RURAL YOUTH 



^ 



ILLINOIS 



By Frank Gingrich 



'%■ 



Frank Gingrich 



rOUTH in the headlines but 

 not in the hearts of adults." 

 This is too often the case with the 

 world today. Business men, societies, 

 newspapers, and the 

 men on the street, 

 often speak in 

 glowing terms of 

 the opportunities 

 for youth and their 



J place in the affairs 

 of the world today. 

 Too many like to 

 see youth in the 

 headlines of papers, 

 but have little re- 

 gard for the reason 

 why youth rated the headlines. Too 

 often these headlines have their source 

 in places and surroundings which are 

 unpleasant for general conversation but 

 — it makes headlines. Many people 

 talk and write. Few formulate con- 

 structive policies. And fewer do any- 

 thing about it. 



Youth wants help, but they don't 

 want others to know it. They need 

 sympathetic guidance, a mutual meet- 

 ing ground where they can battle with 

 conflicting ideas which are forever try- 

 ing to enter their lives. Good ideas, 

 bad ideas, constructive ideas, destruc- 

 tive ideas, all meet in the minds of 

 youth. They all come in to-gether. 

 They are all examined, and sometimes 

 the bad ones are kicked out. 



Develop Thinking Power 

 The ability to analyze and think 

 grows with age and experience. If 

 adults can provide challenging ideas 

 which will give rural youth an incen- 

 tive to study and analyze organization 

 and business enterprises that have age 

 and experience, a step in the right direc- 

 tion will have been taken. With this 

 training they will be better able to 

 meet their own problems as they arise. 

 This gives youth an opportunity to 

 study adults, copy their achievements 

 and avoid the causes of their failures. 

 Several years ago the Illinois Agri- 



A TAZEWELL DELEGATION 

 Pretty Norma D«vi«t and Pak. 



cultural Association became interested 

 in helping rural young people of Illi- 

 nois in solving their own problems. In 

 January, 1935, Earl C. Smith, President 

 of the Association, summarized the at- 

 titude of our organization toward 

 young folks by saying: "Our responsi- 

 bility should be one of encouragement 

 and general advice, while theirs should 

 be to control, direct, and intensely de- 

 velop their program of activities." Mr. 

 Smith had particular reference to rural 

 young people who were out of school 

 and not yet established in business. 



On August 15, 1936, a Director of 

 Young People's Activities was em- 

 ployed by the Illinois Agricultural As- 

 sociation to study existing conditions, 

 make recommendations for the future, 

 and develop a program for rural youth. 



At the present time there are 70 



MELVIN DIEHL, CARROLL COUNTY 

 "WROK Listeners Heard Him 'Swing High 

 — Swing Lo.' " 



county groups of young people organ- 

 ized under the direction of the Agri- 

 cultural Extension Service, University 

 of Illinois. Approximately 5000 young 

 men and young women, out of school 

 and not established in business or home 

 making, are members. The ages of 

 this group vary from about 18 to 25. 

 The following tentative objectives 

 have guided the Association in its ac- 

 tivities for rural youth. 



1. To cooperate with the Extension 

 Service in Agriculture and Home 

 Economics to develop and corre- 

 late a program for the best inter- 

 ests of rural young people in Il- 

 linois. 



2. To provide an opportunity for 

 rural young people to become bet- 

 ter informed on various phases of 

 agricultural organization and co- 

 operation. 



3. To develop and train organization 

 and cooperative leadership. 



Governor W. I. Myers of the Farm 

 Credit Administration urijes farm boys 

 who will attend agricultural colleges 

 this year, to make the most of their 

 opportunity to study farm cooperation. 

 He points out that courses in agricul- 

 tural cooperation will be taught in 45 

 out of the 48 state agricultural colleges 

 and universities in the country. 



Of Several Types 



One of our aims is to provide for 

 the thousands of young men and 

 women on Illinois farms that do not go 

 to college, an opportunity to share in 

 this type of information and instruc- 

 tion. It has been estimated that there 

 are about 80,000 of these young folks 

 on Illinois farms to-day. 



There are several types of county or- 

 ganizations of young people. In Liv- 

 ingston county the young men and 

 women each have their own • separate 



JUNE. 1937 



