É^sm "«^fCt;

ECONOMIC RESEARCH SERVICE/ U. S.

n-J^^

A0wE OF TñAJSSirtON

rural youth in a

changing societg

OF AGRIjf^yuXilRE / AGRICULTURAL H AN D'à OQW-, 847
(H \^n

AUE. OF TRANSITION

rural yoiêth in a

changing society

NATIONAL AGRICULTiIRA. ! m,Lov \

JHNI 61998

CATALOGING PRER

This book is dedicated to the rural youth of

America. It was produced in the Department of

Agriculture in cooperation with the five other

sponsoring agencies of the Conference—-the Departments of Labor, Interior, Health, Education

and Welfare, the Office of Economic Opportunity, and

the President's Council on Youth Opportunity, as

well as a number of private organizations. Its purpose is to supplement the information and

insights provided by the National Outlook Conference

on Rural Youth, and to serve as a resource for

work in behalf of rural youth at State and local

levels.

In compiling a book of this kind, problems of

consistency are unavoidable due to the wide

range of sources from which data have been

collected. To resolve these problems, we have

used the best, most recent, and most reliable data

we could find and have indicated the sources.

Historical trends and projections on a national basis

involve the old as well as the young, the urban

population as well as the rural, but are a necessary

backdrop for an overall understanding of what

is happening in the fields of education, employment,

health, welfare, and other facets of life in a

changing society.

Space limitations dictate that no one aspect of a

broad spectrum of interests and concerns can

be treated fully or in detail. For further study and

detailed statistics, a supplement of supporting data

for the charts accompanies this book. The procedure

for obtaining a set of slides of the graphic material

is given on the back cover.
THE WHITE HOUSE

WASHINGTON

FOREWORD

Fully one-third of our Nation's youth live on farms or

in small towns and communities. As our concern for

our cities increases, this vital segment of our

population is sometimes overlooked.

In establishing the National Outlook Conference of

Rural Youth, it was our intent to assure that our rural

youth will have all the opportunities available to other

Americans -- in health, in education, in employment,

in all areas of human endeavor.

This fact book, Age of Transition: Rural Youth in a

Changing Society, shows the strides we have miade, and

are making, to revitalize rural Annerica. I hope it will

be a useful tool for State, county, and community groups

in conducting similar conferences.

Our rural youth must not beconlPm forgotten minority.

Their contributions to America are great; they must

be full partners in our prosperity. ¡. ¡
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgment of data and counsel is made

to the Departments of Health, Education and Welfare, Interior, Labor, various agencies within the

Department of Agriculture, the Office of Economic

Opportunity, and a number of private organizations

which are identified in Chapter V.

Calvin L. Beale has served as coordinator of this

publication and Helen W. Johnson has assumed

overall responsibility in preparing the book. Both

are staff members of the Economic Development

Division, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

PAGE CHAPTER

4-11 the wortd tve

live in

12-33 preparing for life

34-SI making a living

52-07 their health

and welfare

68-S3 the qualitg

ofrural life

H4-S7 the world

of tomorrow

88-92

-

index^

list ofreferences

IT'S A CROWDED WORLD

Population is on the rise everywhere

and shows no signs of worldwide decline in

the next few decades. In the world as a

whole, young people (under 25 years of

age) make up half or more of the total.

In the United States, we have nearly

200 million people now, about two-fifths

of them not yet of voting age. The large

majority of our citizens live in cities ; less

than a third live in rural areas. Many

Americans move from one place to

another, mainly from city to city, but

many from country to city. Young people

in their most productive years are most

likely to migrate.

...and getting more crowded

every year. Today the family of

man numbers about 3.4 billion

members. In just 35 years, the

family may be twice as big.

Growing up in this world means

coming of age with the increasing problems of developing

nations, the poorer peoples of

the earth. By the year 2000,

the less advanced countries of

the world will have more than

three-quarters of the world

population.

BILLION PERSONS

s 7

DEVELOPED REGIONS

DEVELOPING REGIONS

POPULATION

1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

(ESTIMATED)

SOURCE ; Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations
the world we live in

The United States, too, has been adding to its popuiationnearly 100 million persons in the last 50 years. The entire

population of the nation in 1800 was less than the New York

City of the mid-1960's. In the last decade alone, we have added

the equivalent of the population of New York State-with most of

New England thrown in for good measure.

GROWTH OF U.S. 200

POPULATION

As our population has soared, we have gradually turned into

a nation of city dwellers. Most Americans were rural people in

the beginning of our history. But since 1920, less than half the

population has been rural. Today seven out of 10 citizens live in

the cities and suburbs. Within the rural population, farmers and

their families have become the smaller share.

SOURCE : Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce
WHERE THE YOUTH ARE

All over, that's where. More than half the world's people have yet to celebrate their 25th birthday. And in South Asia, Latin America

and Africa, three out of five persons in 1965 were under 25.

WORLD AND REGIONAL POPULATION UNDER 25, 1965

PERCENT

100

AMERICA

11

ASIA AMI^RICA

SOURCE : Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United National
the world tve lire in

The proportion of young people in our population decreased throughout the first half of the century. But in the 1950's, the trend reversed itself, and sharply. Today we are becoming an increasingly young nation.

U.S. YOUTH, 50 •

5 TO 19 YEARS OF AGE

40

30

20

10 •

0

NUMBER IN MILLIONS

PERCENT OF TOTAL POPULATIC N

1900 1910

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce

1920 1930 1940 1950 1960
Ever since 1930, urban youth have outnumbered rural

youth, although the total urban population has outnumbered the rural population since 1920. And since 1950,

rural youth who don't live on farms have outnumbered those

who do. An even larger percentage of the rural youth will

be outside the farm population by 1970.

MILLIONS OF YOUTH

60

The most rural group of American youth are the Indians, threefourths of whom lived in rural areas in 1960. The least rural are

boys and girls of Japanese and Chinese ancestry.

U.S. YOUTH IN 1960: RACE AND RESIDENCE

URBAN RURAL NONFARM

I

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce and

Economic Research Service. Department of Agriculture

0 PERCENT 20 40 60

SOURCE : Bureau of the Cenaua, Department of Commerce

80 100

277-892 0-67—2
About 71 percent of the rural white youth 5 to 19 years old

lived in the South and North Central States in 1950, whereas

87 percent of the nonwhite persons in that age group lived in

just the Southern Region.

REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF RURAL YOUTH,

5-19, BY COLOR, 1960

WHITE NONWHITE

11
reparun
LEARNING FOR TOMORROW

The need for education to prepare for

life in the broadest sense and, more specifically, to make a living is expanding at all

levels and at an accelerating rate. More

young people than ever before are going

to school for longer periods. More are

graduating from high school. More are

going on to college. And more are seeking

advanced degrees.

Vocational education is entering new

fields and becoming broader in scope. This

kind of instruction is needed for many

growing occupations and is being offered

in an increasing number of institutions

and locations in every State. More than

6 million students were enrolled in federally aided vocational classes in 1966.

Nearly 45,000 rural residents in 1966 took

advantage of institutional and on-the-job

training provided in the Manpower Development and Training Act. Rural residents were about 19 percent of the total

enrollees. Most were nonfarm men learning skills for nonagricultural jobs. About

one-third of the rural trainees were under

age 22.

Between 1950 and 1960, both rural and

urban students improved their educational

performance by completing more years in

school and lowering the dropout rate.

Rural-urban differences in the quality of

education narrowed during the decade by

some measures, but rural schools had not

yet caught up with urban standards by

1960.

Preparing for the complexities of working life takes more time of more children today

than it did at the turn of the century when enrollment in elementary and secondary

schools was only about 15 million. In 1965 the enrollment was nearly three times that

figure.

ENROLLMENT IN ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

MILLION STUDENTS

60

1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950

SOURCE : Office of îîducation. Department of Health, Education and Welfare

1960 1965

13
Thus, the percentage of all 17-year-olds

numbered among the graduates rises steadily.

MOST YOUTH ARE HIGH SCHOOL

GRADUATES

g 100

S

o

¿

S 90

o

g 70

H

60

50

40

30

20

10

1900 1920 1940 1960 1965

SOURCE : Office of Education, Department of Health,

Education and Welfare

» * *

* « « t

* # 1 # *

1 * # f

* # # i 1

# 1 i i

* * * 1 *

* * f 1 1

# < 1 # f

i

fr f f * 1

THE VOCATIONAL VIEW

In a period when the number of jobs in farming touched the lowest point in

decades, enrollment in vocational agriculture rose to new heights-about 900,-

000 persons in 1965, from ninth grade through post-secondary levels. In that

year, slightly over one-half of the 100,000 students'who completed their

courses in this field went on to college, into the Armed Forces, or were otherwise not available for jobs. More than three-fifths of those placed went into

farming or agriculture-related occupations.

ENROLLMENT IN VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE RISES

WHILE NUMBER OF FARMWORKERS SHRINKS

= 1 MILLION FARMWORKERS

mm^uumm^

15
prepnrÎÊiif for life

THE TRAINING THEY CHOOSE

While the number of students in agriculture has steadily increased for

decades, their percentage of total enrollment has been declining. Agriculture has had as much as a fourth of the total enrollment in the past. Today

it has only about 15 percent.

The same thing has happened to enrollment in home economics and

trades and industry—the other early starters in the field of vocational

education—as new courses have been introduced.

ENROLLMENT IN FEDERALLY AIDED VOCATIONAL CLASSES

SCHOOL YEAR

1919.

1920

1964-

1965

PERCENT 100

AGRICULTURE

DISTRIBUTION

HOME ECONOMICS

^ B TRADES & INDUSTRY

II111 HEALTH

■■■■TECHNICAL

aim OFFICE

SOURCE : Office of Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare

Far and away the most important course in vocational

training in 1966-as a percentage both of total and rural

enrollment-was home economics. Agriculture had about

a third of the enrollment from the rural youth segment.

Under the Vocational Education Act of 1963, training

in both agriculture and home economics has been broadened. Funds for these programs may be used to prepare

students for gainful employment in occupations requiring

knowledge and skills in these subjects. Growing job

opportunities in agribusiness, food services, farm machinery, child care and other occupations related to farming and home economics provide outlets for students

/ith this basic preparation.

TOTAL AND RURAL ENROLLMENT IN

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION, 1966

MILLION STUDENTS

2

SOURCE: Office of Edneation. Department of Health. Education and Welfares

16
AND THE COURSES THEY TAKE

Agriculture and home economics are the most popular voca- students were in these courses, but the actual number was small.

tional courses in Oklahoma, Texas , Arkansas, Mississippi and In New Jersey, Maryland and New York, where agriculture and

South Carolina, where more than three-fourths of the 1966 total home economics claimed relatively few of the students, large

enrollment in vocational education was in these two courses. In numbers were enrolled for training in office occupations and in

New Hampshire, too, more than 75 percent of the vocational trades and industry.

TOTAL ENROLLMENT IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION COURSES, 1966 1 m "^^^1

AGRICULTURE HOME OFFICE TRADES & 1 HOME OFFICE TRADES & '^^^^^^B

mto

ECONOMICS

M

INDUSTRY

ismiii mIWSÍ

ECONOMICS

^

INDUSTRY

. .:;^^H

B'iLV1

ITOTAL

ALABAMA 1

i^^ -^^^ ^^"

124,090 MONTANA I 5,234 325

1 -^

3,871

r

14,390 H

ALASKA ! 5S I& 6,442 NEBRASKA ÜKIIIIM 20,601 4,028| 50,358 S

ARIZONA <

ARKANSAS

3,537 mm-. 45,116

92,724

NEVADA

NEW HAMPSHIRE

^40 6,144

1 ^'1^3

2,2711

164|

14,935 fl

8,709 fl 1 42,159 2,796 1

CALIFORNIA H —142,455 237,658 1 748,009 NEW JERSEY i; 5.529 36,3971 80,936 9

COLORADO

CONNECTICUT

i|27,438

8,882

12,696

7,270

17,50

16,02 t»

73,119

54,246

13,222

NEW MEXICO

NEW YORK

4,473 2,61! 20,667 fl

^MKfc^l BiTi^jy.^LM ^niTTri 496,434 S

DELAWARE P 4,648 2,195 4,41 NORTH CAROLINA f 74,606 m 234,013 fl

FLORIDA ^ Ujjii^iia 110,441 59,979 WE 272,844 NORTH DAKOTA ^itmM 11,513 I.'o<y| 21,389 9

GEORGIA 59,463 73,771 7,868 m 192,715 OHIO Î4,171 86,006 16,3861 208,195 9

HAWAII 1,976 7,736 1,225 4,68 : 16,525 OKLAHOMA 54,355 36,779 1.352Í 78,621 9

IDAHO ^J 4,415 9,703 2,401 . ^KKT-

- 21,761

153,392

OREGON

PENNSYLVANIA íi£ 15,67644,757

11,3751

71,850 4S 50,098 9^ZKU\m ^^¡>JM ^Enej^m 197,018 9

INDIANA 1

; 17,852 39,603 205 " L 78,515 RHODE ISLAND 1 4,304 ^^M

^Km 8,041 9

IOWA 28,103 26,105 1,171 15,31 K

&. 77,741 SOUTH CAROLINA ..Il 55,499 mk 127.004 9

KANSAS .!:» 3,749 15,93 52,971 SOUTH DAKOTA slKs 6,695 1,230 Bjm 16,696 9

KENTUCKY M 8,625 22.27/

93,365

110,117

TENNESSEE

TEXAS |£ 56,456

186,328

2,318

4,590

26,15^

53,061

118,424 9

LOUISIANA jm ^^M" ' 503,531 9

MAINE Î 0 HK 10,107 UTAH PV2 14,523 Hiiirirfdl ^BUT 50,285 9

MARYLAND Î 0 ^K i

134,023 VERMONT 774 9,685 ^Kf' 15,177 9

MASSACHUSETTS 4

2 B1 143,147 VIRGINIA ami 39,259 ^^; 157,324 9

MICHIGAN 12

IE '

265,332 WASHINGTON m 58,647 ^^ 163,765 9

MINNESOTA 128,367 WEST VIRGINIA m 17,146 ^^ 49,309 9

MISSISSIPPI 94,990 WISCONSIN m 34,150 ^^ 177,687 9

MISSOURI 94,261 WYOMING • ^1,832 4,119 310 1.5i^ 8,100 9

SOURCE : Office of Education, Department of Hea th, Education and Welfare i \

277-892 0-B7—3 17
preparing for Ufe

WHERE THE MONEY COMES FROM

It is hard for a child who can read to

imagine what it means to be an adult

who can't.

He can't follow instructions for handling machinery. He can't take a telephone message, add up a grocery bill or

sign a personal check. And he is incapable

of absorbing training that requires a text

book.

There are 2.7 million such adults in the

U.S. today—people without any schooling

at all—and another 23 million who never

finished grade school.

Add to this the fact that jobs for manual

workers are drying up and it is easy to

see why the rate of unemployment in the

city among illiterate adults runs to 50 percent. Among the semi-literate, it is 25 percent. The national average is less than 5

percent.

In a recent study, nearly two-thirds of

the people on the Chicago welfare roles

were found to have less than a sixth grade

education. In New York this figure is onehalf while in Arkansas 89 percent of all

persons on welfare showed less than a

fourth grade education.

18
THE AREA LOOK

A promising new development for vocational education is the

growth of the Area Vocational Education Schools, at both secondary and higher levels. Every State but three had at least one

school in 1966. The exceptions plan area schools for 1967.

AREA VOCATIONAL EDUCATION SCHOOLS

11f,7 FSTIMAIFI)

The schools stretch their training resources by serving larger

areas. In general, the States with the largest enrollments in

vocational courses are keeping pace by having the largest number of area schools.

ALASKA—1

HAWAII—5

GUAM—1

PUERTO RICO—15

VIRGIN ISLANDS—2 Includes all schools designated by the State

Boards lor vocational education as area vocational schools, including those under construction, high school and college levels.

SOURCE: Office of Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare

19
preparing for lite

CONSOLIDATING THE RESOURCES OF EDUCATION BOOM AT THE TOP

The reorganization of school districts and consolidation of

small schools-especially in rural areas-has been going on for

more than three decades. There were more than 127,000

school districts in the Nation in 1932, only about 27,000 in

the 1965/66 school year. It is a national trend-despite recognition that certain small schools must be retained and upgraded-and represents an effort to provide better education by

combining the resources of a larger area.

LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN THE UNITED STATES

THOUSANDS 20 40 60 80 100

SOURCE : Office of Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare

Higher education, too, is experiencing a boom. The trend

has been going on since the Gl of World War II went back to

school. The pace isn't likely to slacken in the near future.

COLLEGE ENROLLMENT

1950

1965

1975

PROJECTEC

MILLION

8 STI'DENTS

COLLEGE STUDENTS GROWING PROPORTION

OF ALL 18-21-YEAR OLDS

1950

1975

PROJECTED #lf*lt##H

f

10 PERCENT IN COLLEGE

SOURCE : Office of Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare

20
THE COURSE THEY FAVOR

Education, the social sciences, and business and commerce

are far and away the most popular subjects, in terms of the number of degrees earned. And employment in many of these fields,

especially in teaching and research, demands a college degree.

The same subjects-plus engineering—are also the leading

fields of study in graduate schools.

BACHEL' FIELDS, 1964-65 AND ENROLLMENT FOR ADVANCED DEGREES

- 140-

SODRCE: Office of Education, Department of Health, ISducation and Well

21
OPPORTUNITY OUTLOOK

The biggest growth in jobs

is expected in the professional

and technical fields, where a

post-secondary degree is

required. But the need for

skilled workers will continue

to expand in some industries

and occupations. The demand

will depend in part on the

growth of business. But it will

also be determined by the

need to replace the worker

who retires or dies.

JOB OPPORTUNITIES ARE DETERMINED BY GROWTH PLUS REPLACEMENT

HUNDRED THOUSAND PERSONS

7—1

6 —

5-

3 —

WORKERS NEEDED TO REPLACE THOSE

WHO DIE OR RETIRE DURING 1965-1975

NEW WORKERS NEEDED BECAUSE OF

OCCUPATIONAL GROWTH 0—'

ELEMENTARY

SCHOOL TEACHERS

ENGINEERS REGISTERED

NURSES

ELECTRICIANS

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor

22
FORMAL TRAINING IS NEEDED FOR MOST RAPIDLY GROWING KINDS OF WORK

PROJECTED EMPLOYlMENT

GROWTH 1965-1975

PROPORTION OF WORKERS

WITH FOJIMAL TRAINING

(

am

am

OCCUPATIONAL GROUP

IFESSIONAL AND ;

HNICAL WORKERS

ERVICE WORKERS -

INCLUDING DOMESTII

ERÍCAL WORKERS

MANAGERS, OFFICIAL"

AND PROPRIETORS

RAFTSMEN, FOREMEf

KINDRED WORKERS

-SALES WORKERS

OPERATIVES

— 3.0% Iu

—18.9%

NONFARM LABORER!

FARMERS A

FARMWORKI

mM

•INCLUDES ONLY WORKERS HAVING SOME COLLEGE TRAINING BUT LESS THAN 3 YEARS

There are opportunities for training

those who don't go on to college or

who need a refresher course to insure

productive employment. And the

training will be of practical value.

Despite the growth of mechanization,

the pace of technological change,

trained people in large numbers will

be used in the service industries,

clerical work, skilled labor and sales.

THE NEED FOR HEALTH SERVICE PERSONNEL

WILL RISE SHARPLY IN THE COMING DECADE

o

i_J. ii

1966-1975 1966-1975 1966-1975

PHYSICIANS NURSES OTHER HEALTH

PERSONNEL

23
prtfparinff for

EDUCATION ON THE PRODUCTION LINE
TRAINING FOR HEALTH THE PLUS VALUE OF EDUCATION IS A DOLLAR SIGN

The Nation's health services-in the hospitals, the clinics, the

nursing homes-are enjoying a population explosion all their own.

The growing demand for health services will be filled by substantial

numbers of paramedical (or nonprofessional) workers—many of

whom are being trained in Manpower Development and Training Act

programs. The array of job training includes assistants in medical

laboratories, operating rooms, health clinics, rehabilitation units.

X-ray departments and medical record units.

TRAINEES IN HEALTH-RELATED

OCCUPATIONS UNDER THE MANPOWER

DEVELOPMENT TRAINING ACT, 1962 TO 1966

THOUSAND STUDENTS

:!0-|

20-

15-

10-

LU_J

XO

o-"

SOURCE : Manpower Administration, Department of Labor

277-892 0-67—4
9 Jt^ 'ME ^ M9^

High school may look pretty grim to a

restless boy faced with homework and

family curfews every night, but how does

it look to that same boy 10 years later?

The question, "If you could start life

over, what would you do differently?"

was asked recently of 307 young men.

They had all been in the eighth grade together in rural eastern Kentucky about

10 years earlier.

About half had left their rural homes

for cities in Kentucky or southern Ohio.

The rest stayed in the country.

In the urban group, 65 of the young men

had finished high school and 85 hadn't. In

the rural group, 74 had finished high

school and 83 had quit.

Possible answers to what they would

do difi'erently were: (a) nothing; (b) get

more education; (c) study harder in

school; (d) learn a trade; (e) save money;

(f) postpone marriage; and (g) other.

Eighty-one percent of the rural dropouts

and 80 percent of the urban dropouts said

they'd get more education if they could

start over again.

Even among the high school graduates,

35 percent of the rural group and 46 percent of the urbanités said they'd get more

education.

0 - $2,999 I^^^H $ 3,000 - $9,999

SOURCE ; Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce

$10,000 AND OVER

26
Not only are the gains consistent,

but they are lasting. By any measure of earning power-monthly,

yearly or a lifetime—education markedly affects the legitimate expectations of a greater financial reward

for a job well done. The rule holds

true on the farm as well as in industry.

MEDIAN INCOME IN 1964 FOR MALES,

BY EDUCATION AND AGE

THOUSAND

DOLLARS

12-

AGE 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64

SOURCE : Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce

27
pi*t*pni'iny im' tin*

CITY SCHOOL, COUNTRY SCHOOLHOUSE

The difference between education in the city and in the country grows smaller every year. But the two are not yet equal. One

of the major differences is the lack of preschool education in

many rural areas.

Despite improvement between 1950 and 1960, only 22 percent

of all 5-year-olds in rural areas were in kindergarten at the end

of the decade. In the cities, the comparable figure was 46 percent.

PERCENTAGE OF

5-YEAR-OLDS

ENROLLED IN

KINDERGARTEN, 1960

Yet rural-urban parity of enrollment can be achieved, even

under widely different conditions. Take, for example, the high

rural enrollment in such States as Hawaii, New York, Michigan,

Connecticut, New Jersey, Iowa, Nebraska and California. These

States all had over half their rural 5-year-olds in kindergarten in

1960. In contrast, there were 14 States (all but one of them in

the South) where less than 10 percent of all eligible rural children were getting the benefit of kindergarten.

SOURCE : Economic Research Service, Department of Agriculture

28
STUDENTS ON TARGET

A lack of preschool training, according to

many educators, seriously handicaps children

in their progress through school. The progress

is difficult to measure. It is influenced by the

individual, his family, the school and the community.

The rate of retardation in school was higher

among rural than urban youth in 1950 as well

as in 1960. But the difference between the

urban and rural 8- to 17-year-olds narrowed

during the decade. About 19 percent of rural

youth of high school age had fallen behind at

least 1 year, compared with about 12 percent

of the urban youth.

By far the worst problem of retardation in

school was among rural nonwhite boys in the

South. About half of them were below the

normal grade by the time they were 16 or 17

years old. When they fell behind, more often

than not it was by 2 years or more.

Also, the proportion of students retarded

dropped both for the rural and urban areas in

the 10-year span. Improvement was particularly marked for the farm children.

Scholastic acceleration was higher among

urban than rural students in 1950 and 1960.

But the percentage went up during the decade

only in the youngest age group in urban areas.

m

JL; ' PERCENTAGE

^^3^==^ STUDENTS

>>^g^^ RETARDED

FARM NGNFARM

RURAL URBAN

j^^^'^"°°' 1950 1960 1950 1960 1950 1960

j

8 TO 13-YEAR-OLDS 26.5 11.2 21.3 11.0 13.6 6.9 1

14 TO 15-YEAR-OLDS 1 37.5 17.9 32.7 19.8 22.0 12.1

16 TO 17-YEAR-OLDS 34.3 17.4 29.9 19.4 21.5 13.1

?

È

^1 PERCENTAGE

Wal STUDENTS

foF^ ACCELERATED

'\«|r'^ SCHOOL

FARM NGNFARM

RURAL URBAN

1950 1960 1950 1960 1950 1960

i

8 TO 13-YEAR-OLDS 3.7 3.8 3.1 3.4 4.9 5.0

14 TO 15-YEAR-OLDS 4.3 4.7 4.1 4.3 7.1 6.6

1 16 TO 17-YEAR-OLDS 3.2 2.5 3.4 2.5 5.8 4.8

SOURCE; Economic Research Service, Department of Agricultü

29
preparing for life
PROGRESS FOR THE SCHOLARS

The dropout rate for all

students, rural and urban,

white and nonwhite, fell

between 1950 and 1960. Rural

youth greatly exceeded urban

youth in reducing the dropout

rate.

As a result, the gap between

the average education of young

rural and urban adults

narrowed.

14-24 YEAR-OLDS WITH LESS THAN 12 YEARS OF SCHOOLING AND NOT

ENROLLED IN SCHOOL, 1950 AND 1960

PERCENT

50

40

30

20

10

WHITE

NONWHITE

RURAL

FARM

RURAL

NONFARM

URBAN

mIf^

UNITED

STATES

'50 '60 50 '60 '50 '60 'SO '60 '50

SOURCE : Economic Research Service, Department of Agriculture

31
preparing for Ufe

jj-j£ Q^nqo npuv np PAII iipr

The dropout is a nationwide

liability, but this failure appears more often in the South

than the North and West, more

often in rural areas than in

urban ones.

SCHOOL DROPOUT

RATES HIGHER AMONG

SOUTHERN TEENAGERS THAN

THOSE IN NORTH AND WEST

16 - 17 YEAR OLDS

H*

18 - 19 YEAR OLDI

Hin

16-17 YEAR OLDS

SOURCE : Economic Research Service, Department of Agriculture

t*

18 - 19 YEAR OLDS

ftfl

10 PtKCENT OF WHITE AGE

ROUP WHO WERE NOT

SCHOOL

16-17 YEAR OLDS

18 -19 YEAR OLDS

Ht 11

16 - 17 YEAR OLDS

- 19 YEAR OLDS

ftft

t

no PERCENT OF NONWHITE

AGE GROUP WHO WERE NOT

IN SCHOOL M

32
INDIANS AND THEIR EDUCATION

in 1966 there were 142,000 school age Indian children attending school. Three-fifths of the students were attending public

schools, a third were attending Bureau of Indian Affairs schools

and 6 percent were attending mission and other private schools.

Enrollment of Indian children in the United States has been

increasing steadily. The 1966 enrollment of 6- to 18-year-olds

was nearly 6 percent higher than the year before.

ENROLLMENT

OF INDIAN

POPULATION,

AGES 6-18, BY TYPE

OF SCHOOL

THOUSAND STUDENTS

140

TOTAL

'52 '54 "56 '58 '60 '62

»CHURCH AND OTHER PRIVATE SCHOOLS

SOURCE : Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior

'66

STUDENTS WITH SPANISH SURNAMES

TOTAL

In the five

Southwestern States in

1960, the proportion of

16 and 17-year-olds

still in school was far

below the national

average for youth with

Spanish surnames.

The gap was especially

marked for the rural

ENROLLMENT OF 16

AND 17 YEAR OLDS

IN SCHOOL:

SPANISH SURNAME AND

U.S. AVERAGE, 1960

^.g. SOURCE : Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce

277-892 0~67—5
making a living j-4 ' -- \

*< 'f:
itna u 11rustí

MORE WORKERS FOR THE WORK

Not only will there be more workers to cope with the Nation's growing economy,

there will be more young persons under 25 years of age. Also, more women will be

in the job market in the future.

OUR LABOR FORCE: TODAY AND TOMORROW

MILLION PERSONS

60

MALES 14-25 FEMALES 14-25 MALES 25 AND OVER FEMALES 25 AND OVER

SOURCE: Manpower Administration, Department of Labor
THE JOBS AHEAD

Growth in occupations will continue to be ¡n the white-collar

jobs-the professional, managerial, clerical and sales categories.

Also, service industries will probably outpace the growth of the

production industries.

EMPLOYMENT IN MAJOR INDUSTRY CROUPS

MANUFACTURING

TRADE

GOVERNMENT

SERVICE AND

MISCELLANEOUS

TRANSPORTATION

AND PUBLIC UTILITIES

AGRICULTURE

CONSTRUCTION

FINANCE, INSURANCE

AND REAL ESTATE

Though the employment increases in trade and manufacturing

have been relatively small in the past 15 years, these two industry

groups are still important. They employed more than 30 million

workers in 1965--nearly half the total labor force.

WHITE-COLLAR OCCUPATIONS TO REGISTER BIGGEST

EMPLOYMENT GAINS DURING 1965-75

MINING I

I

t

1 MILLION WORKERS

IN 1965

1 MILLION WORKER CHANGE

PROJECTED FOR 1975

XT 10 20 30 10 r,o

SOURCE: Manpower Administration, Department of Labor

37
wnMÊiiwÊiM n EÈiÊ^ÈwêiÊ

9W mw

Government, too, is an employer. It represents, in fact, a payroll of nearly 11 million people, or about 16 percent of the total labor

force. Three-fourths of all government employees work for State and local units, with education—teaching, administrating, counseling

-overwhelmingly the most important type of work they do.

STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT WORKERS OUTNUMBER FEDERAL EMPLOYEES, 1966

MILLION PERSONS

8

FEDERAL STATE

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor

LOCAL

38
Most clerical workers are women. They are the secretaries and

stenographers, the bookkeepers and cashiers in the work force.

Few women have made it into professional occupations in the

past, except as teachers and nurses. Fewer still have gained

management jobs. Today, however, more women are moving up.

The fact that men dominate in the professions and management and work more in year-round, full-time jobs helps explain

their traditionally higher levels of earnings.

lAN'S WORLD IN MOST OCCUPATIONS, 1966

MILLIONS

OF WORKERS

10

OPERATIVES CRAFTSMEN

AND FOREMAN

NONFARM

MANAGERS,

PROPRIETORS

AND OFFICIALS

PROFESSIONAL

AND TECHNICAL

WORKERS

NONFARM

LABORERS

CLERICAL

WORKERS

SERVICE

WORKERS

(EXCEPT

HOUSEHOLD)

FARMERS AND

FARMWORKERS

SALES

WORKERS

PRIVATE

HOUSEHOLD

WORKERS

SOURCE: Manpower Administration, Department of Labor I

39
making a Umng

THE POWER BEHIND THE PLOW

The rural labor force comprised

some 19 million workers in 1960.

About 5 million of them worked on

farms. Estimates for 1965 put the

total at about 20 million workers. A

greater number of nonfarm jobs

more than offset the continued drop

in farmwork.

The rural labor force would

amount to about a fourth of the 78.5

million persons who were estimated

to be working or looking for work in

1965. That's about the same proportion that the rural population

makes of the total population. Workers who live on farms were about 7

percent of the total, while rural workers not living on farms made up

about 18 percent of the Nation's

labor force.

THE RURAL LABOR FORCE OF 1960 WAS:

MOSTLY YOUNG ADULT

40 •

25-44

H-24

15-61

65 &

OVER I

0

100

80

60

AGE

MOSTLY MALE AND WHITE

MALE WHITl

FEMALE

SIX

1

COLOR

MOSTLY SOUTHERN

SEX

NONWHITE

COLOR

20

PERCENT

<

K

Z

u

y

fît t

FARM NON FARM

SOURCE: Economic Research Service, Department of Agriculture

40
FEWER WORKERS IN THE FIELD

Since the beginning bf the Century, the.importance.of agriculture as an employer has been falling." Even before 1880, four

States had less than 25 percent of their workers in-agriculture.

By 1950, 22 additional States had fallen below the-25 percent

level. During.the 1950's and,,1960's,. farm, employment in all

-remaining States except the Dakotas fell below 25 percent of the

total. In; 1960 there were 14 States with less than 5 percent of

their labor force in agriculture. At the other end of the scale.

North and South Dakota each had about a third of their workers

in farming.

E TQXAI'.EUPX,QY£P

SOURCE: -Welfare Administration, Department of Health, Education and Welfare

277-892 0-67-6

-Jfl

41
mm V • •

tnakëng a tityma

THE WORKERS WHO AREN'T THERE

Agriculture continued to employ fewer workers in 1966, losing almost 400,000 of its labor force during the year. It was the

greatest drop since 1957-58. The largest decreases were

among the self-employed and their unpaid family workers.

Many workers apparently moved to more attractive nonfarm

employment, or simply failed to enter agriculture as their

parents retired from the farm.

LONG-TERM DECLINE IN AGRICULTURE IS HEAVIEST

AMONG THE SELF-EMPLOYED AND UNPAID FAMILY WORKERS

MILLION PERSON.S

1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1966

SOURCE : Manpower Administration, Department of Labor

Employment is a more seasonal thing for the agricultural

worker than it is for others. And winter is the time when jobs

diminish, unemployment rates soar. By contrast, the nonagricultural worker can look to relatively stable employment

throughout the year.

FARMWORKERS FACE MORE SEASONAL

UNEMPLOYMENT THAN NONFARMWORKERS

PERCENT OF LABOR FORCE

15

■■ AGRICULTURE NONAGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES

SOURCE : Manpower Administration, Department of Labor

42
MORE FROM FEWER

One of the important reasons for the drop in farm employment,

and the migration from rural areas, is the dramatic rise in farm

productivity.

The farm sector's rate of 6 percent a year has been more than

twice that of the nonfarm sector. This increase in output per

man-hour reflects the enormous advances in mechanization and

new farm practices such as use of modern chemicals, pesticides

and fertilizers.

ARMWORKERS OUTPACE OTHERS IN PRODUCTION PER MAN-HOUR

1950 1954 1958 1962 1966

SOURCE : Manpower Administration, Department of Labor m

Betsy's hometown in the West Virginia

hills boasted all of 45 people—eight families if you counted the folks living in the

hollows.

The hamlet, hard to find on any map,

isn't too remote, however, for stories

about the Job Corps, to find their way

up the trail. Betsy heard about Job Corps

through the Rural Resource Center operated by the Community Action Agency in

her area. She learned that this Office of

Economic Opportunity program provided

residential centers for out-of-work, outof-school young men and women, where

they could obtain the education and skills

necessary to secure jobs.

Today, Betsy is a Job Corps graduate

with a good job as a stenographer.

The Job Corps, of course, is just one of

the programs of the Office of Economic

Opportunity.

Through the Neighborhood Youth

Corps, rural Community Action Agencies

or other sponsors can help low-income

youth find paid work experience.

By working with a Comprehensive

Neighborhood Health Center, wherever

they exist, rural youth can find on-the-job

training in such careers as home health

aides, clinic aides or transportation aides.

Project Head Start helps needy preschool children begin their school career

on more nearly equal terms with their

more fortunate classmates.

43
making a living

FROM PLOW TO PRODUCTION LINE

For the man in rural America, blue-collar work is now more important than farming as a source of jobs. White-collar jobs continue to

dominate the job scene for rural women.

BLUE-COLLAR WORK REPLACES FARMING AS TOP JOB FOR

RURAL MEN; RURAL WOMEN WORK MOSTLY IN WHITE-COLLAR JOBS

PERCENT

50 •

40

20 •

10 •

MALE FEMALE

WHITE BLUE SERVICE FARM

COLLAR COLLAR

SOURCE : Economic Research Service, Department of Agriculture

WHITE

COLLAR

BLUE

COLLAR

SERVICE FARM

44
HOME WITH COUNTRY AIR, JOB WITH CITY LOOK

Farmers and nonfarm residents may live side by side in rural areas, but their jobs are miles apart. The man who lives on the farm

also works the farm, more often than not. But the nonfarm resident usually has a job that is far more akin to typical city blue-collar

work than it is to farming.

OCCUPATIONS OF RURAL WORKERS:

YESTERDAY AND TODAY

I960

ft

PERCENT

30

10

FARMERS AND FARM

MANAGERS

FARM LABORERS

AND FOREMAN

NONFARM

LABORERS

SERVICE AND OPERATIVES

PRIVATE HOUSEHOLD AND KINDRED

WORKERS WORKERS

CLERICAL, SALES

ANir KINDRED

WORKERS

PROFESSIONAL,

TECHNICAL AND

KINDRED

SOURCE: Economic Research Service, Department of Agriculture
making a living

THE MINORITIES FOLLOW SUIT

During the 1950's, the trend for the principal minority groups

was away from agriculture, as was true of the rural population in

general.

OCCUPATIONS OF RURAL NEGROES,

INDIANS AND SPANISH

SURNAME PEOPLE

The decade also saw some improvement in the form of higher

proportions of minority workers in the better paying, skilled and

semiskilled jobs.

CRAFTSMEN AND

OPERATIVES

SERVICE WORKERS

(INCLUDING PRIVATE

HOUSEHOLD)

NONFARM LABORERS

FARMERS AND

FARM MANAGERS

FARM LABORERS

AND FOREMEN

SOURCE: Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce

46
TURNING RECREATION TO WORK

47
mm Js 9^ m'W^SS W--^ 1»-^J» W/' w^p W/W-^ w-^ w-^' W---^ */' JK m^^m

THE JOB MARKET

If the rural population experiences net outmigration similar to

that of the 1950's in the years ahead, the rural labor force will

stay about the same size. With continuing mechanization of agriculture, there is an urgent need for more nonfarm jobs in rural

areas just to offset the drop in farm employment.

In the absence of increased job opportunities, about 3.4 million

potential rural workers would have to seek jobs elsewhere. About

2.4 million of these would be persons who were under 20 in 1960.

z '

o

IC

M

H

b

O 6 •

X

Z

O

s

RURAL CIVILIAN LABOR

FORCE BY AGE

u

1 •

1960 RURAL CIVILIAN LABOR FORCE

1970 RURAL CIVILIAN LABOR FORCE

WITH NET OUTMIGRATION TO

URBAN AREAS, 1960-1970

1970 RURAL CIVILIAN LABOR FORCE

WITHOUT NET OUTMIGRATION

TO URBAN AREAS, 1960-1970

0 •

AGE GROUP 14-19

SOURCE: Economic Research Service, Department of Agriculture

20-29 30-44 45-64 65 & OVER

48
THE STATE LOOK

Some 177 rural young men will reach working age (20) between 1960 and 1970 for every 100 older men who will leave the

working age group (20 to 64) due to death or retirement. But the

ratio differs State by State. In some parts of the Southeast and

Southwest, the replacement ratio is over 200. These areas have

the greatest need for rural job opportunities.

REPLACEMENT RATIO.

OF RURAL MALES

AGED 20-64,1960-70

OVER 200

REPL\CEMENT RATIO IS EXPECTED NUMBER OF ENTRANTS INTO AGE GROUP

20-64 PER 100 EXPECTED DEPARTURES RESULTING FROM DEATH OR

RETIREMENT, ON ASSUMPTION OF NO MIGRATION DURING THE DECADE.

SOURCE : Economic Research Service. Department ot Agriculture

49
tnahing a lilting

THE BIG PICTURE BLUE COLLARS FOR THE BOYS

How do young people fit in the employment scene? They made up

nearly a fifth of the total civilian labor force in 1966. In that year, more

than 13 million young people between the ages of 15-24 were working.

This was out of a total of 73 million employed civilian workers. An additional million or so 14- to 15-year-olds were working in 1966.

Though young men outnumbered young women—by about 2 million in

1966—the gap has been closing somewhat. Since 1950, the percentage

increase for 14- to 24-year-old girls in the labor force has been twice as

high as it has for males.

NUMBER OF YOUNG PEOPLE

IN LABOR FORCE GROWS

FASTER THAN

TOTAL LABOR FORCE

DURING 1962-66

16-19

YEARS OLD

14-15

YEAKS OLD

PERCENT

-j 40

30

20-24

YEARS OLD

TOTAL

14 & OVER

20

10

SOURCE: Manpower Administration, Department of Labor SOURCE: Bureau o£ Labor Statistics, Department o£ Labor

50
THOSE WHO WORK

Young men and women are far more apt to be part of the labor force when

they get to the upper reaches of youth than when they are still in their teens.

But at any age, a young man is more apt to be working than a girl, whether he

lives on or off the farm. And farmwork is likely to be a man's job.

IN NONFARM POPULATION, EMPLOYMENT OF YOUNG WORKERS

IN THEIR TWENTIES OUTNUMBERS

THAT OF TEENAGERS

FOR FARM YOUTH EMPLOYMENT

IS ALSO PROPORTIONATELY

HIGHER IN THE

TWENTIES THAN TEENS

I

7 6

MILLIONS

0 12 3 4

HUNDRED THOUSANDS

EMPLOYED B UNEMPLOYED ^

SOURCE : Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor

NOT IN LABOR FORCE

AND THOSE WHO DON'T

Unemployment rates among boys and girls, especially for the 16- to 19-year-olds, is high-nearly 13

percent in 1966, when the overall rate was less than

4 percent. The unemployment rate also runs about

twice as high for nonwhite teenagers as for whites.

The rate has, however, dropped every year for both

groups since the peak year of 1963.

AMONG YOUTH, UNEMPLOYMENT

RATES ARE HIGHEST FOR GIRLS

AND NON WHITES

ERCENT OF

CE

LBSSJ!)'i^88IWilia*V.Administration, Department of La^

51
and welfare

i
HEALTH IN THE COUNTRY

Information on the status of rural

health is limited, but rural youth and their

families have most of the same problems

of illness and disease that city people do.

Often literally penniless, the rural poor

are removed from the services that even

the poor in tovs^ns and cities can usually

take for granted.

The welfare picture in rural areas also

suffers by comparison with assistance

generally offered in cities. There is great

variation throughout the Nation in the extent of public welfare available to needy

families because the program is decentralized, depending heavily on State and local

effort and definition of need. Federal financial assistance is supplementary in

public welfare programs.

There is some improvement in the services offered in rural areas, as child welfare

caseworkers and others are more often

located outside metropolitan areas. Rural

families are being assisted by such Federal programs as Aid to Families with

Dependent Children. There are special

efforts for those in poverty, such as the

food distribution and nutritional programs

conducted by the Department of Agriculture and the various activities carried out

by the Office of Economic Opportunity.

Facilities in the welfare field, as in health,

however, are still far too limited for rural

youth and their parents, and the professional assistance needed by rural residents

is often hard to find.

Country children get the measles. Older brothers and sisters are felled by mononucleosis and their parents cope with high blood pressure. Rural people have, in

fact, most of the ailments and diseases that plague city dwellers. But they don't have

the health and welfare services to handle them.

Largely because of scattered populations and the resulting higher costs per capita,

health services in rural areas have suffered both in quantity and quality, compared

with city facilities. Rural people, who may lose more days from work because of illness, do not have the necessary facilities for prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

DAYS LOST PER WORKER BECAUSE OF ILLNESS OR INJURY, 1963-65

DAYS

10

FARM NONFARM

RURAL

URBAN

SOURCE : Manpower Administration, Department of Labor

53
IN HARM'S WAY

m

P

O

INJURIES OF 6 TO 16 YEAR-OLDS, 1963-65

60 —

METROPOLITAN _ ëxCEPT^ARM^^'^^ ^^^^

:^0\^B,Ç&: National Center for Health SUtiatiea, Department of Health. Education and Welfare

Boys and girls on the farm manage to avoid accidents more

successfully than children in the city. But they get sick more

often. At least they lose more days of school than either metropolitan or nonmetropolitan children because of various serious

ailments. When they are hurt in an accident, the 6- to 16-yearolds on the farm more often see a physician than do other

youth. It's just the opposite for children under 6.

INJURED CHILDREN WHO SAW A PHYSICIAN, 1963-65

|-g4ll l/\ METROPOLITAN PJONMETROPOLITAN

i-XCEPT FARM ^^

msmssssmsBsmi^m

SIX TO

SIXTEEN

YEAR

OLDS

PERCENT OF

INJURED o'

WHO SAW A

PHYSICIAN

SOURCE : National Center for Health Statistics, Departir.ent of Health, Education and Welfare

55
DISTRIBUTION OF DAYS LOST FROM SCHOOL BECAUSE OF SERIOUS ILLNESS, 1964-65

m METROPOLITAN

B NONMETROPOLITAN EXCEPT FARM

I I FARM

PERCENT

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

INFECTIVE AND PARASITK

DISEASES

KESPIKATORY CONDITIONS OTHER ACUTE CONDITIONS

SOURCE : National Center for Health Statistics, Department of Health, Education and Welfare

56
CHRONIC CASES

f they are 16 or younger and have a chronic

ailment of some sort, there's a 50 percent chance

young people are suffering from one of two broad

types of ailments: Hay fever, asthma and all

allergies; or sinusitis, bronchitis and other respiratory ailments. Other important chronic conditions are paralysis and orthopedic impairments,

impaired hearing, speech defects, heart disease.

Whether you see a doctor is in part the result

of having a doctor available and having enough

money. Compared with nonfarm and urban youth,

fewer farm residents see a doctor for chronic

conditions, and more of them never go to a doctor.

YOUTH WHO WENT TO A DOCTOR FOR A CHRONIC

CONDITION, 1961

OPEN WIDE

z

<

H

O

CLi

O

»

EH

Z

<

H

Zo

OX!

ZH

»

fa

OUTH UNDER 16, _

10 SAW A DOCTOR

WITHIN A YEAR

UTH UNDER 16

WHO HAD NEVER

SEEN A DOCTOR

A little courage may help, but income and residence have even more to

do with who sees a dentist, and how often. In a recent survey, a far greater

percentage of metropolitan youth had been to the dentist within 6 months

than was true for other youth. And a far greater percentage of farm youth had

never been to a dentist.

SOURCE: Children's Ture of Health, Ei SOURCE: Children's Bureau, Department of Health, Education and Welfare

57
NOWHERE BUT UP

"I could not conceive that there were

so many kinds of retardation," said one of

700 student volunteers in the Student

Work Experience and Training vacation

work program. The observation was made

after her first encounter with mentally

retarded children and adults.

First reactions of other participants

range from shock and depression to outright disbelief. Later the volunteers are

able to gain insight not only into the lives

and thoughts of the retarded, but into

their own lives as well.

Sponsored by the U.S. Public Health

Service's Division of Mental Retardation,

the program enables institutions to give

high school and college students a chance to

work with the retarded for one summer.

Hopefully, many students will be inspired

to choose this area of work in their professional careers.

A nursing student, for example, is assigned to the severely retarded who are

unable to feed or dress or bathe themselves. A psychology major helps administer tests. A student of physical therapy

works with retardants who are also physically handicapped.

For many students this is their first

experience with this largely hidden world

that includes 6 million fellow Americans.

As one student commented after a summer with the project: "The knowledge I

obtained can never be measured by a test."

58

The child of the migrant worker exists

on the bottom rung of the social ladder

wherever his family pauses to work. With

little money, a fleeting connection with

the community and often dilapidated

housing, the migrant's health problems

are acute.

The dreary facts of the migrant's life

are scattered through his health statistics

—infant and maternal mortality rates a

fourth higher than the national average;

death from tuberculosis and other infectious diseases, from influenza and pneumonia, from all accidents, two to three

time the national figures.

But formidable as the problems are,

some expansion of health service for migrants is now possible. With the passage

DEATH AND THE MIGRANT WORKER

of the 1965 amendments to the Migrant

Health Act, Federal grants to State and

local public agencies and nonprofit private organizations now pay part of the

costs for migrants at clinics, hospitals, in

camps or for follow-up treatment whereever they go.

In 1956, an estimated 250,000 migrant workers and their families had at

least temporary access to health service

in 36 States and Puerto Rico. They received medical treatment, dental care,

and such services as immunization, advice on family planning, prenatal care

and well-child care and screening for

communicable diseases. Nurses visited

the migrants and sanitarians inspected

their housing.

Q U.S. AVERAGE MIGRANTS

RATE 0 20 40 60 80 100

SOURCE : Public Health Service, Department of Health, Education and Welfare
WORKING FOR MENTAL HEALTH

Rural youth who need treatment are apt to find that clinics

for mental health are a sometime thing. There were about 234

rural outpatient psychiatric clinics in 1965. They served some

25,000 children under 18, or about 8 percent of the Nation's

young mental health patients. For some States, the rural clinics

handled as much as 40 percent of the youthful rural patients.

In others, the proportion was 5 percent or less.

Staffing these clinics is exceedingly difficult because of the

scarcity of psychiatrists in rural areas. A recent survey indicated

about 3 percent of all psychiatrists work in rural areas.

RURAL OUTPATIENT PSYCHIATRIC CLINICS

SERVING YOUTH, 1965

CLINIC POPULATION

UNDER 18

AUSPICES OF CLINICS

CLINIC SCHEDULE

STAFFING PATTERN:

PSYCHIATRIST = P

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST = C

PSYCHIATRIC SOCIAL WORKERS = S

PERCENT OF

RURAL CLINICS

SOURCE : Publie Health Service, Department of Health, Education and Welfare

NORTH CENTRAL I

II
CARE FOR THE MENTALLY RETARDED

About a third of all institutions caring for the mentally retarded are

in cities with populations of 10,000 to 50,000. The smallest communities have about half that many. But cities of 500,000 or more have even

fewer facilities to care for the mentally retarded.

MENTAL RETARDATION FACILITIES,

BY SIZE OF CITY, 1963

500,000 OR MORE

POPULATION "

100,000-499,999 —

50,000-99,999

10,000-49,999 —

2,500-9,999 —

UNDER 2,500 _

POPULATION

SIZE OF CITY I

2,571 FACILITIES

SOURCE : Public Health Service, Department of Health, Education and Welfare

SOCIAL SECURITY FOR THE YOUNG

The Social Security program benefits the young

as well as the old and retired. Young people are

eligible for benefits when: they are under 18; are

18 to 21 and full-time students; or 18 and over with

a disability that began before their eighteenth

birthday. At the end of 1966, there were 2,803,000

beneficiaries in the first group, 375,000 in the

second and 214,000 beneficiaries in the third—

or more than 3 million beneficiaries.

The benefits are based on the work record of a

parent who died and was fully insured or was paying

insurance at the time of death. Benefits may be

based on the record of a living parent entitled to

retirement or disability insurance benefits. To be

insured, the youth must be single, file a claim, and

be (or have been) dependent upon the parent.

In 1966, there were eight States in which 5 percent or more of the population under 18 years of

age was included in this Social Security program.

All these States were in the Southern half of the

country and were among the 18 most rural States.

523-42-6406

SECÜÍITY fWWiS • WTFOMOEiniF/frATKH

60
SOCIAL SERVICES FOR THE CHILDREN

Some 90,000 children in the most

rural States in the Nation received

child welfare services from public

agencies in 1966. They made up 16

percent of all children served by

public child welfare programs, slightly higher than the 12 percent proportion that children in these rural

States are of the total young population. There are an additional

195,000 children receiving child

welfare services who live in States

where the population is 30 to 50

percent rural. Combined, the 285,-

000 figure amounts to half of all

children receiving welfare services

from public welfare agencies, even

though only 40 percent of the Nation's children live in these States.

Nearly half of all children receiving public child welfare services are

in foster care. Children in rural areas

are slightly less apt to be in foster

homes or institutions than children

in the more urban States.

PROPORTION OP POPULATION

LIVING IN RURAL AREAS IN 1960

I LESS THAN 30 PERCENT

B 30 TO 50 PERCENT

Q 50 PERCENT OR MORE

CHILDREN RECEIVING FOSTER

CARE, BY RESIDENCE, 1966

CHILDREN RECEIVING OTHER

CHILD WELFARE SERVICES, BY RESIDENCE, 1966

SOURCE : Department of Health, Education and Welfare

61
their hefte»k and tretfare

HELPING THE FAMILIES

More than 900,000 families—including about

2.8 million children—were receiving financial support under the Federal program of Aid to Families

with Dependent Children (AFDC) at the time of a

special survey in 1961. Some two-fifths of the

families lived outside of urban areas, in small

cities and towns as well as in the country. The

typical case in the program included a mother and

two children.

In 1965 expenditures for AFDC totaled about $2

billion, up from about $683 million in 1955. Federal

funds paid almost half the cost of AFDC in 1955

and over half the cost in 1955.

AID TO FAMILIES WITH DEPENDENT CHILDREN,

BY RESIDENCE, 1961

f^!^

SOURCE: Social Security Administration, Department of Health,

Education and Welfare

CHILDREN IN AID TO FAMILIES WITH DEPENDENT CHILDREN PROGRAM, 1

NUMBER

PER 1,000

CHILDREN

OP SAME AGE

62
CASE WORK WITH THE CHILDREN PUBLIC WELFARE BENEFITS

In all counties of the United States, casework

services are available to needy children and to

parents who receive assistance from the Aid to

Families with Dependent Children Program. Most

counties also provide help for any child who needs

it, regardless of whether the family is receiving

public assistance.

COUNTIES SERVED BY FULL-TIME CHILD

WELFARE CASE WORKERS, 1965

2 -

1 -

H

H

z

o

o

¡J

a

<ai ü

o

So

RURAL

URBAN

COUNTIES WITH

CHILD WELFARE

CASEWORKER

COUNTIES WITHOUT

CHILD WELFARE

CASEWORKER

SOURCE: Children's Bureau. Department of Health, Education and Welfare

Since 1955 the funds for public child welfare services have more

than doubled, climbing from $135 million to over $350 million in 1955.

State and local governments have borne the overwhelming share of

the burden. The Federal share of such funds has ranged from only

about 5 to 10 percent of the total each year during the period.

LOCAL, STATE AND FEDERAL SPENDING

FOR CHILD WELFARE

MILLION DOLLARS

400

300-

200

ion

1955 1957 1959 1961 1963 1965

SOURCE : Children's Bureau, Department of Health, Education and Welfare

63
iis€*ii' healttt and waliai'e

HELP AT THE LOCAL LEVEL

Rural youth who need a helping hand now have available a number of programs

providing assistance through community institutions. Though local in function, they

are nationwide in scope, and serve a variety of purposes. They provide machinery

to upgrade the health of the young, extend their education and training opportunities,

add to employment possibilities and, in general, improve the prospects for the future.

Among the programs run by the Department of Agriculture, are the School Lunch

and the Special Milk Programs for children and the Food Stamp and the Commodity

Distribution Programs for low income groups. The programs help improve the diets

of the Nation's youth and their families.

PARTICIPANTS IN SPECIAL MILK PROGRAM:

PARTICIPANTS IN THÇ SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM:

1"^ (DdDdDd)®®

1962 (D(D(D(i)f)(D(i

1966 (îD(t)(i)(i)®(i)®(

SOURCE: Consumer and Marketing Service,

Department of Agriculture G

10,000 SCHOOLS

AND OTHER OUTLETS

10,000 SCHOOLS

AND OTHER OUTLETS

To add to the number of jobs for young

people.

To better their education.

To involve them in improving their own

neighborhoods.

To enhance the quality of their health.

To stimulate through Federal, State and

local government, community groups and

private organizations, the participation of

young people in cultural and recreational

activities.

—These are the goals of the President's

Council on Youth Opportunity, established

by executive order of President Johnson

in March 1967. Vice President Humphrey

is Chairman of the Cabinet-level Council

which is charged with the responsibility

of assuring effective planning and coordination of the Federal Government's summer, programs and other activities for

youth. The Council also encourages local

governments and private groups to fully

utilize existing resources for youth programs, and reports progress .to the President.

64
FOOD COMES FIRST

When you're hungry, nothing else

matters very much. It's hard to study

on an empty stomach or even to

think about taking care of yourself.

The Commodity Distribution program of the Department of Agriculture provides food for 27 million

children and needy adults. The food

is distributed to families most often

through charitable institutions, daycare centers, nonprofit camps and

schools. School lunch programs and

the newer, still experimental breakfast program, provide nutritious

meals for young students across the

Nation. Often, these are the only

substantial meals the children get.

Food Stamps, yet another way to

provide better diets for the poor are

available in more than 800 counties

and cities. Families participating in

the program spend the coupons like

cash at the local grocery store. They

buy a month's supply of stamps, and

are given an additional quantity depending on income and size of

family.

PARTICIPANTS IN COMMODITY DISTRIBUTION AND

FOOD STAMP PROGRAMS

POOD STAMP PROGRAM

COMMODITY DISTRIBUTION

PROGRAM

SOURCE ; Consumer and Marketing Service, Department of Agriculture

1955 1957 1959 1961 1963 1965 1966

65
Ê'^mmW^m'M MmW^mMym/myMm' mMmmmm/ wMJw^m/Êwm/K w^

YOUTH AND THE LAW

The problem of juvenile delinquency has mounted to serious

levels since the 1940's. But the country youth is far less apt

to show up in court on such a charge than the city youth. The

DELINQUENCY, DEPENDENCY AND NEGLECT CASES

IN JUVENILE COURTS, 1965

RATES PER THOUSAND POPULATION ^1 URBAN | 1 RURAL

35

DELINQUENCY CASES

SOURCE: Children's Bureau, Department of Health, Education and Welfare

DEPENDENCY AND

NEGLECT CASES

chance, however, of appearing in juvenile court as the victim in

a dependency or neglect case is equally high, whether the youth

lives in city or country.

DEPENDENCY AND NEGLECT CASES IN JUVENILE COURTS

AND GROWTH IN YOUNG POPULATION

THOUSAND CASES

160

MILLION CHILDREN UNDER 18

80

0

1950 1955 1960 1965 1950 1955 1960 1965

SOURCE : Children's Bureau, Department of Health, Education and Welfare

66
EXPLORING NEW AVENUES TO PROGRESS

To catch them as they drop out of high

school, to train them before they even face

the bewildering world of school, to give them

the hope of jobs and rewarding careers—these

are a few of the purposes of programs run by

the Office of Economic Opportunity. Head

Start, for children aged three to five, helps

them educationally, medically and socially to

prepare for school life. The Job Corps and

Neighborhood Youth Corps offer employment

training and guidance for youth aged 16 to 21.

The programs help children and youths stay

in school, or to return to it, to learn a skill to

become self-supporting.

Remedial and tutorial programs for elementary and high school ages give special help for

the deprived rural student through individual

attention or small classes. Upward Bound

provides pre-college training for promising

rural high school students.

Rural Community Action programs, oriented

to youth in many of their activities, enrich the

cultural and recreational aspects of life, as

well as working for better education. And

recruits in a program such as Volunteers in

Service to America (VISTA), primarily an adult

activity, work with local agencies to help the

impoverished young in rural areas. They offer

their varied skills to those in need wherever

they are—in a mountain hollow, in a Job Corps,

on an Indian Reservation.

YOUTH PROGRAMS

REMEDIAL

PROGRAM

RURAL PARTICIPATION IN OFFICE OF ECO.

- PROGRAMS, 1965-66 ,

^

UPWARD

BOUND

TUTORIAL

PROGRAM

NEIGHBORHOOD

YOUTH CORPS

HEAD START

JOB CORPS

PERCENTAGE

OF PARTICIPANTS 0

SOURCE : Office of Economic Opportunity

RURAL TOTAL

67

THE MARRYING AGE

In the rural community, as in any other,

the family is the center in which young

people find their bearings—who they are,

what they may become, and how to go

about achieving their goals. The young

person's family has the first and most lasting influence on "how the twig is bent."

The neighborhood, the school, and the

church join in helping youth to find their

way in the world.

In a farm setting, the family sets the

pattern of living and provides for the livelihood. In an urban, industrialized society,

nonfarm employment is provided by persons and groups outside the family. In

such circumstances, the school, the neighborhood, the community, and the job take

over some of the family's roles. The family, in turn, loses part of its influence.

Although farm families often fare

worse than nonfarm in terms of material

things in life—income, housing, certain

amenities—forces are at work that lessen

rural-urban difi'erences in styles of life.

One of the plus values in a young person's life, as indeed with all ages, is association with one's peers. Continuing the

socializing process begun in the family,

participation in local community group

life adds a new dimension to the interests

and activities of many young people where

they live. Clubs of various kinds accomplish this with the help of the school, the

church, civic groups, and volunteer adult

leaders, as well as professional staff.

Some rural and urban couples have chosen to marry early, some late, depending on the

conditions of the times. In the 1940's, the average age when first married rose to 26

years for urban males. Since then, earlier marriages have been the growing practice for

both rural and urban couples.

Despite the tendency toward more children in nonfarm families, farm families continue

to be the larger.

SIZE OF FAMILIES *

AVERAGE AGE AT FIRST MARRIAGE

= URBAN ^ RURAL

1930-1934 1940-1944 1950-1954 1958-1964

NONFARM

1950 '55 '60 '65

100

FARM

1950 '55 '60 '65

SOURCE : Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce

DISTRIBUTION OF FAMILIES BY NUMBER

OF OWN CHILDREN UNDER 18

SOURCE ; Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce

69
thfí quality of nâral iiffí

EDUCATION FOR THE HEAD OF THE HOUSEHOLD

Pick a family. Put it on a farm.

Say it's nonwinite. Four times out of

five the Inead of tine family has less

than eight years of school to his

credit. Say the family is white, move

it to a village and from the village to

the city. In the city, the head has

most formal education—and, in the

village, least. So the village family

likely has less material goods.

Farm women are employed away

from their homes less than other rural

women—and far less than city

women. Many farm women help run

the farm, of course. But the work

doesn't take them away from their

families.

THE EDUCATIONAL LADDER

YEARS OF SCHOOLING IN 1960:

H LESS THAN 8 H 12 TO 15

8 TO 11 16 OR MORE

WHITE NON WHITE WHITE NON WHITE

SOURCE : Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce

70
THE BORDERS OF POVERTY

TOTAL POPULATION, BY RESIDENCE

SOURCE : Manpower Administration, Department of Labor

71
m/mmw^ mMmM/mM^m'mm/mM wwÊ m »•'* wM't^ m/wmw^

THE INCOME GAP

Farm families fare worse than nonfarm families in rural areas in terms of

income. Compared with nonfarm families in 1960, farm families with children

under 18 had a higher percentage in the lowest income brackets, and a lower

proportion in the group making $8,000 or more a year. This was true for

whites and nonwhites alike.

RURAL FAMILIES * AND FAMILY INCOME, IN 1959

UNDER $2,000 $2,000 TO $3,999 $4,000 TO $7,999 $8,000 AND OVER

WHITE NONWHITE

FARM

WITH CHILDREN UNDER 18

NONFARM FARM NONFARM

SOURCE : Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce

Nearly a fifth of all rural youth in 1960 were members of families with incomes of less than $2,000.

For farm families alone, the proportion was 30 percent. Less than a tenth of the urban youth were so

badly off.

In turn, young people in the city were far more

familiar with the world of affluence. Twice as large

a percentage of urban as rural youth belonged to

families with $10,000 or more a year. Among rural

youth, farm children fared worse than nonfarm.

YOUTH UNDER 18 AND FAMILY INCOME, IN 1959

FAMILY

$2,000 $4,000 $6,000 $10,000

UNDER TO TO TO AND

$2,000 3,999 5,999 9,999 OVER

RURAL NONFARM

URBAN

SOURG^^urcau of the Cgwus^epargnen^^ommerce ^

72
THE IMPORTANCE OF NONFARM INCOMES

The lower the farm income for the family, the more they depend on nonfarm sources for

a good part of their livelihood. As an example, take the farm operator families who sold

less than $2,500 worth of products in 1965. Three-fourths of their total incomes came

from off-farm sources. When farm sales amounted to more than $20,000 a year, only 14

percent of the family income depended on off-farm sources.

WHERE FARM FAMILY INCOMES CAME FROM IN 1965

$16,000 '

14,000 •

12,000

10,000 •

2,000 •

WHEN VALUE OF

PRODUCTS

mïïlHjr H'lllH REALIZED NET FARM INCOME

HmillL^ illlB OFF-FARM INCOME

iHllllI^ U| I'M'

»n

IIIU

iiir

in,

nil

IMlUil Hit ijil

Mi 'M

Ë1

k

«"i—ili'Sa M

I.M 1

l\ 1

1 1 ij ij.imiiiaBBii'

1 iiiitmH^wi m

lihi i \

[I'lll

nilHl-J1

'i'.iir^s^'.i*.' i;iiII1

''i y n «III i A iniiii<iaHMv.<i i\,ii

1 III Um m DU l"IUUIII^^UI Bu 1 1 iU 1 1 I Ml All

i 1ifr II 1M

K^Mil

1' Mml lin it m

nniii. '-m m.

rninii iiH

SOLD AVERAGED: LESS THAN $2,500 2,500 TO 4,999 5,000 TO 9,999 10,000 TO 19,999 20,000 AND OVER

SOURCE : Manpower Administration, Department of Labor

You can get the boy out of the city but

can you get the city out of the boy?

In the case of one VISTA volunteer, apparently you can, to some extent. A 24-

year-old native of the Chicago slums, Ronnie Walcott (not his real name) joined

VISTA for a year and has decided he will

probably work in a rural area upon graduation from college.

"The problems there are greater," he

says, referring to his experience with a

90-family shack community located in a

pocket of poverty in one of the country's

most prosperous counties.

Under the aegis of this lone VISTA

worker, these 90 families rallied to rebuild and enlarge their century-old community center and to form an active citizens association.

They raised $100 at a citizens dinner

and secured a $1,000 donation from a

church outside the poverty area to add an

additional cinder block room to the building.

By fall a kitchen, central heating and

indoor plumbing should be completed so

that a much-needed day-care program can

be started.

Ronnie Walcott is no longer needed here,

but the problems of this community have

stimulated him—currently an education

major—to think about studying law and

applying it to housing and other problems

of the poor.

73
the quailty #/ part ti lui*

HOUSING IN THE COUNTRYSIDE

The quality of life in the country still lags behind that of the

urban comnnunity, as measured by the state of housing and the

possession of certain amenities. A greater percentage of rural

housing was judged to be crowded in 1960, compared with the

city homes. And more of it was dilapidated or deteriorating.

Fewer rural homes had hot and cold piped-in water.

HOUSING AND AMENITIES, 1960

More housing units in the city were equipped with telephones.

But rural families, especially farm families, more often had

freezers and automobiles. Both cars and freezers tend to be

crucial to country living, as many families produce a good part

of their own food and personal transportation is essential to their

livelihood.

FARM

MORE THAN ONE

PERSON PER ROOM

NONFARM RURAL URBAN

DETERIORATING

OR DILAPIDATED

PERCENT

SOURCE : Economic Research Service, Department of Agriculture

1962 DATA

74
SOMETHING LESS THAN A HOME

The blight of poverty is no more evident

than in the quality and condition of rural

housing. As recently as 1950, more than

30 percent of all rural youth under 18

were living in substandard housing (lacking some plumbing facilities). For the

very poor, the proporti^on was nearly 70

percent. But even with an income of

$8,000 a year, the rural family is apt to be

living in a substandard home. Housing

for 8 percent of these rural youth was not

up to standard. The proportion was nearly

twice as high for the farm youth. ,¡

NEARLY A THIRD OF ALL RURAL YOUTH

LIVED IN SUBSTANDARD HOUSING IN 1960

TOTAL

RURAL

FAMILY INCOME:

PERCENT YOUTH

IN SUBSTANDARD HOUSING

DURCE : Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce
trnt-t^ i'fíí Ufe

CLOSING THE GAP

Despite differences, rural and urban

families are becoming more alike in many

respects. They face the same problems of

providing adequate food, clothing and

shelter. They are driven by similar motivations to achieve a good life, to enjoy

both the material and nonmaterial satisfactions. With better roads and greater

ease of travel, with rapid transportation a

commonplace, with the mass communication media of radio, television, and the

press reaching the remote corners of the

Nation, the points of contact between the

rural and urban populations have multiplied. Rural and urban tastes are rapidly

merging, and the ways of spending money

in the country and city are increasingly

alike.

PATTERN OF FAMILY EXPENDITURES, 1961

SOURCE : Economic Research Service, Department of Agriculture

PERCENT OF FAMILY EXPENDITURES

100

80

FARM RURAL NONFARM URBAN

76
THE COUNTRY CHURCH

Most rural people go to church, but some are travelinga

longer road to get there. Others are struggling to support

churches with steadily declining memberships. And rural

youth are handicapped bya minimum of services close at

hand.

Church leaders are aware of the problem of supporting

social institutions in the countryside where populations and

income too often are declining. They are findinga number of

ways for rural people to provide acceptable service. The emphasis is on a variety of forms of cooperation, including the

merging of some of the functions.

Congregations often cooperate on community projects such

as special youth programs and rural development projects.

Some communities have formeda single church merging

different denominations. Nondenominational churches, too,

area part of the trend.A variation on that development is the

federated church in which two or more congregations jointly

employa pastor, while remaining related to their separate

denominations.

The rural church ina rapidly changing society faces an

urgent need to adjust toa new clientele, ina new setting, with

new demands that it playa broader role in the community if it

is to survive. Avenues of wider service are available in school

guidance and counseling.

There is work to be done in educating the people about rehabilitating and training juvenile offenders by working with the

courts and the parent-teacher groups, sponsoring recreation

programs that have genuine appeal for young people. Such

deeper social service in the local community and cooperation

among struggling small congregations may serve to revitalize

the role of the church in the lives of rural people.

77
the aufMÜtu ML 9.W ofrtirnl life

BOOKS FOR THE PUBLIC

Library service in rural areas got a shot in the arm with the

passage of the Rural Library Services Act in 1956. Bool<mobiles

now find their way into remote rural areas. Volunteers are being

pressed into service to extend the staff resources and facilities

to people once unreached by libraries. And local units are being

strengthened by ties with city, county, and regional library systems under statewide planning.

Some of the Federal money has been spent for new buildingsto replace antiquated structures, to accommodate the enormous

growth in the reading public, and to cope with the greater cost.á

books. The new funds have also been devoted to providing I

greater variety of services. I

CIRCULATION OF PUBLIC LIBRARY BOOKS

IN THE UNITED STATES, 1956-1966

MILLION VOLUMES 0 400 600 800 1,000

SOURCE : Office of Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare

78
MORE THRUST FOR THE LIBRARIES

Funds to extend public library service have increased dramatically in recent years.

The amount available in the rural program more than doubled between 1956 and 1964.

in the combined rural-urban program of 1966, about $443 million was made available.

Seventy-five to 85 percent of these funds have come from the local community. State

funds have provided an additional 10 to 20 percent of the total.

SOURCE OF FUNDS FOR PUBLIC

LIBRARY SERVICE IN AREAS

OF STATE PLANS RURAL - URBAN

PROGRAM

MILLION DOLLARS

500

400

300

200

SOURCE: Office of Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare

In hamlets named Buttermilk or Goose

Camp in the Ozarks, the drama of the

world's culture is now unfolding for the

first time.

Young people who have never learned

to read, some who have never borrowed

a book—to have and to hold for a while—

and others in search of friendly advice,

some good talk, an exciting tale to

brighten a dull day, all impatiently await

the visit of the bookmobile or a trip to the

branch library.

With the service of a never-say-die librarian, the aid of VISTA volunteers provided by the Office of Economic Opportunity, and the enthusiastic ingenuity of the

many others who lend a helping hand,

books and library services are now within

reach of the rural poor in Arkansas, as

elsewhere, on a regular, eagerly-anticipated schedule. The world of books is now

available to dropouts, to the newly literate,

to the lonely and to the others who dwell

in the remote, hard-to-reach corners of

rural America.

79
mjÊmwB mMmMmmmm'm mg wMÊ m mmm mMM 'mm"

THE COMPANY THEY KEEP

YOUNG WOMEN'S

CHRISTIAN ASSOC.

FARMERS

UNION

RED CROSS

YOUTH

YOUNG MEN'S

CHRISTIAN ASSOC.

RURAL PARTICIPANTS IN

YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS, 1966

+

Clubs for the Nation's young people

have been adding steadily to their membership in recent years. And many have

been making special efforts to serve more

lowi-income and minority groups and to

reach into remote rural areas for potential

participants.

Nearly 6 million young people in rural

areas are involved in 10 of these representative groups.

CAMP

FIRE GIRLS

FUTURE FARMERS

OF AMERICA

FUTURE HOMEMAKERS

OF AMERICA

GIRL

SCOUTS

BOY

SCOUTS

80

THOUSAND PERSONS 0

inTTÏÏfiFr ITT.» 1Pj*/v¥ift»ir\l^ "Bflaoati^tT^ fiol»vt<*o Tlawantw ioiiai üito^idflÉBii
GROWTH GROUPS

Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and 4-H

Clubs are three of the largest organizations serving America's young people.

The Future Farmers of America (FFA),

and more recently, the Future Homemakers of America (FHA), also play an

important role in the social and civic

life of young rural America.

The 4-H, the FFA, and the FHA,

though directed toward the needs of

young people living in the country,

have also broadened their membership

in recent years to include a growing

number of small town and metropolitan residents.

MEMBERSHIP INCREASE FOR SELECTED RURAL GROUPS

3 «

2 •

1 •

TOTAL AND RURAL MEMBERSHIP IN

SCOUTING, 1966

I TOTAL ^1 RURAL

5

;V

r

^?'

0

GIRL SCOUTS BOY SCOUTS

81
the quality ofruiui life

BOYS AND GIRLS TOGETHER

The YMCA and YWCA, two of the oldest organizations for young The YiVlCA program is designed for girls as well as boys, bepeople, serve rural youth either through school-centered activities ginning with 6- to 9-year-olds and continuing through the high

or through the facilities of nearby towns and cities. Their pro- school level. And many of their services extend to young people

grams include clubs, camps, conferences, and classes in a of post-high school age, including thousands of servicemen and

variety of subjects. women as well as college students.

RURAL PARTICIPATION IN YMCA, 1966

m 1,000 BOYS

1 m

GRADE SCHOOL 1 ^111(|j

JUNIOR HIGH^IIfl

HIGH SCHOOL tUftfWHlffMtWtWIttWH

1—*

L 4

YAICA *

^^^m

V 1,000 GIRLS H ^^

GRADE SCHOOL m

JUNIOR HIGH fgff^f

^

n....c.oo.mmmmmmmmmmmm

SOURCE : Economic Research Service, Department of Agriculture

82
RED CROSS YOUTH

The American National Red Cross offers

courses in First Aid, Water Safety, Life Saving, and Home Nursing. IViore than 80,000

certificates in these courses were awarded

to young people in Group V Red Cross chapters (where the largest city has a population

of less than 10,000) in 1965-66. The

courses are available to youth through

schools, colleges, and other facilities in

every State in the Nation.

CAMP FIRE GIRLS

With a membership among girls of 7

through high school age in all 50 States, the

activities of the Camp Fire Girls, Inc. are conducted mostly through volunteers in the

local communities. The Southwest and Far

West lead in membership, with the upper

Midwest third in importance to the organization. Currently numbering 360,000 members in more than 1,300 communities of less

than 25,000 population, the group's plans

call for further recruiting in rural areas.

OTHER HANDS TO HELP

C_«H

There are many other worthwhile organizations with local or nationwide memberships and programs for rural youth. Some

are part of the function of Federal and State

governments. Also, farm organizations, industry groups, private welfare and social

agencies have longstanding programs of

benefit to young people of the Nation, both

urban and rural. All the groups have this in

common: They enrich the lives of their

young members, their adult leaders, and the

communities they serve. Such organizations

help build the whole person through programs of education and recreation and promote needed leadership qualities among

rural youth. The boundary between town

and country for their activities is increasingly blurred as urban and rural youth work

together to achieve the organizations' goals.

83
the world of tomorrouy
Who would have dreamed, 30 years ago,

of a trip to the moon, of astronauts walking into space at the end of a fragile cord ?

Who can foretell, today, what the year

2000 will be like? All we can predict is

that this world, when it appears, will be

a vastly different place in which to work

and live.

Thirty years is an unimaginable leap of

time for the very young. But in the year

2000, today's youth will be in the midst

of their own families, will be enjoying

their peak earning capacity, and will be

taking the most active part in running

their communities.

For the young people who remain in

agriculture, and those who will live in

rural areas—whatever their occupation—

what promise does rural life hold? Life

on the farm in the United States in the

year 2000 will be in a new dimension. The

Secretary of Agriculture, in a recent series

of speeches, gives us a preview of the agriculture of the future. 1 The farmer of the

future will operate his farm business in

an air-conditioned office, drawing on computerized information to plan how many

acres to plant in what crop, what kinds of

seeds and fertilizer to use, on what day to

harvest. Field work may be fully automated and supervised by television scanners on towers. Robot machines working

at superspeeds will harvest, grade, pack

1 Freeman, Orville L., Agriculture/2000, U.S.

Department of Agriculture, May 1967.

and freeze the produce, then transport it

to depots for distribution to retail warehouses.

The typical home of the future will also

be greatly different. Movable partitions

will permit room sizes to change as the

family changes. The refrigerator will be

a built-in unit with pull-out drawers, each

with individual temperature controls for

different foods and, of course, with automatic defrosting units.

Groceries on the shelf and in the refrigerator will bear little resemblance to what

the housewife stores today. Tomatoes will

be square to insure less damage in shipping; frozen salad mix complete with lettuce will seem to have come right out of

the garden. Many new flavors in foods

will make their debut. Eating will be an

excitingly different experience and cooking will be simplified by more abundant

processed, frozen, and pre-packaged products.

The countryside, too, will have a new

look. Green expanses will be the setting of

new towns, planned with complete shopping centers, parks and community facilities within easy walking distance of the

residents. Factories will be located nearby

so that workers and their families can live

in uncongested rural areas and still have

easy access to jobs. Income will be higher

and the work week shorter, with more

time for leisure and recreation. And

homeowners won't even have to tend their

lawns—growth-regulating chemicals will

control the height of grass and shrubs

without mowing or clipping. There will

be little damage from insects, diseases, or

droughts. No one will be bothered by flies

or mosquitoes either, because there won't

be any.

Dream stuff? Perhaps. But many of the

advances prophesied by Secretary Freeman are already in the works, and the

scientific skill to produce such revolutionary changes in living patterns is either in

existence or attainable. Agricultural scientists and others have made possible

enormous progress in the past to provide

America with the highest living standard

in the world. Further advancement is a

reasonable expectation.

To illustrate, the farmer who produced

food and fiber for himself and five others

100 years ago now provides for 39. One

hundred years ago, 7 million farmworkers

served a population of 31 million ; today,

less than 6 million serve a population more

than six times that large. There will probably be no more than 2 million farmers to

provide for a future population of 300

million.

But those figures do not begin to describe the job ahead for agriculture and,

indeed, for all of today's youth. Possibly

the most crucial problem of the immediate

future is helping to close the gap between

low food production and the high rate of

population growth in many developing

85
areas of the world. Overcoming the burdens of poverty, illiteracy and disease is,

to be sure, of major importance. But all

efforts to promote a better life will be defeated as long as there is threat of starvation.

The population in some regions of the

world increases so fast that the present

world total of 3.4 billion human beings may

be more than twice that figure by the year

2000. Developing countries, for example,

double their populations in 18 to 27 years,

compared with the 55 to 88 years for developed countries. Slowing the massive

growth of population is not the sole solution to the food problem for a hungry

world, but it is an indispensable part of

the answer. The problem is no longer of

the future; it is with us now. But the

rural youth of today will still be working

on solutions for decades hence.

The world of tomorrow holds promise,

as well as problems. Many occupations

and industries will welcome the recruit

who has prepared himself with a good

basic education and then added training

in special skills. Service industries will be

looking for a growing number of workers.

For those who continue their education

beyond high school, professional and management positions will increasingly demand their talents. The unskilled, who

today have difficulty finding work, will be

hard put to get any job at all in tomorrow's trained and competitive world.

Youth will find it eminently worthwhile to

take full advantage of public and private

education, plus the numerous training opportunities now available.

Light industries in increasing numbers

will probably locate in rural areas where a

ready supply of workers can commute to

nearby factories and enjoy living away

from congested cities. Enlightened employers could provide day-care centers at

the place of employment, to draw on the

reservoir of potential female workers with

young children. Women so employed

would be able to perform at maximum

capability, knowing their children were in

the hands of competent teachers and

trained child-care specialists who would

prepare them educationally, physically

and socially for their further schooling.

Rural schools of the future would then

take off from day-care centers of this

kind: Head Start, for instance, and other

pre-school programs to prepare for better

quality education in consolidated schools.

They might even have weekday boarding

facilities in sparsely settled areas. More

rural schools could be brought into the

mainstream of society through advanced

teaching aids and techniques—television

classes, language laboratories, teaching

machines, expanded library service,

broader vocational training, better guidance and counselling. Multicounty educational plans would stretch resources to

bring to sparsely settled areas the highest
quality of instruction for the largest number of students.

Health and welfare services in rural

areas need more attention in the future.

More young women will need to become

nurses, therapists, medical technologists,

social workers, and the like. Facilities to

provide preventative and remedial health

care will have to be greatly augmented

among rural people. This, in turn, will

mean that rural areas must become attractive as places to work and to live for both

the professional and nonprofessional people who will be needed. The same can be

said for welfare workers ; many more case

workers and other personnel will be required to seek out and assist the needy.

Rural communities will prosper when

their residents enjoy high quality education for their children, adequate health

care and welfare services, and employment close to where they live. With higher

incomes from stable employment there

will be more business for the merchants

and shopkeepers in the rural community.

The prospering towns will then be able to

provide the social, cultural and recreational opportunities to enrich the lives of

young people, their parents and the community as a whole. Concerts, plays, festivals, sports activities, clubs, hobbies, fairs

—all can be supported by a thriving rural

community.

But all this will remain "dream stuff"

unless we plan now for tomorrow. Cooperative effort and careful planning can

make these dreams come true. Those who

choose to live in rural areas must be given

a meaningful opportunity to do so. Rural

youth of today, with work and determination, can make a difference. They can help

to bring about the promise of tomorrow.

87
,^<

. '-im

t-.z^.
PAGE TITLE

index

the li^ortd wi*

live in

5 World Population

6 Growth of U.S. Population

7 World and Regional Population Under

25, 1965

8 U.S. Youth, 5 to 19 Years of Age, 1900-

60

9 Where They Live: Rural Youth, 5 to 19

Years of Age

9 U.S. Youth in 1960: Their Race and

Residence

10 Net Migration During 1950-60 of Persons 15 to 19 Years of Age in 1950

11 Regional Distribution of Rural Youth,

5 to 19 Years of Age, by Color, 1960

preparitiff for life

13 Enrollment in Elementary and Secondary Public Schools

High Schools Catching Up With Elementary School Enrollment

14 More Youth Get High School Diplomas

14

PAGE TITLE

15 Most Youth Are High School Graduates

15 Enrollment in Vocational Agriculture

Rises While Number of Farmworkers

Shrinks

16 Enrollment in Federally Aided Vocational Classes

16 Total and Rural Enrollment in Vocational Education, 1966

17 Total Enrollment in Vocational Education Courses, 1966

18 Federal, State, and Local Shares of

Expenditures for Vocational Education

19 Area Vocational Education Schools

20 Local School Districts in the United

States

20 College Enrollment

20 College Students Growing Proportion of

All 18 to 21-Year-Olds

21 Bachelor Degrees Earned in Major Fields,

1964-65 . . . And Enrollment for Advanced Degrees

22 Job Opportunities Are Determined by

Growth Plus Replacement

23 Formal Training Is Needed for Most

Rapidly Growing Kinds of Work

23 The Need for Health Service Personnel

Will Rise Sharply in the Coming Decade

24 Rural Enrollment in Manpower Development Training Act Programs, 1966

25 Trainees in Health-Related Occupations

Under the Manpower Development

Training Act, 1962-66

25 Average Annual Earnings of Males, 25

to 64 Years Old, 1963

26 The Farmer's Education and What He

Earns, 1960

27 Median Income for Males 25 Years and

Over, by Education and Age, 1964

PAGE TITLE

28 Percentage of 5-Year-Olds Enrolled in

Kindergarten, 1960

29 Students Retarded in School

29 Students Accelerated in School

30 16 and 17 Year-Olds Enrolled in School,

by Residence, Sex, and Color

31 14 to 24-Year-Olds With Less than 12

Years of Schooling and Not Enrolled

in School, 1950 and 1960

32 School Dropout Rates Higher Among

Southern Teenagers Than Those in

North and West

33 Enrollment of Indian School Population

Ages 6 to 18, by Type of School

33 Enrollment of 16 and 17-Year-Olds in

School: Spanish-Surname and U.S.

Average, 1960

mukinff a lifinfj

35 Economic Growth Spurs Employment

36 Nonfarm Employment Swells as Farm

Employment Shrinks

36 Our Labor Force: Today and Tomorrow

37 Employment in Major Industry Groups

37 White-Collar Occupations To Register

Biggest Employment Gains During

1960-75

38 State and Local Government Workers

Outnumber Federal Employees, 1966

39 It's Still A Man's World in Most Occupations During 1966

40 The Rural Labor Force of 1960 Was:

Mostly Young Adult, Male, White and

Southern

41 We're a Nonfarm Nation for Jobs

89
index, list ofreferences

PAGE TITLE

42 Long-Term Decline in Agricultural Employment Is Heaviest Among the SelfEmployed and Unpaid Family Workers

42 Farmworkers Face More Seasonal Unemployment Than Non-Farmworkers

43 Farmworkers Outpace Others in Production Per Man-Hour

44 Blue-Collar Work Replaces Farming as

Top Job for Rural Men; Rural Women

Work Mostly in White-Collar Jobs

45 Occupations of Rural Workers : Yesterday and Today

46 Occupations of Rural Negroes, Indians,

and Spanish-Surname People

47 More Out-of-Door Activities, To Do and

To Watch, Predicted for Year 2000

48 Rural Civilian Labor Force, by Age,

1960-70

49 Replacement Ratios of Rural Males,

1960-70

50 Number of Young People in Labor Force

Grows Faster Than Total Labor Force

During 1962-66

50 Major Occupational Groups of Employed

Persons 16 to 21, 1965

51 In Nonfarm Population, Employment of

Young Workers in Their Twenties Outnumbers That of Teenagers

51 For Farm Youth, Employment Is Also

Proportionately Higher in the Twenties Than Teens

51 Among Youth, Unemployment Rates Are

Highest for Girls and Nonwhites

their iientili

itml H'vIi'aÊ'e

53 Days Lost Per Worker Because of Illness

or Injury, 1963-65

PAGE TITLE

54 Hospital and Staff Facilities, 1962-63

54 Health Insurance Coverage

55 Injuries of 6 to 16-Year-Olds, 1963-65

55 Injured Children Who Saw a Physician,

1963-65

56 Distribution of Days Lost From School

Because of Serious Illness, 1964-65

57 Youth Who Went To a Doctor for a

Chronic Condition, 1961

57 Youth Who Went to a Dentist, 1963-64

58 Death and the Migrant Worker

59 Rural Outpatient Psychiatric Clinics

Serving Youth, 1965

60 Mental Retardation Facilities, by Size

of City, 1963

61 Children Receiving Foster Care and

Other Child Welfare Services, by Residence, 1966

62 Aid to Families With Dependent Children, by Residence, 1961

62 Children in Aid to Families With Dependent Children Program, 1961

63 Counties Served by Full-time Child Welfare Caseworkers, 1965

63 Local, State, and Federal Spending for

Child Welfare

64 Participants in Special Milk and School

Lunch Programs

65 Participants in Commodity Distribution

and Food Stamp Programs

66 Delinquency, Dependency and Neglect

Cases in Juvenile Courts, 1965

66 Dependency and Neglect Cases in Juvenile Courts and Growth in Young Population

67 Rural Participation in OfSce of Economic Opportunity Programs, Fiscal

1966

PAGE TITLE

the qiiiilitff

of rural life

69 Average Age at First Marriage

69 Size of Families, by Residence

70 The Educational Ladder

71 Total Population and Number in Poverty

72 Rural Families and Their Income, 1959

72 Youth Under 18 and Family Income

73 Where Farm Family Incomes Came

From in 1965

74 Housing and Amenities, 1960

75 Nearly a Third of All Rural Youth

Lived in Substandard Housing in 1960

76 Pattern of Family Expenditures, 1961

78 Circulation of Public Library Books in

the United States

79 Source of Funds for Public Library Services in Areas of State Plans

80 Rural Participants in Youth Organizations, 1966

81 Membership Increase for Selected Rural

Groups

81 Total and Rural Membership in Scouting, 1966

82 Rural Participation in YMCA, 1966

90
list of

references

(1) Bowles, Gladys K., Beale, Calvin L., and

Bradshaw, Benjamin S.

1966. Potential Supply and Replacement

of Rural Males of Working Age, 1960-

1970. U.S. Dept. Agr., Statis. Bui.

378. Oct.

(2) Bowles, Gladys K. and Tarver, James D.

1965. Net Migration of the Population,

1950-60, by Age, Sex, and Color.

Population-Migration Rpt., Vol. II—

Analytical Groupings of Counties.

U.S. Dept. Agr. Econ. Res. Serv., in

cooperation with Research Foundation, Okla. State Univ. and Area

Redev. Admin., U.S. Dept. Commerce.

Nov.

(3) Burchinal, Lee G., Ed.

1965. Rural Youth in Crisis: Facts,

Myths, and Social Change. Welfare

Admin., U.S. Dept. Health, Educ, and

Welfare, JD-3001.

(4) Cowhig, James D.

1963. Age-Grade School Progress of

Farm and Nonfarm Youth; 1960. U.S.

Dept. Agr., Agr. Econ. Rpt. 40. Aug.

1963. School Dropout Rates Among Farm

and Nonfarm Youth: 1950 and 1960.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Econ. Rpt. 42.

Sept.

1964. Characteristics of School Dropouts

and High School Graduates, Farm and

Nonfarm, 1960. U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr.

Econ. Rpt. 65. Dec.

(5) Fitzwater, Charles O.

1967. Patterns and Trends in State

School System Development. Nati.

Educ. Assoc, Jour. State School Systems Devlpmt. 1 (1): 5-32. Wash.

D. C. 20036. Spring.

(6) Frantz, John C. and Cohen, Nathan M.

1966. The Federal Government and Public Libraries: A Ten-Year Partnership, 1957-1966. Reprint from U.S.

Dept. of Health, Educ. and Welfare,

Health, Education and Welfare Indicators. July.

(7) Freeman, Orville L.

1967. Agriculture/2000. U.S. Dept. Agr.

Unnumb. pub. May.

1967. Malthus, Marx, and the North

American Breadbasket. Foreign Aff.

45 (4) (pp. 579-593) July.

(8) Hammel, Harvey R.

1965. Labor Force Status of Youth, 1964.

U.S. Bur. Labor Statis. Spec. Labor

Force Rpt. 56, Monthly Labor Rev.

Reprint, Aug.

(9) Lewis, Willard M.

1967. From Buttermilk to Gum Log.

Amer. Educ. June.

(10) Mugge, Robert H.

1963. Aid to Families with Dependent

Children: Initial Findings of the 1961

Report on the Characteristics of Recipients. Social Security Bui. Mar.

'

1

(11) National Council of Churches.

1964-66. Town and Country Church.

July-August, 1964, 1965, 1966; March

-April, 1965; Sept.-Oct., Nov.-Dec,

i 1966.

¡

Ï (12) Schiffer, Clara G. and Hunt, Eleanor P.

1963. Illness Among Children. U.S.

Children's Bureau. Pub. 405.

(13) Sills, Horace S.

1965. The Schellsburg Story, A Process

of Ecumenical Action. Nati. Council

of Churches, Inform. Serv., New York,

10027. Jan.

(14) United Nations.

1966. World Population Prospects As

Assessed in 1963. U. N. Dept. Econ.

and Soc. Aff., ST/SOA/Ser. A/41,

Pop. Studies No. 41, New York.

(15) U. S. Congress.

1966. Profile of Youth—1966. U.S. Senate Doc. 124, Pt. 1, 89th Cong., 1st

Sess., U.S. Govt. Printing Off. Aug.

(16) U. S. Department of Agriculture.

1964. A Summary of Selected Characteristics of the Urban and Rural Populations, by State, 1960. U.S. Dept.

Agr. ERS-174. Mar.

1965. Fact Book of U.S. Agriculture.

Office of Information. 169 pp. Rev.

Jan.

1966. Rural People in the American

Economy. U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Econ.

Rpt. 101. Oct.

1967. Youth Work of Rural Electric Cooperatives, Member Service Program.

Rural Electrif. Admin. Jan.

Í: (17) U. S. Department of Commerce.

i U.S. Census of Population: Vol. II, Pt. 1,

1940; P-Bl, 1950; "Nonwhite Population by Race," Spec. Rpt. P-E, No.

3B, 1950; "Persons of Spanish Surname," Spec. Rpt P-E, No. 3C, 1950;

PC(1) IC and ID, 1960; PC(2) 4A,

4B, 4C, 1960; PC(2) IC, 1960; "Persons of Spanish Surname," PC(2) IB,

1960.

1966. Statistical Abstract of the United

States—1966. U.S. Bureau of the

Census. July.

91
indexm list ofreferences

(18) U. S. Department of Health, Education, and

Welfare.

1966. Child Welfare Statistics—1965.

Children's Bur. Statis. Ser. 84, Welfare Admin.

A Chance to Help, the story of SWEAT.

Pub. Health Serv. Pub. 1570.

1966. Digest of Educational Statistics

1966. Off. of Educ, OE-10024-66.

1966. Projections of Educational Statistics to 1975-76. Off. of Educ, OE10030-66.

1966. Juvenile Court Statistics—1965.

Children's Bur. Statis. Ser. 85, Welfare Admin.

(19) U.S. Department of the Interior.

1967. Outdoor Recreation Trends. Bur. of

Outdoor Recreation. Apr.

Annual School Census Report of Indian

Children Aged 6-18. U.S. Bur. Indian

Aff.

(20) U.S. Department of Labor.

1964. Formal Occupational Training of

Adult Workers, Its Extent, Nature,

and Use. Manpower Admin., Manpower/Automation Res. Monog. 2.

Dec.

1965. Occupational Outlook Handbook,

1966-67 Edition. U.S. Bur. Labor

Statis. Bui. 1450.

1967. Manpower Report of the President.

Manpower Admin. April.

(21) Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA).

VISTA, Questions and Answers, V-20,

Washington, D.C. 20506.

(22) White House.

1967. The World Food Problem. A Report of the President's Science Advisory Committee. Vol. I, Rpt. of the

Panel on the World Food Supply. May.

92

A selected number of charts in this book are

available as color slides.

Order from Photography Division, Office of

Information, USDA, Washington, D.C. 20250.

Complete set of 36 slides: $5.50. When ordering

refer to slides in Age of Transition. Make remittances payable to Office of Information, USDA.

A purchase order will be accepted from state

institutions. OCTOBER 1967

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1967 O—Z77-892

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Ofllce Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price 75 cents