the school population. (See Table 8, Column 8.)

This diagram furnishes the best measure of the relative amount of school instruction given in each State, as compared with its school population. Both the number of pupils in attendance and the number of days they attended (length of school term) enter into it. The age period (5 to 18 years) is arbitrary, hence the absolute values (days) tabulated possess no special significance; if the amount of instruction had been compared with the population of 6 to 16 years, or 4 to 21 years, the resulting values would all have been raised or lowered in equal degree, without altering perceptibly their relative rank, which is what it is desired to ascertain. The diagram is not affected by errors of duplicate registration, but depends for its accuracy upon correct reports of average attendance and length of school term.