Semesters 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

  Per Cent 34.2 37.3 38.5 40.2 38.2 37.1 30.0 24.0

There is no difficulty in grasping the simple and definite significance of these figures, for they tell us that the percentage of pupils failing increases for the first four semesters, slightly declines for two semesters, with a greater decline for two more semesters.  These percentages of failures are based on the number of pupils enrolled at the beginning of the semester, and are accordingly lower than the facts would really warrant since that number is in each case considerably reduced by the end of the same semester.

3.  The distribution of failures

That the failures are widely distributed by semesters, by ages, and for both boys and girls, is shown in Table I.

Table I

The distribution of failures according to the age and the semester
of their occurrence[A]

SEMES-                          ages                      UNDISTRIB-
TERS  12  13   14    15    16    17    18   19   20  21  22 UTED  totals

1 B. 0 20 321 650 575 167 34 16 2 .. .. 10 1795
G. 1 19 356 813 611 236 67 3 0 .. .. 13 2119
3914
2 B. .. 2 95 423 534 256 57 27 4 .. .. 5 1403
G. .. 6 99 483 589 280 91 5 0 .. .. 7 1560
2963
3 B. .. 0 17 267 443 363 96 22 5 0 .. 2 1215
G. .. 1 28 318 548 317 99 15 0 2 .. 1 1329
2544
4 B. .. .. 5 101 437 403 169 32 7 2 .. 5 1161
G. .. .. 4 102 475 425 160 39 6 2 .. 6 1219
2380
5 B. .. .. 1 19 195 377 214 61 13 3 .. 6 889
G. .. .. 0 15 277 438 212 60 15 0 .. 3 1020
1909
6 B. .. .. .. 4 70 322 326 99 33 3 .. 6 863
G. .. .. .. 9 117 407 349 78 33 4 .. 3 1000
1863
7 B. .. .. 1 0 17 155 227 106 16 4 1 4 531
G. .. .. 0 2 14 200 299 127 38 0 0 3 683
1214
8 B. .. .. .. .. 0 42 173 109 49 2 .. 5 380
G. .. .. .. .. 2 58 244 140 49 10 .. 3 506
886
9 B. .. .. .. .. .. 0 31 32 18 1 .. .. 82
G. .. .. .. .. .. 4 39 67 31 5 .. .. 146
228
10 B. .. .. .. .. .. .. 1 16 9 3 0 .. 29
G. .. .. .. .. .. .. 3 13 10 3 1 .. 30
59
Summary
B. 0 22 440 1464 2271 2085 1328 520 156 18 1 43 8348
G. 1 26 487 1742 2633 2365 1563 547 182 26 1 39 9612
17,960