recruit from American labor. This condition has to be constantly borne
in mind in planning training courses to prepare boys for the skilled
trades, because of the marked disparity which often exists between the
size of a trade and the field of opportunity it presents for boys of
native birth.

CHAPTER IV

THE FUTURE WAGE-EARNERS OF CLEVELAND

In 1915 there were in Cleveland approximately 50,000 boys between the
ages of six and 15, and 56,000 girls between the ages of six and 16,
the age period during which school attendance is required by law. Of
these 106,000 children approximately 37,000 boys and 38,000 girls were
enrolled in the public schools. Exact data as to those attending
private and parochial schools are not available. The total enrollment
in such schools has been variously estimated as between 25,000 and
30,000.

THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

The public school system in 1915 enrolled approximately 82,000
children of all ages, of whom about half were boys and half girls.
They are taught in 98 elementary schools and 10 high schools. The
elementary course comprises eight grades. At the beginning of the
school year 1915-16 two junior high schools were opened for pupils of
the seventh and eighth grades. It is to be expected that this plan
will soon be extended throughout the city, so that the enrollment in
elementary schools will be made up of pupils of the first six grades
only. The distribution by grade is given in Table 3. The kindergarten
grades and the special ungraded classes are omitted.

TABLE 3.--PUPILS ENROLLED IN THE DIFFERENT GRADES OF THE PUBLIC DAY
SCHOOLS IN JUNE, 1915

-------------------+--------------------
Grade | Pupils
-------------------+--------------------
1 | 13,108
2 | 10,857
3 | 10,562
4 | 9,323
5 | 8,902
6 | 7,259
7 | 6,429
8 | 4,903
|
I | 3,122
II | 2,100
III | 1,534
IV | 1,399
-------------------+--------------------

About 77 per cent of the children are enrolled in the grades below the
seventh, about 13 per cent in the seventh and eighth grades, a little
over six per cent in the first two years of the high school, and less
than three a