The Pittsburgh Press (August 28, 1941)
Background of news –
SCHOOL ENROLLMENTS
By editorial research reports
Next month, more than 31.5 million young Americans will enroll in kindergartens, schools and colleges. Total enrollments for the 1941-42 school year will be about 160,000 below last year. This decrease represents a continuation of a trend begun some seven years when the nation’s declining birth rate began to be reflected in total school enrollments.
Changes in the birth rate first affect enrollments in the elementary grades. These started to decline in 1930, but continued increases in high school enrollments more than offset the declines in the elementary grades until 1934. This year, elementary enrollments will drop about 210,000.
Educational statisticians, a few years ago, predicted that high school enrollments would have begun to decline before now. This has not occurred, and high school enrollments are expected to increase this year by about 100,000 over last year.
Statisticians have offered several explanations for their error in predicting the trend of high school enrollments. Until recently, fewer jobs were available for young people than the statisticians expected, and many students who would ordinarily have dropped out to accept employment stayed in school. Emphasis on giving available jobs to older workers, and the raising of compulsory school attendance ages in several states have also been factors. Changing of the high school curriculum to emphasize vocational training and guidance rather than preparation for college has held many students. Federal financial assistance through the National Youth Administration has enabled many students to remain in school instead of going to work. While there may be many jobs available now, it is believed that more young people will seek vocational training at the high school level to prepare them for skilled jobs than will drop out of high school to accept employment this year.
The following table summarizes estimated enrollments at all levels for the coming school year:
School enrollments 1941-42
| Elementary* | 20,707,000 |
| Secondary (high school) | 7,334,000 |
| Higher education (college) | 1,450,000 |
| Nurse training | 100,000 |
| Business college | 75,000 |
| — | — |
| TOTAL: | 29,666,000 |
| — | — |
| Evening and part time | 1,850,000 |
| Miscellaneous schools, trade, etc. | 50,000 |
| — | — |
| TOTAL: | 31,566,000 |
*Includes 665,000 kindergarten pupils
The country schoolhouse is disappearing from the American scene, but not as fast as one might expect. In 1920, there were 190,000 one-teacher schools in operation. During the coming years, there will still be 115,000. Each consolidation made possible by improved roads, transportation, and school administration displaces an average of four small schools. During the coming year, 4,600,000 students will be transported to school at public expense. This is almost twice the number transported in 1932.