Excerpt from Annual Report of School Committee, City of Boston, 1912 The law of the state requires that every child between seven and fourteen years of age, and every child under sixteen years of age who cannot read at sight and write legibly simple sentences in the English language, shall attend some public day school during the entire time these schools are in session, but the attendance of a child upon a public day school is not required if he has attended for a like period of time a private day school approved by the School Committee, or if he has been otherwise instructed for a like period of time in the branches of learning required by law to be taught in the public schools, or if he has already acquired such branches of learning, or if his physical or mental condition is such as to render such attendance inex pedient or impracticable. It is the duty of the School Committee to enforce this law, and it does so mainly through its principals, teachers, and truant officers, all of Whom, as well as the School Committee itself, are engaged in carrying out the wishes of the parents as expressed by law, because the law is really made by the people them selves through their representatives in the Legislature. Something will be said later in this report about the truant o icers, and the manner in which they endeavor to act as friends of the children and of their parents in seeing that every boy and girl of school age has an opportunity to get the education the law provides. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."