
ERIC Number: ED172970
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1979-May
Pages: 29
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Federal Education Programs and Rural Development Needs: An Unrealized Potential.
Parks, Gail A.; Hoke, Gordon
The United States government has no true national rural policy toward education and rural community development. The need exists for the federal government to assume a different role in these areas from what it has traditionally played. In the past the federal education enterprise has failed to relate the design, purpose, or implementation of its programs to the needs of rural Americans. Rural school districts thus continue to lag behind urban areas with respect to federal funds. When access to federal programs depends on number of disadvantaged students rather than proportions, small rural schools often lose out to affluent metropolitan ones. Federal policies are often based on preparing students for an urban life rather than answering the needs of a rural setting. Rural communities are in great need of institutions that will strengthen rural life, serve all members of all ages in the community, and link education to other social services and economic enterprises within the area. Education must be linked with other rural development activities, and rural development itself should be based on comprehensive rural studies rather than on applications of urban models as determinants of rural life. This document discusses rural problems, explores shortcomings in U.S. policy, and examines a number of successful rural community development efforts. Specific recommendations to improve federal programs in education and rural community development are also given. (Author/DS)
Publication Type: Information Analyses; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Bureau of Elementary and Secondary Education (DHEW/OE), Washington, DC.; National Inst. of Education (DHEW), Washington, DC.; Office of the Assistant Secretary for Education (DHEW), Washington, DC.; Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the Rural Education Seminar (College Park, Maryland, 29-31 May 1979)