THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

The public school system in 1915 enrolled approximately 82,000 children of all ages, of whom about half were boys and half girls.  They are taught in 98 elementary schools and 10 high schools.  The elementary course comprises eight grades.  At the beginning of the school year 1915-16 two junior high schools were opened for pupils of the seventh and eighth grades.  It is to be expected that this plan will soon be extended throughout the city, so that the enrollment in elementary schools will be made up of pupils of the first six grades only.  The distribution by grade is given in Table 3.  The kindergarten grades and the special ungraded classes are omitted.

TABLE 3.—­PUPILS ENROLLED IN THE DIFFERENT GRADES OF THE PUBLIC DAY SCHOOLS IN JUNE, 1915

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Grade      |        Pupils
-------------------+--------------------
1        |        13,108
2        |        10,857
3        |        10,562
4        |         9,323
5        |         8,902
6        |         7,259
7        |         6,429
8        |         4,903
|
I        |         3,122
II        |         2,100
III        |         1,534
IV        |         1,399
-------------------+--------------------

About 77 per cent of the children are enrolled in the grades below the seventh, about 13 per cent in the seventh and eighth grades, a little over six per cent in the first two years of the high school, and less than three and one-half per cent in the third and fourth.

There are eight academic high schools, two technical high schools, and two commercial high schools.  The technical high schools are steadily growing in favor.  The registration of boys in these schools increased about 33 per cent from 1913 to 1915, and of girls about 77 per cent.  During the same period the registration of boys in the academic high schools decreased slightly, while the increase of girl students was only eight per cent; in the commercial high schools the number of girl students increased 20 per cent, while the enrollment of boys fell off more than 10 per cent.  The enrollment by individual schools is shown in Table 4.

TABLE 4.—­ENROLLMENT OF HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS, SECOND SEMESTER, 1914-1915

----------------------------------+--------------------

---------+
|         Enrollment          |
Schools                          +---------+---------+---------+
|   Boys  |  Girls  |  Total  |
----------------------------------+---------+---------+-----

----+
|         |         |         |
Academic high schools            |         |         |         |
Central                        |   804   |   711   |  1,515  |
East                           |   607   |   688   |  1,295  |
Glenville                      |   405   |   611   |  1,016  |
West                           |   246   |   377   |    623  |