The Effect of Agricultural Employment upon School Attendance

Abstract

In the first burst of patriotism that swept the country in the spring of 1917 several of the state superintendents of education advised local officials to relax compulsory-attendance regulations in order that school children might be released for work on the farms. In some states, as in Kansas, certain requirements were established: that a boy should have a physician's certificate of physical fitness, a letter from his employer stating the wages and the kind of work required, a passing grade which could not be known until three or four weeks before the close of school, and that he should make reports to the superintendent while at work. It is believed by the superintendent that these requirements reduced very greatly the number of boys who would otherwise have left. In Missouri the state superintendent specified, further, an age limit of fourteen years. Full credit for a year's work at the present standard was to be given. In Illinois the state superintendent specified that boys excused must be over fourteen and were not to be excused until May i. No physical examination was required and no system of supervision was provided. In Indiana the appeal was made in behalf of the canning factories. The superintendent of public instruction said, Our canning factories, in the crisis through which we are passing, rank among our most valuable assets. In New Jersey the situation was somewhat better from the point of view of the child's welfare. The Junior Industrial Army was formed under the direction of the assistant superintendent of education and divided into the three branches of agriculture, home gardens, and girls' service. Boys of fourteen or over who had their parents' consent and were in good physical condition were permitted to leave school and enlist in the agricultural branch.