The question has sometimes arisen whether it should not be made compulsory on parents to educate their children. The present is not the place to discuss that subject, but the following statistics will show to what extent the duty is neglected.
The United States Census for 1850 reports:
| Population of New York City | 515,547 | |
| Proportion of population between the ages of five and fifteen years | 101,006 | |
| Children attending school | 76,685 | |
| Percentage of children attending school | 75 9⁄10 |
The New York State Census for 1855 reports:
| Population of New York City | 629,904 | |
| Proportion of population between the ages of five and fifteen years | 116,627 |
No returns are made of the numbers attending schools, and these must be sought from other sources. The report of the Board of Education for 1856 states the average daily attendance at the ward or public schools to be 44,598. The same document gives data from which the attendance at religious, corporate, or other public schools can be calculated, but says nothing of private schools. An approximate estimate of the latter can, however, be made with the help of the United States Census. In 1850, the proportions were about one private to every twelve public scholars, and since that period there has probably been but little change in the ratio.
From these facts the subjoined may be assumed a reasonably correct statement:
| Average attendance at public schools | 44,598 | |
| Allowance of twenty per cent. for absentees, whose names are on the school registers, but who attend irregularly | 8,920 | |
| Corporate schools receiving state assistance | 7,517 | |
| ""without "" (estimated) | 10,000 | |
| Private schools" | 6,000 | |
| Total children attending school | 77,035 |
This would give a school attendance of sixty-six per cent. of the population between the ages of five and fifteen years, or ten per cent. less than in 1850.
That the proportionate numbers receiving education are diminishing is susceptible of proof from one fact. In 1856, the pupils in the public schools were 347 more than in 1855. During the last fifteen years the population of the city has increased more than twenty thousand per annum, and of this increase about one fifth (or four thousand) are between the ages of five and fifteen. It follows that in 1856 there were four thousand additional children in New York as compared with 1855, but there were only 347 additional attendants at the public schools. Admitting that other schools received the same increase of pupils—an admission more liberal than facts would warrant—the education of seven hundred only would be provided for, leaving three thousand three hundred destitute of instruction.