By JOHN COX 

 lAA Director of Rural School Relations 



DedicateJ to the improiinuit: ni rural ijit 

 cation, this tulnmn will ifwluJi i.iritJ item- 

 of possibU itittrts! to p.irii/!. .in J p.tlroni ir 

 our rural \cho(fh. 



Our leaders: Are ihev ciiy or loumrv 

 bred.' 



Must rur.il ptdpli. .ind tho'.c- who were 

 born and rcarctl in rural communities have 

 been inclined to thmk that more of our na- 

 tional leaders Come from the farms than 

 from urban communities. Dr. Albert Ed 

 ward Wijigam in his syndicated feature. 

 "Lets Kxplorc Your Mind" appeanni; m 

 many papers throu>;hout the country on 

 May 21. 1916. made this statement; 



Three times as many eminent men of 

 America have been born in cities as have 

 been born in the country. About this pro- 

 portion have been city born throuj;hout the 

 history of the world. Since this statement 

 wa.s in variance with our own opinion, we 

 w-rote to one of the newspapers which car- 

 ried that feature and asked them to put us in 

 touch with some information which mi>;ht 

 substantiate that statement We received 

 this information from John F. Dille, Presi- 

 dent of the National Newspaper Service: 



"Dr. Wigwam advises that the support for 

 this was first developed by Dr. Frederick 

 Adams >X'oods in 1906. His method was 

 to record the birth places of the leaders of 

 the country as they appeared in VXho s Who 

 in America.' 



'Later F. L. Thorndike. Columbia Uni- 

 versity, reached the same result as you may 

 tind in a majgazine entitled THF SCIEN- 

 TIFIC MONTHLY under the 'Origins of 

 Great Men.' This article appeared about 

 five years ago and should be available in 

 most public libraries or university libraries 



"Dr. Ellsworth Huntin>;ton. Yale Univer- 

 sity, published an article in the AMERICAN 

 MAGAZINE some time this year reaching 

 the same conclusions. The article was en- 

 titled Where Do Great Men Come From' 



"These authorities in a .izeneral wav seem 

 to Conclude that about three leaders — in 

 Science, Art. Politics. Philosophy. Business. 

 etc. — are born in cities of lO.OOo popula- 

 tion or larger to one born in smaller com- 

 munities " 



This is what they say about the unit 

 district. 



Illinois has reached a place in school 

 reor>;ani2ation where it is confronted with 

 the question. What school organization is 

 the most efficient for this state' The fol- 

 lowing statements will indicate the positi<in 

 of most of the leading organizations in 

 regard to the unit district: 



National Education A^isociaiion — Illinois 

 is one of only three states in the L' S. 

 where the dual system is widely used. 



Illinois Education Association — "Evi 

 dence points to the superiority of large 12 

 grade districts over the poorly coordinated 

 dual system of separate elementary and sec 



ondary school districts." 



Small High School Problems in III.. 

 I.E.A.. April 194s. 



The Illinois Association of School Boards 



- - They advocate, "the consolidation of 

 Community educational programs under one 

 board of education, empowered to establish 

 a single administration of the school system 

 with unilieil business ci>ntrol, budgetary 

 practice, taxing authority, and with one set 

 of rules and regulations governing educa- 

 tional practices as they relate to children, 

 p.irents and taxpayers of the community. 



Part of resolution adopted. I.A.S.B.. Oc- 

 ti'ber 2^. 19 1-1. 



The State Advisory C^>mmission on Sch<M>l 

 Reorganization — "An administrative unit 

 should Comprise one or more attendance 

 areas, (preferably two or more) offering 

 educational facilities at least through the 

 twelfth grade. . . . The reorganization of 

 school districts does not always involve the 

 abandonment of the smaller units of school 

 administration. Indeed, the major purpose 

 of such reorganization often is to enlarge 

 the tax area and to effect cooperative re- 

 l.itionships in the business and personal ac- 

 tivities of the district affected. " 



Manual for County Schoid Survey Com- 

 mittees. Pages 18. 19. 



The Committee on Services of the Illinois 

 Post War Planning Commission — "One 

 important phase of reorganization is that 

 of realignin.i; dual elementary and secondary 

 districts into unit districts. The best organi- 

 zation educationally and financially is one 

 in which the grades below the twelfth or 

 fourteenth are under a single board of edu- 

 cation. \lX only apprijximately 100 of 

 these desirable districts remain in the state 

 of Illinois. 



Report of Comniittee on Services, 111 

 Post War Plannmg Commission. 



The Illinois Agricultural Association — 

 For many purposes districts may be en- 

 larged also by Combining elementary and 

 hi.th school districts so that a single board 

 has the administration of all levels of the 

 educational system from grades 1 to 12 in- 

 clusive .... Formerly there were many 

 more 12-grade districts but during recent 

 years an unwise state law has caused many 

 tommunities to give up this efficient type 

 of or.tanization. This unwise law hav 

 since been amended to place the unit dis- 

 trict on the same footing financially as the 

 dual system districts. Later the Report con- 

 tinues. Positive steps should be taken ti' 

 prevent further division of 12-grade dis- 

 tricts and to encourage the organization of 

 new ones' 



Illinois Agricultural Ass'n School Report. 

 Pa.ce 61. 



Other organizations whose policies are not 

 so dehnitely stated favor the unit district. 

 For further explanation of unit district see 

 L'nit District article. The Rfcord" April 

 l9-)6. Many counties are considering the 

 widespread establishment of unit districts 



PRAIRIE GRAIN BUYS SITES 



Prairie Grain Company, subsidiary ot 

 tlic Illinois Agricultural Association's 

 Grain Terminals Company, has closed 

 deals for the purchase of elevator sites 

 at Lacon and Hennepin. 



The company, which \^•ill market grain 

 cooperatively along the Illinois River val- 

 ley from Morris to Peoria, plans to build 

 as soon as labor and materials make it 

 possible. 



r';" 





lincle 

 Henry 

 allows '- 





Fon fK£ m^iAUDs^y^;;^ 



22 



I. A. A. RECORD 



