Show 7 t Charges Against Rural Education Stand as Challenge to Communities I The point that Dr Benjamin Fine makes in his lLis New y York orT Times survey of rural education in America is that our rural schools provide an inferior education on for nearly three and mill one half olle million children A 1 severe and mill serious indictment tee we said saM here last week and mill its implications could be pro profoundly I tragic both in terms terns of oj o f individuals in in- and 1711 of oj the welfare of our 1 communities mild and d t time the 1 10 entire nation i 1 According t to o Dr Fines Fine's a s report I the rural teacher is IS underpaid and amid I is compelled II I to I. I liv living living w- w often felt f. f el accept IS j 0 compe ing conditions 1 which IV 1 1 r. r lIre are something some thing tiling less than ideal Thus it is is isI cr m a. a I h HI m difficult dlf for Jor county superintendents superintend rR emits and I b boards oarl I s 0 of f education el I to Jr UbE r am sta staff If t their 1 sc school 1 roo I J faculties acu I. I The rate of oj turnover is much heavier in rural than in urban schools the survey states Generally the rural teacher is a woman with about two years of oj college education who will stay in teaching three to five years Often rural teachers teach teach- ers have no they tenure tenure they are arc employed from year to year and amI can be dismissed any time the local school board de de- sires Pulling no punches in its reporting o of f the conditions the Times survey claims that the rural schools ire are a haven Traven for the poorly prepared teacher who holds an all emergency license or certificate More than 60 per cent of oj the emergency teaching licenses have been granted to rural teachers Nearly 12 million children out of 01 an all approximate 26 0 million enrolled in elementary and 1111 secondary schools schools' in the I United Unite 1 States St tes are lire attending rural schools Community by community small town by small town farm Jarm by farm that farm that thatis is the lIre massive total to which the flue rural schools toOls which we Ive tenth tend to take lalm so much for lor granted mId add up to Another serious complication of oj the problem is that neither the attending children nor the finances are arc evenly or proportionately distributed among the die states While about 40 per cent of 01 the five Jive billion dollars spent annually on public schools in the nation goes to rural schools there seems scents to be a wide disparity in the amounts of o f money expended in the various rural areas The survey found generally generally gen gen- orally that states with the largest lamest number of children of school age ago had llad the smallest amount of school funds for each child Yet at the tie same sonic time these states are making the de greatest greatest effort to provide support when that drat effort is meas meas- measured measured measured by the tIre percentage of oj income spent for Jor education by 1 the people of oj the de state y fy f fr The TIe bitter findings of oj the tle Times survey ought to be accepted accepted ac ae- by us now note as liS a generalized generalised directional signal pointing point point- pointing ing jug out an area of oj our social existence that needs investigation investigation investigation gation and constructive action A A. generalization such as this dis survey always manages to 1 paint a more bleak bleal and discouraging picture than tIran the genii genii- a c in ine lived lived facts may justify Nevertheless the tIre surveys survey's sur stir I f e veys vey's conclusions and amI opinions represent a challenge to all I small rural communities to see to their schools If II they diey are ff really thus this bad it is time for Jor the dw community to act But lint docs does the home town have the wealth facilities and ami t. t ability to do what might be needed even buttressed by such I I support as this the state may provide This is the point at which the advocates advocates ad ad- of oj federal aid to education 4 enter the tTe argument r They p l' o 0 i n 11 t to the teacher teacher- shortage the tho outmoded facilities 5 the inadequate f finances which are r. r said to prevail in rural ru ra I schools They TIley cite the large number of 01 il illiterates il ii- literates turned up by the selective service boards during the t I. I e c war tear Rightly or wrongly these circum stances are arc quoted us as reasons why the tile federal government should come como to the aid of oj education in ill the tho US U.S. Dr Fine Fille himself himsel adds his Fits support for lor such aid The TIle adoption of oj o f federal financing for lor many rural communities that are arc too poor to provide necessary funds without government government govern govern- ment merit help is one o of f tire the first steps in inn 11 improving the natio nations nation's rural school program Hut this is a l' decision that flint Americas America's small communities until and rural people ivill stake malic for themselves I |