School Dropout Rates Among Farm and Nonfarm Youth: 1950 and 1960

Excerpts from the report Highlights: Information from the 1950 and 1960 Censuses of Population is used to derive estimates of the number and proportion of farm and nonfarm youths who dropped out of school before finishing high school. The analysis is focused on dropout rates for males, on differences between major regions, and on comparisons of white-nonwhite differences within the farm and nonfarm school-age populations. Data also are presented which may be used to derive dropout rates for females and to make detailed comparisons between the South and the rest of the United States. The estimated total number of school dropouts includes youths who had completed fewer than 12 years of school and were not enrolled in school--referred to as actual dropouts--plus the number of youths enrolled in grades (other than the 12th grade) two or more grades below the level of most youths of the same age--referred to as probable dropouts. Because 16 is the age when most State provisions for compulsory school attendance no longer apply, detailed analysis is limited to youths 16-24 years of age. To provide an overall description of the number of actual school dropouts in 1950 and 1960, estimates are made of the number of actual dropouts 14-24 years of age.