Comparative scholarship in elementary schools.—Negro children are reported to be slower than the Jews, less responsive than the Bohemians, and more ambitious than the Italians. A manual-training and domestic-arts teacher thought Negroes did as good work as the Jews, Bohemians, and white Americans whom he taught. A Latin teacher said that the Negroes were studious and ambitious, and that in every way she preferred them to the Jews.
Several teachers thought the Negroes were slow and lacked logic and "sticking qualities." An upper-grade teacher explained the slowness as partly due to the fact that they had been pushed out of the crowded lower grades before they were ready for more advanced work. A physics teacher who was convinced that Negro children had no ambition said it was his policy to promote a Negro child if the child had made the effort, because he appreciated that the child had come "to the limit of his mental ability."
The principal who said that Negroes had no "sticking qualities" gave a single instance of a boy who wanted to become a mechanical engineer but gave up the course after five months, because he said he did not care enough about the course to work at it for several years. In endeavoring to prove that Negro children are not successful in completing high-school work, this principal emphasized the fact that in the 3-B class 20 per cent of the Negroes dropped out as compared with 6 per cent of the whites. In actual numbers three Negroes and two whites dropped out. He did not mention that in the 2-A class 12 per cent of the whites (sixteen children) as compared with 3 per cent of the Negroes (three children) dropped out. In the 4-B grade 21 per cent of the whites (three children) and none of the Negroes dropped out. The fact that 21 per cent of the whites dropped out was explained by the principal to be due to the fact that the white children wished to graduate from a high school wholly white. However, only three children were involved.
Attendance and failures.—Table XVI shows the record for attendance and failures in three groups of schools attended mainly by Negroes, by children of immigrants and by white Americans. It will be noticed that the best attendance records are found in Douglas and Farren schools, both mainly attended by Negroes. The other schools, attended mainly by Negroes, compare favorably with those attended by whites.
The smallest percentage of failures is at Colman (92 per cent), while the next to the largest percentage is also at a school attended mainly by Negroes (Raymond, 93 per cent). This may be explained to a certain extent by the fact that there is a higher economic class of Negroes in the neighborhood of the Colman School. In the other schools the percentage of failures compares very favorably with that of whites.
| School | Enrolment | Average Attendance | Percentage of Attendance | Number of Failures | Percentage of Failures |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attended mainly by Negroes: | |||||
| Colman, 92 per cent | 964 | 709 | 73 | 13 | 1.8 |
| Doolittle, 85 per cent | 1,784 | 1,282 | 72 | 77 | 6.0 |
| Douglas, 93 per cent | 1,443 | 1,341 | 93 | — | —- |
| Farren, 92 per cent | 986 | 924 | 93 | 83 | 8.9 |
| Forrestville, 38 per cent | 1,493 | 1,085 | 73 | 130 | 12.0 |
| Haven, 20 per cent | 1,165 | 700 | 60 | 24 | 3.4 |
| McCosh, 15 per cent | 1,280 | 1,017 | 79 | — | —- |
| Moseley, 70 per cent | 923 | 605 | 66 | 81 | 13.3 |
| Raymond, 93 per cent | 1,532 | 1,299 | 85 | 200 | 15.4 |
| Webster, 30 per cent | 805 | 654 | 81 | — | —- |
| Attended mainly by children of immigrants: | |||||
| Farragut | 1,729 | 1,502 | 86 | 107 | 7.0 |
| Goodrich | 1,305 | 1,039 | 78 | 121 | 11.6 |
| Kosciusko | 1,134 | 775 | 68 | 33 | 4.2 |
| Lawson | 3,069 | 2,545 | 83 | 292 | 11.5 |
| McCormick | 1,432 | 1,266 | 88 | 204 | 16.1 |
| Seward | 1,058 | 708 | 67 | 43 | 5.9 |
| Smyth | 1,106 | 860 | 77 | 69 | 8.0 |
| Swing | 810 | 629 | 77 | 99 | 15.8 |
| Attended mainly by white Americans: | |||||
| Fiske | 1,535 | 1,272 | 83 | 45 | 3.5 |
| Howland | 2,161 | 1,809 | 84 | 100 | 5.0 |
C. CONTACTS IN RECREATION
In studying contacts between the races at places of recreation a survey was made of the various recreational facilities maintained by the Municipal Bureau of Parks, Playgrounds, and Bathing Beaches, the South Park Commission, the West Chicago Park Commission, and the Lincoln Park Commission. Recreational facilities maintained by twelve park boards which control smaller areas in outlying parts of the city were not included in the survey unless they were in or near Negro areas. Visits were made by the Commission's investigator to places in or bordering on the Negro areas at a time of day when the use of the park would be greatest; the director or one of his assistants was interviewed and observations were made as to the relations between Negroes and whites.
The information thus gathered was supplemented by a conference held by the Commission, at which representatives of the various park boards discussed policies and experiences with reference to race relations in the various recreation places under their charge.