I don’t have stats but in that period of time, but I imagine a lot of “less serious” students were dropping out by 8th grade to work in unskilled labor.
10% of high school aged people attended a high school?
90% of students enrolled in high school never bothered to attend or "worked from home"?
Wouldn't that make them factory workers rather than students though?
According to the top comment, only about 10% of students attended high school at the time.