Table 8.—Units of required subjects in major subject areas as reported by 8 cities in 1928 and in 1959

and vocational. Each of the 24 school systems reports a college preparatory curriculum and 10 of these break this down into types as shown below:

Phoenix.-Engineering and science, medicine and dentistry, nursing, law and government, agriculture, art and decoration, homemaking

Philadelphia.-Academic, art, commercial, home economics, industrial arts,

music

Baltimore. Academic, technical, business, art, music

Kno ville.-Government and law, science, literary, music, art
Boston.-Liberal arts, engineering, business, agriculture

Buffalo.-Language, science, mathematics

Milwaukee.—Liberal arts, science, mathematics

Pittsburgh. Standard, mathematics and science, language
Houston.-Liberal arts, science and mathematics
Macon.-Literary, scientific

Since it is not feasible in this document to list the requirements for all of the different college-preparatory curriculums, table 9 itemizes for each of the 24 systems the major subject requirements for the curriculum which is most nearly academic in nature. If the science or preengineering curriculums rather than the academic had been selected, units of required work would spread themselves differently. College-preparatory curriculums in the 24 city school systems are similar in their overall coverage. Variations do occur in the number of units required in all subjects except English, in which 4 years of study is general practice. For the other subject fields, the numbers of units most frequently required are 3 of social studies, 2 of mathematics, 1 or 2 of science, and 2 of foreign language.

Table 9.-Major-subject requirements of the college-preparatory curriculum, in units, grades 9 through 12, in 24 city school systems having multiple-type curriculums 1

When more than one type of college-preparatory curriculum is offered, the academic or liberal arts course, or the one most nearly like this, is selected for inclusion in the table.

'Two-year sequences are required in only two of the three fields of mathematics, science, and foreign language.

V. Diplomas-One or Several

IN

N GENERAL, school systems award the same type of diploma to all graduates regardless of their field of study. The diploma marks the completion of the high school years. For further information about an individual pupil's program and progress, a prospective employer, like the college admissions officer, may obtain a transcript of credits he earned in the high school and may consult the school's principal as to certain other qualifications.

To make the diploma itself more meaningful, a number of the school systems included in this study issue a different diploma for each of two or more major types of curriculums or endorse the diploma for a specific field of study. Two State departments of education, Delaware and Maryland, have for many years required the use of differentiated diplomas in all their high schools. This year Delaware has abandoned the practice and is issuing the same diploma to all pupils. In California, the use of differentiated diplomas is reported to be illegal. In 1957, the Texas State Department of Education ruled against the granting of differentiated diplomas.

The use of differentiated diplomas is of very long standing in some of the city school systems included in this study; very recent in others. Table 10 indicates that at least two systems introduced the practice about the turn of the century. It shows that three others are just starting.

Worcester, one of the school systems in this study, is considering the use of differentiated diplomas. Under a program adopted tentatively by the Minneapolis Board of Education in the spring of 1959, three different types of diplomas are contemplated to record the quality of work done. One diploma will give special recognition for honors qualifications, a second will be the regular diploma, and a third will recognize the completion of only minimum requirements.

24

Table 10.-City school systems that now or in the past have issued differentiated diplomas

VI. Concluding Statement

...

High schools are often criticized as offering too much and requiring too little. There is an unfortunate notion abroad in the United States that the pupil after an easeful sojourn of four years in high school finds himself catapulted out of an environment of soft pedagogy into a world of hard facts and that he is fortified for this encounter only by a beribboned diploma certifying completion of a course consisting chiefly of fads, frills, and fine feathers. The charge that the average pupil may skirt along the fringes of the curriculum, always taking "snap" courses, is not warranted by present facts. . . . If the central tendencies are accepted as typical, the high-school pupil presents for graduation 16 semester credits of constants and in addition completion of a definite curriculum, or one major and two minors aside from English, or both. Free election is thus limited to one-fourth or less of the pupil's work; if the elective system is worth retaining at all, it would seem that it should be allowed to operate to this extent.

This was the introduction to the concluding statement in the 1928 study. The same criticism can still be heard today when groups are discussing the schools, even though, as this report shows, the total number of required units and the number of units within subject areas have been increased.

Whereas in 1928 the total number of units required for graduation by State departments of education tended to be 15 or 16, in 1961 it is 16 and above. The aggregate of required units in the four major subject areas of English, social studies, mathematics, and science in the 48 States in 1928 was 252 units; for these same States in 1961, it is 294.

There are noticeable differences in the percentage of increase in the number of required units in each of the major subject fields. Social studies with an increase of 82 percent is by far the largest. Science requirements have increased 38 percent and mathematics 12 percent. These increases are partially offset by a 9 percent decrease at the State level in the total English requirement.

Added to the State requirements are those of the local school system. In large city school systems, the basic required subjects or constants count for a full half of the student's program. Most frequently required of all pupils are 4 years of English, 2 to 3 years of social studies, 1 year of mathematics, 1 year of science, and 4 years of health and physical education.