lAA School Committee 

 Makes Progress Report 



AFTER studying the problems of 

 rural education since August of 

 1943, the Illinois Agricultural As- 

 sociation School Committee has put 

 forth a summary of findings and sug- 

 gestions in the form of a progress re- 

 port. 



THIS REPORT IS NOT IN- 

 TENDED TO INDICATE THE FI- 

 NAL RECOMMENDATIONS OF 

 THE COMMITTEE. RATHER, IT IS 

 INTENDED TO PRESENT SOME 

 OF THE FACTS ABOUT THE 

 SCHOOLS SERVING THE RURAL 

 PEOPLE OF ILLINOIS, AND TO 

 STIMULATE THE STUDY AND 

 DISCUSSION OF EDUCATIONAL 

 PROBLEMS IN THE VARIOUS 

 COMMUNITIES. 



It is hoped that the suggestions may 

 serve as guideposts in the community 

 discussions and thus aid local people 

 in solving their local problems. 



The studies and discussions in local 

 communities are expected to aid the 

 Committee in making its final report 

 in November 1944. To this end sug- 

 gestions and contributions are invited 

 from all those who are interested in 

 the education of rural children and in 

 the maintenance of rural schools. 



THE COMMITTEE WOULD ESPE- 

 CIALLY LIKE TO HEAR FROM 

 PARENTS WHOSE CHILDREN ARE 

 ATTENDING OR «ILL ATTEND 

 SCHOOLS IN RURAL AREAS. 



The Committee making this report 

 is composed of two persons from each 

 of the 15 Congressional districts of the 

 state, plus the four members of the 

 lAA public relations committee. To 

 select this committee, each of the 15 

 members of the lAA board of direc- 

 tors, (each elected by the Farm Bu- 

 reau members in his Congressional dis- 

 trict) after conferring with the leaders 

 in his district, selected and recom- 

 mended two persons from his district 

 who were well qualified to serve on a 

 committee of this character. 



The Committee progress report 

 makes the following summary: 



1. The rural people of Illinois want good 

 schools — the best they can afford. 



2. There are many good schools in Illi- 

 nois, but many of the children attend schools 

 which are definitely below the standards 

 the Committee believes to be desirable. 



3. The Committee urges the rural peo- 

 ple of each county and community to study 

 their school problems, try to agree on 

 what kind of schools they want, and then 

 get together with other interested groups 

 to make their desires a reality. 



4. No "ready-made" system of education 

 will meet the needs of all localities; the 

 school system of each community should 

 be "tailor-made" to meet the needs and 

 desires of the people which it serves. 



5. All teachers serving rural elementary 

 and high schools should be especially trained 

 for the particular grades and subjects they 

 are expected to teach. Teachers' compensa- 

 tion should be adequate to attract and re- 

 tain teachers of the highest caliber. 



6. The teachers and teaching in rural 

 schools should be more carefully super- 

 vised. This should be done by persons 

 especially trained and qualified for such 

 work. These supervisors should be re- 

 sponsible to the local people. 



7. Under most conditions a minimum of 

 15 pupils is needed for a good one-room 

 school, and the responsibilities of teaching 

 such a school should be entrusted only to 

 the very best of teachers. 



8. A much better elementary school may 

 be had by having an attendance unit large 

 enough to have three capable teachers, and 

 20 or more pupils under each teacher. In 

 the interests of efficiency and economy, dis- 

 tricts should be planned for the larger en- 

 rollments. 



9. In the elementary school, the major em- 

 phasis should be placed on the fundamen- 

 tals — numbers and language. Many of the 

 examples and problems used should be 

 drawn from agriculture. 



10. In the high school, pupils should 

 be given a wide choice of courses, including 

 agriculture, home economics, business train- 

 ing, and manual arts, as well as the tradi- 

 tional college preparatory course. 



11. Both elementary and high schools 

 should carry on an aaive health program 

 including physical education, the study of 

 hygiene, annual physical examinations of 

 pupils and teachers, immunization against 

 contagioiis diseases, and the provision of 

 hot lunches for all of the pupils. 



12. Both elementary and high schools 

 should offer pupils an opportunity to study 

 music and to panidpate in group singing. 

 High school pupils certainly, and elementary 

 pupils desirably, should have an opportunity 

 to participate in orchestra and band work. 



13. An adequate high school staff will re- 

 quire at least seven or eight well trained 

 teachers, including one person especially 

 qualified for administration and supervision. 



14. High schools with less than 150 pu- 

 pils are very likely to provide inferior edu- 

 cational opportunities, or to be unduly 

 expensive on a per pupil basis, or both. 

 Therefore, it is recommended that, wherever 

 practicable, smaller high schools be com- 

 bined with other high schools. 



15. Schools should be housed in attraaive, 

 healthful buildings, have well equipped li- 

 braries, and an abundance of other modem 

 teaching equipment. The school should be 

 located at the natural center of the com- 

 munity it serves, and the building and 

 grounds should serve as the general com- 

 munity educational and recreational center, 

 as well as for ordinary school purposes. 



16. Satisfactory transportadon of pupils 

 is a prerequisite for an adequate community 

 educational program. Such satisfactory 

 transportation can be provided by adequate 

 equipment, operated over good roads, by 



carefully selected and well trained personnel 

 — all of which is expected to be available 

 after the war. 



17. People in many areas may find it ad- 

 vantageous to organize administrative and 

 financial units (districts) which will be con- 

 siderably larger than the attendance unit 

 or distria. Such an administrative district 

 would operate several schools, one in each 

 of the different communities or neighbor- 

 hoods in the district. 



18. Many communities may find it ad- 

 vantageous to have both elementary and 

 high schools (12 grades) operated by a 

 single board of education, either with one 

 or with several attendance units. 



19. A larger part of the total cost of 

 public elementary and high school education 

 should be raised on a statewide basis and 

 distributed principally to the schools in 

 the communities least able to provide ade- 

 quate educational programs. 



20. State aid should be distributed in 

 such a manner as to encourage school re- 

 organization for greater educational effici- 

 ency. 



21. The basic control of the schools which 

 serve rural people should remain in the 

 hands of the people in the rural commu- 

 nities. 



New Assistant Adviser 



Ben F. Wallace, a graduate of the U. 

 of I. College of Agriculture in the spring 

 of 1943, has been hired as assistant farm 

 advisor in Perry county. Wallace will 

 work on full time in Perry county. He 

 will work out of the Farm Bureau office 

 in Pickneyville. 



A native of Kansas, Wallace is a for- 

 mer 4-H and Rural Youth member. From 

 the time of graduation at the university 

 until taking his present job Wallace was 

 employed by Production Credit Corpo- 

 ration. I 



I- - 



Only two misses in 23 years of Cook 

 County Farm Bureau board meetings. 

 That's the record oi D. A. Nietieldt who 

 served as president in 192S. vice-president 

 in 1926, and again as president from 1927 

 to 1933 inclusive. During the last oi 1943 

 Mr. Nietieldt was injured while operating 

 a side delivery rake and he was unable 

 to attend the board meeting, thus account- 

 ing for one oi his two unavoidable ab- 

 sences from the board sessions. The only 

 other time he missed a meeting was when 

 the notice went astray in the mail. He's 

 now back attending meetings. 





1 



■-.♦ 



♦ > 



I '► 



\* t* 



k. 



•! ■ > 



'i'. I> 



f T , 



J 



■» * 



I A. A. RECORD 



J: .: 



