THE 



WHY 



OF I. A. A. INTEREST IN 



SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT 



A NUMBER of questions relating to 

 rural school improvement and the 

 Illinois Agricultural Association's in- 

 terest in it are continually being asked 

 by teachers and others who are not 

 familiar with the Farm Bureau Organ- 

 ization. One of the most frequent 

 questions is, "Why did the lAA assume 

 responsibility for helping to improve 

 rural schools ?" 



There are several reasons. First, ru- 

 ral schools are primarily the concern of 

 rural people. Our children attend 

 them. They are located in our com- 

 munities. And the changes that have 

 placed the rural children at a disad- 

 vantage because of small enrollments, 

 inequality of financial support and in- 

 suflFicient well trained teachers 

 have occurred in our rural com- 

 munities. Second, as a non-political 

 organization the lAA is in a better 

 position to assume this responsibility 

 without fear of political consequences. 

 Third, this special interest in schools 

 is a natural out-growth of the expand- 

 ing services rendered - by the lAA to 

 rural people. 



Although this organization has been 

 unjustly accused of placing the em- 

 phasis upon saving money rather than 

 upon providing good educational op- 

 portunities for our children, those ac- 

 cusations largely grew, out of the fact 

 that the lAA has had no definite school 

 policy, and its attitude toward school 

 improvement may have seemed to 

 many people a negative one. The lAA 

 has long been in favor of better rural 

 schools. But it has always been op- 

 posed to forced reorganization. " As 

 early as 1937 the lAA adopted resolu- 

 tions favoring a reasonable reorganiza- 

 tion of schools into larger administra- 

 tive units wherever such changes are 

 approved by the farm people and could 

 be accomplished at reasonable cost. It 

 is to the credit of the state organization 

 of Farm Bureau people today that 

 school improvement and reorganiza- 

 tion is not being advocated to save 

 money but to secure better results from 

 the money spent, whether it be a trifle 

 more or less. 



Farm people want their children to 

 have equal educational advantages with 

 town children and yet retain those ad- 

 vantages inherent in rural living. Farm 



By John K. Cox 



parents want their boys and girls to 

 have a broader education than is gen- 

 erally offered in a very small school. 

 They want them to have competition 

 in both work and play, so that addi- 

 tional incentive will be provided to 

 bring out their best eflFort. They want, 

 their children to learn to associate hap- 

 pily with others, to learn to give and 

 take, to estimate the other person's 

 personality and ideas, to learn to co- 

 operate with others for the good of the 

 group. Those things are essential to a 

 useful, happy citizenship, and they can 

 not be learned well except by much 

 contact with others. This learning of 

 the value and means of cooperation is 

 fundamental to the future success of 

 the program of Illinois agricultural 

 groups. 



A fourth reason why the lAA as- 

 sumed some responsibility in helping 

 to improve rural schools is that there 

 was a possibility that legislation would 

 soon be passed making reorganization 

 mandatory. The lAA believes in local 

 planning, local controls, local respon- 

 sibility, and that the school should fit 

 the needs of the particular community. 

 Educational authority is vested in the 

 state government and is delegated to 

 the local communities, to be retained 

 by those local communities only so 

 long as the local communities dis- 

 charge their duties toward their 

 schools. That includes keeping them 

 up-to-date, so that they will afford edu- 

 cational opportunity equivalent to that 

 offered children elsewhere. The rural 

 communities are very jealous of this 

 local control of their schools, and 

 rightly so. Control of their schools in 

 many instances is practically the last 

 vestige of local governmental control 

 left the community. And it is an in- 

 stitution, next to the church, most dear 

 to rural people. 



Our puxpose as an organization is 

 clear. We intend first to learn more 

 about the factors affecting the effi- 

 ciency of our schools and the effects of 

 those factors on the schools. Second, 

 after securing this information we 

 hope to acquaint our own people with 

 the inadequacy of educational oppor- 

 tunity furnished by many of our 

 schools as well as with advantages to 

 be found in better school systems as a 



means not only of obtaining a more 

 useful educational program, but also of 

 retaining local control of the schools. 



A sizeable number of Illinois counties 

 have already set up their county school 

 committees and are proceeding with 

 the work of gathering information 

 about their schools and presenting that 

 information to the various communities 

 in their county. This work is being 

 carried on and inspired by expert coun- 

 ty leaders who try to inform them- 

 selves fully before passing on sugges- 

 tions and recommendations to others. 

 We have already seen some splendid 

 examples of democracy in action and 

 of very capable, cautious, enlightened, 

 and unselfish leadership. This rural 

 school problem presents a challenge to 

 all those who can visualize what some 

 of our rural schools are today as com- 

 pared with what they should be to 

 serve the best interests of rural people. 



To eliminate any further doubts as 

 to our intentions or methods, this or- 

 ganization is working with educational 

 groups and plans to continue to work 

 with them. We welcome the sym- 

 pathetic support from these groups, 

 realizing that we all have common ulti- 

 mate aims and if we can work together 

 harmoniously, our achievements will 

 come more quickly and will be more 

 worthwhile. 



The lAA wants the kind of schools 

 that will serve well the present needs 

 of the citizens of tomorrow. It wants 

 schools big enough, well financed, and 

 with broad and practical school pro- 

 grams that will entice good material 

 into the teaching field. It wants school 

 districts that are able to pay teachers 

 and administrators enough to cause 

 them to want to make teaching a pro- 

 fession. And then, it wants the kind 

 of schools that serve as logical com- 

 munity centers, that graduates can look 

 upon with pride, and that parents and 

 patrons enjoy supporting, knowing 

 that they fulfill their responsibility and 

 justify the confidence placed in them. 



I 



V. B. Hamilton Resigns 



Iowa Bureau Position 



V. B. Hamilton, secretary-treasurer 

 of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation 

 for the past nine years, resigned Aug. 

 1 to assume duties with a hybrid seed 

 corn company of which he is a partner. 



Roger Fleming who has been direc- 

 tor of research for the Iowa Farm Bu- 

 reau Federation for five years was 

 named to succeed Hamilton. As Flem- 

 ing is now serving with the U. S. Navy, 

 Don Groves has been named acting 

 secretary. 



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I. A. A. RECORD 



