Private and Church Controlled Education

Abstract

Data from the Biennial Survey of Education in the United States (54) indicate that in 1934 there were 7,745 private elementary schools in the United States. The total enrolment in such schools was 1,762,428 pupils, distributed as follows: Roman Catholic, 1,630,120; Lutheran, 67,124; nonsectarian, 42,824; Episcopal, 4,730; Friends, 3,565; Seventh-Day Adventist, 3,166; Presbyterian, 2,837; the remainder were divided among the numerous other protestant denominations. From these data it is apparent that over 90 percent of the enrolment in all private elementary schools is in the Catholic schools and approximately 4 percent is in the Lutheran. The nonsectarian private schools enrol slightly less than 3 percent of the elementary children educated in nonstate schools. The Biennial Survey of Education (54) also revealed that there were approximately 2,635 private secondary schools in the United States with an enrolment of about 276,000 students. The distribution of enrolments is as follows: Roman Catholic, 197,712; nonsectarian, 50,564; Episcopal, 6,903; Presbyterian, 4,543; and Lutheran, 2,081. Approximately 72 percent of this enrolment is in Catholic schools and a little over 1 percent is in the Lutheran. The number of secondary-school students in private nonsectarian schools is about 18 percent of the total secondary-school enrolment in private schools. Cronin and Donohue (52) made a study of schools that are of a combined parochial and public nature. Their study revealed that in 1937 there were 340 elementary and secondary schools in the United States which could be classified as Catholic public schools. The majority of these were of the elementary-school type and the total enrolment was approximately 18,476 pupils. The range in enrolment per school was from 10 to 791. One of these schools had been in existence since the year 1834. Of the 632 teachers employed in the schools studied by Cronin and Donohue, 102 were lay persons and 530 were members of religious orders.