Absentee Children: The Growth of Attendance Services in the Board of Education of the City of New York; 1950–1961
Abstract
Absentee children have been a major concern to educators in this country for many years. Public education, as offered, was taken advantage of to an extremely limited degree prior to compulsory education legislation. Only those children guided by parents who recognized the benefits of education attended school regularly. Public feeling prevalent at the time maintained that the education of the child was the responsibility of the individual parents. Indeed, labor laws preceded compulsory education legislation, which for a time permitted the exploitation of children in industry. This fact contributed heavily to the neglect of education. At extremely early ages children were employed in "sweat shops” which offered little hope for advancement. The public school society in 1828 marked the first system of free schools, functioning under private management, but publicly financed in New York City. This agency was the sole provider of public education for thirteen years. Until the Board of Education of the City of New York assumed its responsibility in 1842. When in 1870 some attention was given to attendance figures, it was found that of the 200,000 school-age children in the city, only 85,307 were enrolled in school.
Subject Area
Social research|Education|Education Policy|Social work
Recommended Citation
Pryce, Anita Cooper, "Absentee Children: The Growth of Attendance Services in the Board of Education of the City of New York; 1950–1961" (1962). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI30670863.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI30670863
