•1 



NUMEROUS rural people and school 

 officials attending the rural schools 

 conference held in conjunction 

 with the Illinois Agricultural Associa- 

 tion convention were pretty well 

 agreed on the need for further im- 

 provement in Illinois schools. 



Divergence of opinion came on the 

 question as to how this improvement 

 should be accomplished. Discussion 

 revealed that three main approaches 

 to the problem of school reorganiza- 

 tion are being considered or followed 

 by 93 counties. 



• "Wait and See" 



First, is the "Wait and See" method. 

 The school committees and the county 

 superintendents in these counties do 

 very little to lead the people but will 

 help if the local people take the in- 

 itiative. 



Second, is the "Elementary School 

 First" method. This group is reorganiz- 

 ing on the elementary school level. 

 They believe that the elementary school 

 problem is the most pressing and that 

 to bring in the high school at this 

 time would complicate their chances 

 of getting reorganization on the ele- 

 mentary level. Most of these counties 

 plan to deal with the high school and 

 non high school territory separately. 



Third, is the "12-Grade Unit Dis- 

 trict" method. Followers of this sys- 

 tem believe the high school is the key 

 to a more comprehensive program of 

 school reorganization including all 12 

 grades. These counties generally dis- 

 courage school reorganization until the 

 county committee has had an opportu- 

 nity to make a thorough study of the 



needs of all of the people. 



The conference was conducted under 

 the chairmanship of Milton W. War- 



Editor's Note: Headline illustration 

 shows Clem Garton, Logan county 

 farmer, speaking before the rural schools 

 conference. 



ren of Mansfield, member of the lAA 

 board of directors and president of his 

 school board. 



John K. Cox, lAA director of rural 

 school relations, spoke on the progress 

 of school surveys throughout the state. 

 "Rural people," he said, "are progress- 

 ing faster in their thinking on school 

 reorganization than village people who 

 have been less well-informed. 



Greatest Dangers 



"The strong points of resistance to 

 school reorganization," Cox continued, 

 "are in the villages and their opposi- 

 tion is generally to proposals for re- 

 organization of small high schools into 

 larger, more effective administrative 

 units." 



Cox pointed out what he considered 

 to be the two greatest dangers con- 

 fronting those who are working on 

 school reorganization plans today; first, 

 that too may small, makeshift reorgan- 

 izations will be voted upon which will 

 not answer the needs of the people in 

 those communities and will not be 



t^^3 '=^5=' *^^ 



adjustable to future changes, and 

 secondly, that rural people will vote 

 their territory into larger districts dom- 

 inated by preponderant urban popula- 

 tions and where it would be impossible 

 to secure adequate rural representation 

 on the school boards. 



"The two main programs upon 

 which we should concentrate our atten- 

 tion as we proceed with school re- 

 organization," the lAA rural schools 

 relations head said, "are a reorganiza- 

 tion of the high school and non high 

 school territory as well as the elemen- 

 tary school districts and a strengthen- 

 ing of our grade school program which 

 attempts to educate 72 per cent of our 

 boys and girls on adequate finances 

 and with too many emergency 

 teachers." - . 



Importance of Roads 



lAA Secretary Paul E. Mathias 

 dicussed school legislation and ex- 

 plained the need for action if we are 

 to reach the lAA School Report recom- 

 medation that schools have a minimum 

 of 15 pupils per teacher. At present 

 the law requires a minimum of seven. 

 Mathias pointed out that to jump now 

 to a minimum of 15 would create some 

 hardship and suggested that the next 

 requirement be for a minimum of 10. 



Among the members of the audience 

 taking part in the open discussions 

 were Elijah Meyers, Woodford county ; 

 Elliott Arnold, Lee county; Luther 

 Black of the office of the State Super- 

 intendent of Schools; Henry T. Mar- 

 shall, La Salle county; Dr. L. W. Hack- 

 er of Illinois Normal Schools; D. E. 

 Lindstrom, professor of rural sociology 

 at the University of Illinois; Everett C. 

 Phelps, Winnebago county; George 

 Hayes, Henry county; Clem Garton, 

 Logan county; Hugh Rowden, Mont- 

 gomery county, Mr. Ostrander, Mc- 

 Henry county, and J. C. McCormick, 

 Pulaski county. 



McCormick emphasized the import- 

 ance of roads in school consolidation 

 and recommended a change in the 

 road system. Said he: "Tn Pulaski 

 county we have felt that in order to 

 have school consolidation we must 

 have improved transportation ; in or- 

 der to have improved transportation, 

 we must have improved roads, and in 

 order to have improved roads, there 

 must be a change in the present road 

 system." 



Others attending the conference in- 

 cluded Harlan A. Beem, president of 

 the Illinois Association of County Su- 

 perintendents; Miss Peal Barnes, presi- 

 dent of the Illinois Home Bureau Fed- 

 eration ; Del Gurley of Prairie Farmer, 

 and Mrs. Joseph May, rural service 

 chairman of Illinois Parent-Teachers 

 Association. 





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L A. A. RECORD 



