ILUNOIS FOLKS FORGE AHEAD 



ON STUDIES OF RURAL SCHOOLS 



By JOHN K. COX 

 Director of Rural School Relations for the lAA 



ILLINOIS farm people are forging 

 ahead in the study of rural school 

 problems according to reports received 

 from all parts of the state. 



Some indication of this interest is 

 furnished in the number of requests for 

 copies of the Illinois Agricultural Asso- 

 ciation's School Committee report which 

 was issued at the time of the lAA annual 

 meeting last November. 



To date more than 6000 copies have 

 been distributed in Illinois, and the de- 

 mand continues daily. The report is the 

 result of study by the Schools Committee 

 of the lAA which began work in August, 

 1943. The lAA Schools Committee con- 

 sisted of two persons selected by the 

 leaders of the Farm Bureau in each of 

 the 15 downstate congressional districts, 

 and three members from the lAA board 

 of directors. One farm adviser served 

 in an advisory capacity. 



Topics covered in the report include: 

 the importance of education, school au- 

 thority and responsibilities, development 

 of the Illinois school system, elementary 

 schools, pupil transportation, high 

 schools, school finance, school districts 

 and reorganization, and summary of rec- 

 ommendations. 



Foreword of the report states in part: 

 "The committee recognizes that no one 

 pattern of school organization will fit all 

 communities. . . Careful study and con- 

 sideration, however, disclose that certain 

 fundamental principles apply in every 

 area. . . The recommendations in this 

 report are intended to bring about sub- 

 stantial improvements in the organization 

 and operation of the public schools serv- 

 ing the people living in the rural areas 

 of Illinois. . ." 



County school committees throughout 

 the state have extended approval gen- 

 erally to the report and have made recom- 

 mendations to their farm people similar 

 to those made by the Champaign County 

 Farm Bureau school committee which 

 were as follows: 



(l)That all farm people study their 

 local school situation and know the prob- 

 lems of the school in their district. 



(2) That all study the lAA School 

 Committee report which has been pre- 

 pared in booklet form and is being dis- 

 tributed as rapidly as extra copies can be 

 made available. 



Most of the county school committees 



set up by the Farm Bureaus have a rep- 

 resentative from each township. Some 

 counties have a representative of the 

 Home Bureau or someone appointed by 

 the Home Bureau unit director from each 

 township. All committees attempt to 

 work closely with the county superintend- 

 ent of schools and many of the latter sit 

 in the committee meetings. Sometimes 

 other school men are present and invari- 

 ably the corrunittee has a number of rural 

 school board directors in its group. 



The general procedure for the county 

 school committee's action is as follows: 



1. Meet and discuss the general prob- 

 lems of rural schools in Illinois at which 

 time they agree to make a survey of vital 

 information concerning the schools in 

 their own county. 



2. Some one is appointed by the com- 

 mittee to collect the information for the 

 entire county by townships. This infor- 

 mation is largely secured in the office of 

 the county superintendent of schools. 



3. This information is presented to the 

 representatives from each township, with 

 the request that they study the informa- 

 tion and report on school conditions in 

 their respective areas at the next meeting 

 of the county committee. 



4. After the meeting of the county 

 committee, in which local school prob- 

 lems in each township are discussed, the 

 committee votes to organize the material 

 that has been found for each township, 

 and the county as a whole, and present 

 such information to Parent-Teacher Asso- 

 ciations, Farm Bureau units, and other 

 local community groups for considera- 

 tion. 



When this information is properly dis- 

 tributed in the various communities, then 

 the state and county organizations have 

 in the main met their primary responsi- 

 bility to rural people, and the responsi- 

 bility then rests upon the shoulders of 

 the local people to make such adjust- 

 ments as are necessary. 



From experience with county school 

 committees it appears that when they 

 view the limited opportunities in many 

 small rural schools today in the same 

 manner as they appraise erosion on their 

 land, they are convinced of the need to 

 improve rural schools. 



The failure to provide the proper edu- 

 cational advantages for rural pupils can 

 result in erosion of rural life just as 



surely as soil erodes on a hillside corn 

 field that is plowed up and down the 

 hill. 



Is there not something lacking in rural 

 life when many of our imaginative and 

 progressive young people, even those 

 trained in 4-H clubs and Rural Youth 

 groups, leave the farm for the city.-' Too 

 often jjeople have fallen into the habit 

 of thinking of the plodder as ideally 

 suited to farm life. 



From a long range point of view there 

 is no contribution which farm people can 

 make that is more vital to America's fu- 

 ture and to rural life in general than a 

 calm consideration of rural school prob- 

 lems, an enlightened appraisal of their 

 limitations and points of strength, and a 

 conscientious attempt to adjust the school 

 programs to the needs of rural communi- 

 ties in a modern world. 



Suitable adjustments in other fields 

 have been made in rural areas. Farm 

 people have learned to cooperate on a 

 broader scale in the marketing of their 

 products in order to receive greater re- 

 turns for their labor. These achieve- 

 ments were made by local people working 

 together. Similar achie\'ements can be 

 made in the educational field by local 

 people to provide better and more uni- 

 form educational opportunities in rural 

 areas, to bring about a more equitable 

 distribution of the costs of maintaining 

 schools, and to insure that the basic con- 

 trol of rural schools remains in the hands 

 of the rural people of the various coun- 

 ties. 



Patrick Henry once said, "He is the 



greatest patriot who stops the most gullies! ' 



NOTICE 



niineia Agricultural Asaociottion 



Election o( Delegates 



Notice is hereby given that in 

 connection with the annual meetings 

 of all County Farm Bureaus to be 

 held during the month of February, 

 at the hour and place to be deter- 

 mined by the Board of Directors of 

 each County Farm Bureau, the 

 ■ members in good standing of such 

 County Farm Bureau and who are 

 also qualified voting members of 

 Illinois Agricultural Association, 

 shall elect a delegate or delegates 

 fo represent such members of Illinois 

 Agricultural Association and vote on 

 all matters before the next annual 

 meeting, or any spjecial meeting of 

 the association, including the elec- 

 tion of officers and directors, as pro- 

 vided in the By-Laws of the Asso- 

 ciation. 



During February, annual meetings 

 will be held in Coles, DeKalb, 

 Douglas, Grundy, Lake, McHenry, 

 Wayne, Whiteside and Will Coun- 

 ties. 



Paul E. Mathias 

 Corporate Secretary 

 January 11, 1945 



FEBRUARY, 1945 



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