Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-17
RURAL EDUCATION
PROBLEMS STUDIED
Work of Church and Schools
Discussed at Institute
of Public Affairs.
BY THOMAS II. HENRY,
STAFF Correspondent of The Star.

UNIVERSITY Or E4fCGANAA, august
It's America to have Christian cities
and a pagan countryside?
There is serious drift in this direc-
ton, according to speakers on the prob
lens of the rural church at the lnsti-
tute of Public Affairs which closed here
today.
The great city with its bootleggers
and thugs, its levity and Its worldlness
its SelfiShnesS and its mad rush for
money, morally may be degenerating-
but it was generally agreed that the re-
verse picture hardly is TO be found out
among the green pastures and baobllng
brooks.
Cities with their up-to-date schools
and churches don't breed much crime,
said Rev. DR.. Henry W. Mclaughlin,
national director Of the country church
department of the Presbyterian Church
The cities with the highest homicide
rates, DR.. Mclaughlin pointed out, are
those in the centers of great farming
areas, which since the war have received
great influxes of population from the
country. The boys from poverty-Strlcken
homes, inadequate rural schools and still
more inadequate rural churches. he be-
lieves, break morally under the tempta-
lions of the city and the greater strain
of living
Fact and Tradition.
Once the farm was considered the
source of strong character and strong
bodies-a mixture of fact and tradition,
speakers at the round table pointed out.
which is much less true in these days OF
tenant farmers and mortgaged farms,
where congregations can't pay for edu-
Gated ministers and good school
teachers.
The rich city churches must recog-
ni2e this, declared the Rev. @. A. Will
son. jr., of Marion, Va, at the round
table today. before we have COM
pletely paganized countryside to re-
deem" Insisting that much OF the
difficulty was due to mediocre, make
shift ministry" Mr.. Wilson continued
that this dearth Of competent ministers
will continue with increasing intensity
until some means is devised Tor DIS
tributing to the country its equable
share of the church's resources OF men.
The problem must be worked out largely
by the city church. With notable eX-
ceptionS, strong men are attracted 10
the city today and the country gets
the leaVings.'
the farm family no longer represents
the facts. other speakers pointed out.
There has been a great change IN rural
amusements. Husking bees, spelling
bees, cuttings. neighborhood dances,
etc, are largely things OF the past.
Until recently there has been hiatus
with no source Of recreation IN tne
country itself, so that the farm 1amly
was forced to depend on the nearest
farm Now such organizations as the
Boy Scouts, the All Clubs and similar
societies are trying to remedy the
situation.
Children Neglected.
The church in the past has neglected
social facilities for young people, salo
Rev. DR.: J. M. Walker OF uo Gnati oon,
tinued. "in many cases has been SO
busy on the farm making living that
he has not given much time 10 tne
rearing of a Cody family and develop
ING the well-rounded life Of his chill
dren, His special cares have been nus
corn, cotton, wheat, horses, cows any
pies. His children have been left JUST
fo grow up.' They were a sort of by
product of the farm anyway. Recrea-
tion he often COMPOUNDED with idleneSs'
Better be pulling weeds, hoeing corn or
washing dishes. -. ~, u;.o
This was also true with his wife:
The steady grind and the monotony OF
her long hours robbed her OF nue. ,e,,
oripinaIity. so necessary to proper play
life and left her at the close OF the Gay
with no desire to cultivate the play HE
Of her children. She was too busy IN
the kitchen with her cooking or ABOUT
her washing and ironing"
The country school also has its snare
of the blame, said DR.: Edgar w. knlghC
of the University of North Carolina.
thousands of rural children are
GROSSLY Disseminated against" he de-
clared. MANY of the rural schoolhouSes
are marked by nakedness and deformlCy.
Numerous are the comfortless, old-fasn-
ioned, boxlike buildings. Many are un-
hygienic and dangerous. The tiny yards
are often unclean, sometimes httereo py
paper and scraps of lunches, and the
facilities for modesty, decency and pro-
lection of health and morals are lack
ing altogether or inadequate. Multi
tudes of the rural schools in the United
States are crimes against children.
One-teacher Schools.
"There are approximately 10000
one-teacher schools in the Unlte1
States. Of the 100000 rural and small
town teachers approximately 70 per
cent have had less than two years OF
study beyond the elementary school:
More than 100000 of the rural school
children in the United States are in
old-fashioned and primitive one-teacher
Many of the teachers are doubtless
doing the best they can. Chained in
their own helplessness, they are allowed
to warp the plastic minds OF little chill
dren, many of whom seek and find es-
cane from the dreary surroundings as
to5n as they are able, probably to be-
come stubborn opponents of any pro-
posal for schools better than they them
selves have known
The country is no place for the
anemic minister but demands a man
who can push his own lawnmower and
hoe his own garden" declared DR.. John
C. Siler of Baskerville, Va. Country
people will not listen with any great
respect" he said, ito man eXpound-
ing the Scripture who doesn't know the
difference between a jimson weed and
a tomato vine. Theological seminaries
should include a study of practical
economics and sociology"
Tho country pulpit IS the place for q
specialist, said DR.. F D. Goodwin,
Episcopal rector of Warsaw, Va.
Young men and old men cannot meet
the needs of the country church. He
must be a trained social worker. He
must make friends with all kinds of
weather. He must be something Of an
expert with gasoline engines. We need
no second-rate men,"
Air transportation in relation to
Southern industrial development was
discussed before the institute this morn
ing by j. Gordon Schannon Of Peters
burg, Va, president of the Virginia
State Chamber Of Commerce.
with its cotton, lumber and other
materials, its climate, labor and power,
the South offers possibilities for the
manufacture of airplanes which are OF
. equal importance to its development
as is air transportation ITSELF" Mr..
Schannon said.
"With 329 airports and landing fields
at the close of 1928 and 265 more con-
templated for early establishment, the
South is beginning to realize the grow.
81 YfnafnOd of