# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1944_S541
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

540 Report of Board for Higher Education

XI. STUDENT BODIES

A. Composition and Background

Of the 1,429 students enrolled in our Preparatory schools and
Springfield Seminary in 1941; a total of 832 came from cities,
from small towns or rural communities, and 132 were of mixed r
urban origin.

A second investigation along similar lines yielded the informatic
that of the 769 pretheological students enrolled in that year, 3.
were from Parsonages and 60 from teacherages. ar

At first glance these data seem to be of little or no moment in’ t]
affairs of our schools, but the first analysis indicates a shift in: thes
home environment of our students, paralleling general popula
trends from rural to urban communities; the second offers inform
tion helpful in student counseling. ;

No less interesting and significant is the tabulation of the previ
educational preparation of our students made from data contribute
by eight of our institutions. , Out of a total enrollment of 834, 4
half had attended a Lutheran parish school for five years or mor
for a period less than five years, and 326 had received their
mentary training at public schools. In late years the latter grou
has shown a steady increase.

' More than 80 per cent of the students enrolled at Bronxville,.
field, and Portland spoke only English in their home intercourse, a:
about 40 per cent of the students at Milwaukee and Edmonton spo
German to‘a variable extent. Apparently it should be more diffic
to achieve good results in the teaching of German at the former sc
than at the latter two. The remaining six schools had predomin tl
English-speaking groups. : :

As may be expected, the students at our schools are almost excly
sively Lutheran in their church affiliation. For the three years
1941-1943, Austin, Milwaukee, Concordia, Portland, and St. Phu
Yeport an enrollment one hundred per cent Lutheran. The oth
schools represented in the census had an enrollment of non-Luthe:
ranging from 6 to 13 per cent. The acceptance of non-Lutheran st
dents is inevitable as the institutions open their doors to gener:
education. There can be no valid objection to their admittance’:

including chapel attendance and. participation in religious . cour:
It is understood that Lutheran students will be given preference whi
facilities are limited.

Of the 1,319 students enrolled in 1941 in the Preparatory schoo
769 were classified as pretheological and 550 as non-theological
growth of the latter group has gone on apace since five of our’ i
tions were given a wide scope of general education. Bronxvill
Oakland reported over 60 per cent of their students as non-theologi
and Fort Wayne, Winfield, and Edmonton above. 50 per cent. By