RURAL YOUTH IN MASSACHUSETTS! 



By Gilbert Meldrum2 and Ruth E. Sherburne, 

 Research Assistant in Economics 



Twenty years ago, in 1921, more children were born to American parents than 

 in any other year, before or since. Today, in 1941, those children and the others 

 born in the years immediately before and after 1921, are young men and women — - 

 the "older youth." Greater in number than ever before, they represent a sig- 

 nificant segment of our population ; the kind of people they are will have a profound 

 effect on the kind of business and industry, religion and government the country 

 is to have in the jears to come. 



These young people were born during or just after the first World War, lived 

 through a great depression, and emerged as adults in the face of a second world 

 conflict. Their problems, their needs, and their opportunities are to a large 

 extent the responsibiUty of young and old alike. Rural policy committees in 

 Massachusetts, as in several other States, have recognized this responsibility 

 and accepted its challenge. They realize that a well-rounded and continuing 

 program for the welfare of rural people should include plans for rural youth. 



The study described in this report was made at the request of these rural policy 

 committees and had two purposes: (1) To gather and analyze information on the 

 resources, the problems, and the opportunities of rural >outh in Massachusetts; 

 (2) to create interest among the young people themselves to furnish assistance 

 in the recognition and solution of their problems. 



To do these things efifectively, the work was planned so that rural young people 

 would have a part in it from the beginning. Most of the field work was done by 

 \olunteers in the 4-H Service Clubs. In selected rural towns in four counties, 

 the field workers made a house-to-house survey in an attempt to interview all 

 boys and girls between the ages of 16 and 25. In addition, boys enrolled in voca- 

 tional agriculture schools and girls taking vocational agriculture and home eco- 

 nomics courses in these counties were interviewed. In all, nearly 600 question- 

 naires were filled out. 



The general plan for this project and guidance in the collection and analysis of the data were 

 provided by Dr. David Rozman, Research Professor of Economics, Massachusetts Agricultural 

 Experiment Station; and by Dr. O. E. Baker, Walter C. McKain and C. R. Draper of the Bureau 

 of Agricultural Economics, United States Department of Agriculture. Grateful acknowledgment 

 is made to individuals in the Massachusetts Extension Service for their assistance in the study, 

 and to the young people in various towns lor their enthusiastic participation in the field work. 



''junior Sociologist, Division of Farm Population and Rural ^^'elfare, Bureau of Agricultural 

 Economics. United States Department of Agriculture. 



