Student Records Studied
Undergraduates from Public Schools Found to Have Superior Scholastic Standing in Recent Survey
IT HAS BEEN ACKNOWLEDGED by many colleges and universities that students who have been prepared for college in the public high schools maintain higher academic averages than do students who have been prepared in the private schools. A recent study at Dartmouth not only has corroborated the results of previous studies at other institutions, but also has added to these studies data which refutes several time-honored explanations for the recbgnized difference in the success of the two groups. This four-year comparative investigation under the auspices of the Committee on Admission and the Freshman Year was made in conformance with the policy of the Committee to appraise and reappraise periodically the college records of men from the several hundred secondary schools which normally send students to Dartmouth.
A comparison of these two groups at Dartmouth is especially significant because all students are admitted under the same requirements, and in each entering class approximately 50% of the students come from public schools and 50% from private. The class of 1940, which was the particular class involved in this study, matriculated exactly 325 from each group. Supplementary evidence, substantiating not only the proportion of representation in each class from both groups, but also substantiating other findings in the study, was obtained from the records of the classes of 194.1, 1942 and 1943 from the time of their entrance through June, 1940.
As most alumni will undoubtedly recall, under the present Dartmouth grading system, 4.0 represents the scholastic average A; 3.0, B; 2.0, C; 1.0, D; and 0.0, E or failure. On the basis of this system, it was found that in the class of 1940 the public school men obtained a four-year average of 2.416 as opposed to the private school average of 2.168. The averages for each of the eight semesters of college work progressed from 2.111 the first semester of the freshman year to 2.721 the last semester of the senior year for the public school group, and 1.946 to 2.518 for the private school group.
Fewer men from the public school group were dropped for academic insufficiency or were disciplined for academic reasons. More men from the public schools received prizes and honors at graduation. The public school group also obtained higher records on the comprehensive examinations which test the material covered in the major course, and on the Graduate Record Examinations which test, rather objectively, the general accumulation of knowledge over the four-year period. (The results of the latter examination are available to the seniors so that they may compare their own scores with the mean score of all who took the test.)
In measuring the scholastic aptitude of the two groups on a basis of the American Council test given to all freshmen at the time they matriculate, it was evident that the aptitude of the two groups was relatively equal. Comparative groups were made by dividing the whole class into quintiles according to the aptitude test results, and it was found that in each category the group from public schools obtained higher academic records.
One explanation offered in answer to the apparent superiority of the public school group is that only the best are admitted to college from public schools whereas the general run of private school students is admitted. A comparison of the two groups according to the relative academic standing in secondary school found that the men from the public schools who were in the top academic quarter of their secondary school classes obtained a higher academic average at Dartmouth than did the men in the same category from private schools. This same result was true of students who had been in the second quarter of their secondary school classes and of the few who had been in the lower half of their secondary school classes.
It is often assumed that men from private schools participate to a greater degree in extracurricular activities of the College than do men from public schools. A comparison on a basis of the official records of the College showed so little difference in extracurricular work by each group that it is impossible to attach any responsibility to such activity as affecting significantly the academic standing of either group.
Approximately 69.5% of the private school group participated in some activity whereas approximately 67.5% of the public school group participated. It was evident, however, that a slight majority of men from the public schools entered into the more time-consuming activities and were represented in positions requiring highest undergraduate responsibility.
It is conceivable under conditions where almost 400 different schools are represented in each freshman class, that the records of students from inferior schools will affect adversely the records of students from the better schools when all are lumped into large comparative groups. Consequently, a comparison was made of the number of public and private schools that have sent to Dartmouth delegations of three or more men obtaining combined distinctive scholastic averages in the first semester of the freshman year. Since 1931, the first year this practice was renewed after a lapse of several years, it was found that of a total of 144 schools to have been so distinguished, 98 were public.
From this brief summary of the findings of the four-year study, it is evident that, in general, products of public schools fare better at Dartmouth than do men from private secondary institutions. There is a danger, however, that a casual perusal of the outline above will lead to unnecessary and undue reflection on private schools. It must be remembered that there are a great many students from private schools who have been exceptionally successful at Dartmouth, academically and otherwise, and that there are many individual private schools which year after year have sent delegations of students to Dartmouth that have made outstanding records, and contrarywise, there are many students from public schools who have been unsuccessful.
The Selective Process of Admission was originally instituted in the realization that formal preparation as represented by special subjects, prescribed units, specific schools and entrance examinations were not the only factors affecting careers of men in college. It has long been recognized that factors such as intelligence, ambition, motivation, determination and self-sufficiency greatly afFect educational progress, and the Selective Process has proven that if a candidate possesses the inherent qualities necessary for him to succeed, it matters little what preparatory school he attends. From the evidence obtained in the four-year study it would seem that in addition to the reaffirmation of the validity of the bases on which the Selective Process was established, one value to be derived for the Committee on Admissions, as an aid to more efficient administration of its duties, is that public schools in some respects are more apt to allow and conduce development of the qualities outlined above, and if a candidate has completed with reasonable success his preparation in a public high school, his chances for doing well in college are good. The same is true for men with similar backgrounds from private schools, but it seems extremely inadvisable for the Committee to admit to Dartmouth candidates who through ultraspecial and personalized handling may have been able to complete formal secondary school requirements for admission, but who do not seem to possess the native ability, the purposefulness or the selfsufficiency needed to cope with a college program.
The above graph shows the comparativescholastic averages by semesters of public-school men, represented by the solid line,and private-school men, represented by thedouble line.
Private" schools include the traditional "academy," newer schools established as profit-making institutions but preparing specifically for entrance to institutions of higher learning, denominational schools, military schools, and a small number of unclassified tutorial and special "cramming" institutions.
