Standards of Education

Report Outline
Schooling of World War and 1940–41 Draftees
Evaluation of Secondary Schools and Colleges
Standards for American Secondary Schools
Standards for Colleges and Universities
Special Focus

Schooling of World War and 1940–41 Draftees

Registrants under the Selective Service Act who are unable to read and write the English language to the extent required of fourth-grade grammar school students are being rejected for Army service. While there are some exceptions to this rule, its application indicates a remarkably high degree of literacy in the population on which the United States draws for its new army. Selective Service Director Hershey announced on November 5 that 150,000 selectees had been rejected by draft boards because of insufficient education.

Young men of army age today have received, on the average, far more education than those who were inducted during the World War. The following table shows the percentages of World War draftees who had completed eight or more years of school, as indicated by a sample of 48,000, and the corresponding percentages for 693,948 selectees who had been inducted into the Army by July 1, 1941.

These figures reflect a tremendous growth of public education during the last thirty years, especially in the secondary schools. In 1910, high school enrollment in the United States was only 915,000, or 12.7 per cent of all children 14 to 17 years of age. By 1936, high school enrollment had increased to 5,975,000, and comprised 62.5 per cent of children 14 to 17 years old.