Tendencies in Secondary Education in the Middle West

Abstract

Secondary education in the Middle West, as elsewhere, has assumed an unusual degree of importance within recent years. Within the last decade the increase in enrolment in the North Central and Western territory has been 79 per cent, as compared with an increase of 74 per cent in the North Atlantic states.' A slightly larger proportion of the total population is enrolled in schools in the North Central and Western territory than is enrolled in the North Atlantic states. The figures for the North Central states are I9.3 per cent, for the Western states I7.4 per cent, and for the North Atlantic states I6.3I. Not only is there a larger percentage of the total population enrolled in school, but a larger percentage of the school population is in attendance. The figures for the North Central states are 76. 17 per cent, for the Western states 8i. 09 per cent, and for the North Atlantic states 68.50 per cent. The question arises whether or not a larger proportion of the students are in secondary schools in one part of the country than in others. In answer to this it may be said that 8 per cent of the total school enrolment is in the high school in the North Central territory, io per cent in the Western territory, and 8 per cent in the North Atlantic territory. In general it may be said that there are but slight differences in the degree of growth in secondary education in the North Atlantic states, the North Central states, and the Western states. Such slight differences as may be found are almost uniformly to the advantage of the North Central or Western states. However, the same forces that have been operative in the expansion of