The percentages of the failing pupils who graduate and of the non-failing pupils who graduate are identical (31.5 per cent); hence, graduation is not perceptibly conditioned by the occurrence of failure.
The non-failing non-graduates do not persist long in school, as compared with the failing non-graduates. The short persistence partly accounts for their avoidance of failure.
As the number of failures per pupil increase for the failing graduates, the time extension is not commensurate with the number of failures.
For 11.5 per cent of the non-graduates who fail in 50 per cent or more of their work, failure is probably a chief cause of dropping out.
Failure is probably not a prime cause of dropping out for most of the non-graduates, as 80 per cent have only 5 failures or fewer.
The worst consequences of failure are perhaps in acquiring the habit of failing, and in coming to accept one's self as a failure. The number of drop-outs does not tend to increase as the number of failures per pupil increases.
The time period for graduating ranges from three to six years, with approximately 79 per cent of all graduates finishing in four years or less. The failing graduates take, on the average, a little longer time than the non-failing, but not an increase that is proportionate to the number of failures.
The boys and girls present no striking differences in the facts of [Chapter IV].
REFERENCES:
[33a,] [33b.] Wooley, H.T. "Facts About the Working Children of Cincinnati," Elementary School Teacher, Vol. XIV, 135.