1926 Sichuan Men's Higher Education Degrees

Item

Title: 1926 Sichuan Men's Higher Education Degrees
Identifier: DS_0007
Description: Bar chart based on the 1926 WCMAB list, comparing the percentage of male missionaries with higher education degrees within and beyond the cohort.
Commentary: This bar chart is based on the list of 607 missionaries in Sichuan compiled by the West China Missions Advisory Board (WCMAB) in 1926 (see the “Is Part Of” dataset record).

Education constitutes one of the most important indicators of the North American cohort. This bar chart shows the percentage of cohort versus non-cohort missionaries with the types of higher education degrees recorded in the WCMAB list. Where multiple degrees are given for individuals, their highest degree has been counted. The “Reverand Only” category reflects men with no other post-secondary degree listed. “Medical” includes MDs and dental surgeon degrees, as well as post-baccalaureate pharmacy and first aid degrees. “Above Bachelors” includes Masters and Doctoral degrees. Cohort and non-cohort percentages have been calculated separately based on the numbers of men in each group (Cohort n125; Non-cohort n89).

On the scale of men’s higher education degrees, cohort trends are almost exactly opposite those for non-cohort men. Fully 90% of cohort men have higher education degrees, compared to only 45% of non-cohort men. Conversely, 55% of non-cohort men have either no degree or Reverand only, while only 10% of cohort men fall into these categories.

Both groups have higher percentages of higher education degrees than the populations of their home countries at large. For example, in the 1920 US census, which was the first to record education status, only 5.7% of the population had a “bachelor’s degree or higher” (and this includes 1.2% African Americans, none of whom were West China missionaries) (1). The same census records the number of people in school by age and gender. At 18 years of age (roughly college age), about 22% of men and 25% of women were attending school. At age 20, these numbers had dropped to 8% of women and 10% of men (2). Notably, the proportion of men to women is reversed. This measure also captures statistics for men and women who have some college education, but did not complete degrees, which we know anecdotally to be the case for many missionary women.

The wide gap between education levels in the United States in general and those of West China missionaries is remarkable. Education is clearly an earmark of the missionary movement, and also a major point of demarcation between cohort versus non-cohort missionaries.
Creator: Cory Willmott
Date Created: 2024
Is Part Of: The West China Missions Advisory Board’s Directory 1926, According to Missions
Provenance: Original scholarship by Cory Willmott.
Access Rights: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Publisher: SIUE
Record Date: 2024-11-06
Contributor: Cory Willmott
Type: Dataset
Bibliographic Citation: (1) National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). 2013. Table 104.20. Percentage of persons 25 to 29 years old with selected levels of educational attainment, by race/ethnicity and sex: Selected years, 1920 through 2013; https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d13/tables/dt13_104.20.aspm; (2) United States Census Bureau. 1924. An Analysis of School Attendance in the United States and in the Several States, with a Discussion of the Factors Involved, Charts 1 and 2.; https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1924/dec/monograph-5.html

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Items with "Has Part: 1926 Sichuan Men's Higher Education Degrees"
Title	Class
The West China Missions Advisory Board’s Directory 1926, According to Missions	Dataset