Evening star., 1944-10-05

FTGStaGHL hOOSeDettS uuufSS8
yesterday to the White House
Conference on Rural Education
folloios.:
There are many things which we
have learned in this war. Among
the most important are those which
we have learned through Our Sc
lective Service System about the
health and education of the youth
of our Nation. We have found
that among those examined fol
selective service ~ per cent of all
registrants for selective service have
not gone beyond an elementary
school education.
That is why this conference on
rural education assumes such great
Importance in our planning for the
future. For while we plan for the
welfare of our returning veterans
first, and for the continued pros
perity Of our war workers, we must
also lay plans for the peacetime
establishment of our educational
system on a better basis than we
have ever known before.
Those should be the goals of this
conference on rural education.
Tribute to Rural Schools.
Rural teaching, country teaching,
the teaching given in the small
schools at the farm crossroads and
in the little villages and towns, has
played greater part In American
history than any other kind of
education.
The American form OF govern
ment was conceived and created
by men most of whom had been
taught in country schools.
Country schools prepared Amer
leans for the task of mastering this
continent.
Country schools trained a great
proportion of the boys who fought
the early American wars.
Country schools trained millions
Of those who are fighting this great
est of American wars today. They
will play their tremendous part in
the creation of the American future
to which the citizens of this country
are committed in their hearts and
souls.
1t is for all of us Americans to see
that the building of that future does
not lag because the country schools
are without the means to carry on
their essential work.
Country Schools Neglected.
The full attendance at this confer
ence and the agenda which it has
before 1t indicate the special atten-
ton which must be given to the
problems of the education of that
half of our children and youth who
live on the farms and in the villages.
So far as school opportunities are
concerned, these children have al
ways been, and still are, the least
privileged in the Nation. We are
justif1ably proud OF the splendid,
modern schools in our cities and
towns. We cannot be proud Of the
fact that many of our rural schools,
particularly during these years of
war, have been sadly neglected.
Within one school year after Pearl
Harbor, several thousand rural
schools had been closed because
teachers could not be found for
them. One of the leading farm pa
pers recently reported that in one
agricultural State of the Midwest
nearly third of the teachers in one
room schools are now persons hold
ing only emergency licenses to teach,
and nearly 800 schools face this COM
ing school year withGt a teacher. =
9 The basic reason for this situation
is simple. We all know what 1t is.
It3is not patriotism alone that has
taken teachers out of the classrooms
Most OF them simply cannot afford
to teach in rural schools.
Salaries Too Low.
The present average salary is less
than 81 900 a year and some salaries
go as low as $500. That is just too
small by any decent standard. Only
the self-sacriicing devotion OF
teachers who put their duty to their
schools before their consideration
of themselves permits the children
Of many American school districts
to get the education to which all
Americans are entitled.
Frankly, the chief problem of
rural education is the problem of
dollars and cents. You and 1 know
that. We know also that in very
many cases the problem cannot be
solved by increasing the local taxes
because the taxable values are Just
not there.
I have pointed out before that the
gap between educational standards
in the richer communities and those
in the poorer communities is far
greater today than it was 100 years
ago.
We must find the means Of closing
that gap-by raising the standards
IN the poorer communities.
I believe that the Federal Gov
ernment should render financial aid
where it is needed, and only where it
Is needed - in communities where
farming does not pay. where land
values have deprecated through
erosion or through flood or drought,
where industries have moved away,
where transport facilities are in
adequate or where electricity is un-
available for power and light.
Right to Free Education.
Such Government financial aid
should never involve Government
interference with State and local
administration and, control. It must