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John D. Rockefeller's General Education Board and the Rural School Problem in the Midwest, 1900–1930

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2017

James H. Madison
James H. Madison*
Affiliation:
Indiana University, Bloomington
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Extract

In 1923 John D. Rockefeller's General Education Board embarked on a project to reform the public schools in two rural Indiana counties and thereby to demonstrate to Hoosiers and other midwesterners the necessity and wisdom of fundamental change in rural education. The GEB demonstration project in Johnson and LaGrange counties developed from more than two decades of wide concern and voluminous writing about America's rural problems, particularly as they applied to schools. The Indiana project thus drew not only on Rockefeller money but on the best efforts of professional experts to define and solve the rural school problem.

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Articles
Information
History of Education Quarterly , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , Summer 1984 , pp. 181 - 199
Copyright
Copyright © 1984 by History of Education Society 

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References

Notes

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17. Hughes, Hilda to Bachman, , March (?), 1923 Folder 3250, GEB. See also LaGrange, Standard, June 5, 1925.Google Scholar

18. See letters to Bachman from LaGrange County, March, 1923, in Folder 3250, GEB; LaGrange, Standard, March 9, 1923; Hughes, to Bachman, , May 18, 1925, Folder 3253, GEB.Google Scholar

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20. Bachman, Frank P., “Indiana School Survey,” typescript, October 19, 1923, Folder 3247, GEB.Google Scholar

21. Bachman, to Flexner, , June 1, 1923, Folder 3250, ibid.Google Scholar

22. Minutes of the General Education Board, May 24, 1923, ibid.; Bachman, , “County Unit Demonstration in Indiana,” Folder 3250, ibid. Bachman, Frank P., “Memorandum re Indiana County Demonstrations,” typescript, August 30, 1923, Folder 3250, ibid.; Burris, Benjamin J., “Preliminary Report of Supervision in County Demonstrations,” Indiana Department of Public Instruction Educational Bulletin No. 74 (Indianapolis, 1924), pp. iv–v; LaGrange Standard, March 9, 1923; Franklin Star, September 25, 1923.Google Scholar

23. Bachman, , “Memorandum re Indiana County Demonstrations,” Folder 3250, GEB.Google Scholar

24. Ibid.; Bachman, Frank P., “Work Completed and in Prospect 1922–1923,” typescript, June 29, 1923, Folder 2806, GEB; LaGrange Standard, June 29, 1923.Google Scholar

25. Public Education in Indiana, p. 21.Google Scholar

26. Pittman, Marvin Summers, The Value of School Supervision (Baltimore, 1921); Borass, Julius and Selke, George A., Rural School Administration and Supervision (Boston, 1926); Anderson, C. J. and Jewell Simpson, I., The Supervision of Rural Schools (New York, 1932); Carney, Mabel, Country Life and the Country School, pp. 281–301; Dunn, Fannie W., “What is Rural School Supervision?” Journal of Rural Education, 3 (January, 1924): 198–203; Davidson, Isobel, “Rural School Supervision as an Agency for Improving Rural Schools,” Journal of Rural Education, 1 (September, 1921):3–12.Google Scholar

27. Flanagan, Kathryn, “Supervision in Our Rural Schools: A Demonstration,” Indiana Teacher, 69 (January, 1925:7.Google Scholar

28. Bachman, , “County Unit Demonstration in Indiana,” Folder 3250; Bachman, to Carney, , June 29, 1923, Folder 3250, GEB; LaGrange, Standard, January 25, 1924; Krackowizer, Alice M., “Report on Supervision in LaGrange County for General Education Board, 1924–1925,” Folder 3258, GEB; “Value of Rural School Supervision: Results of Two-Year Demonstration in Indiana,” Indiana Department of Public Instruction Educational Bulletin No. 84 (Indianapolis, 1926), pp. 14–21; Cremin, Lawrence A., Shannon, David A., and Townsend, Mary Evelyn, A History of Teachers College, Columbia University (New York, 1954), p 74. The four supervisors were Langvick, Mina M. and Fuller, Rachel Anne in County, Johnson and Hildebrand, Earna and Barnes, Ina G. in County, LaGrange. Barnes died in 1924 as was replaced by Jonine Amundsen, also a graduate of Teachers College. Krackowizer, Alice M. replaced Hildebrand after she left to get married in 1924.Google Scholar

29. Bachman, , “Memorandum re Indiana County Demonstrations,” Folder 3250, GEB.Google Scholar

30. LaGrange, Standard, September 7, 1923.Google Scholar

31. Bachman, Frank P., “For the Attention of the Executive Committee,” typescript, August 30, 1923, Folder 3250, GEB.Google Scholar

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33. “Value of Rural School Supervision: Results of Two-Year Demonstration in Indiana,” 8, 10–11. See also “Preliminary Report on Supervision in County Demonstrations,” Indiana Department of Public Instruction Education Bulletin No. 74 (Indianapolis, 1924); LaGrange, Standard, May 1, 1925.Google Scholar

34. Sherwood, to Bachman, , September 14, 1926, Folder 3255, GEB.Google Scholar

35. Bachman, to Sherwood, , December 26, 1924, Folder 3252, ibid.Google Scholar

36. Yount, Warren J. to Bachman, , May 29, 1925, Folder 3253, ibid. Google Scholar

37. Burris, to Flexner, , June 22, 1923, Folder 3250; Burris, to Bachman, , November 16, 1923, Folder 3251, ibid.; Burris, Benjamin J., “County School Administration in Maryland…,” Indiana Department of Public Instruction Educational Bulletin 69 (n.p., 1923). In addition to Smith, Burris, Yount, and Hughes, the superintendents of Whitley and Rush counties made the visit to Maryland.Google Scholar

38. Bachman, to Smith, Henry L., May 6, 1925, Folder 3253, GEB.Google Scholar

39. Bachman, , “Memorandum re Indiana County Demonstrations,” Folder 3250, ibid.Google Scholar

40. Krackowizer, , “Report on Supervision in LaGrange County,” Folder 3258, ibid. Google Scholar

41. Bachman, to Flexner, , October 16, 1923, Folder 2806, ibid. This attempt to restructure the rural school program grew out of widely accepted notions that “The greatest fault in the rural program is in the large number of classes reciting daily.” Barnes, Ina G., Rural School Management (New York, 1923), p. 97. Barnes' book was published soon after she arrived in LaGrange County. It is a volume in Macmillan's Rural Education Series, edited by Mabel Carney. See also Reinoehl, Charles M., “Organization of One-Teacher Schools,” Journal of Rural Education, 1 (October, 1921):49–59.Google Scholar

42. Carney, to Burris, , March 7, 1924, Folder 3252, GEB.Google Scholar

43. Burris, to Bachman, , September 13, 1924, Folder 3252, ibid.Google Scholar

44. Value of Rural School Supervision: Results of Two-Year Demonstration in Indiana,” 12; Minutes of the Johnson County Teachers Association, February 25–26, 1924 (Franklin Public Library, Franklin, Indiana).Google Scholar

45. Krackowizer, Alice M. to Bachman, , May 27, 1925, Folder 3253, GEB.Google Scholar

46. Gray, Mark R. (ed.), Historical Resume of the Indiana State Association of Township Trustees (Indianapolis, 1931); Adams, Jesse E., “What County Superintendents Do in Indiana, and Their Relation to the County Board of Education” (Masters thesis, Indiana University, Bloomington, 1922), pp. 42, 46–47; Public Education in Indiana, pp. 133–48.Google Scholar

47. Bachman, , “Memorandum re Indiana County Demonstrations,” Folder 3250, GEB.Google Scholar

48. Bachman, to Flexner, , October 16, 1923, Folder 3251, ibid.Google Scholar

49. “Value of Rural School Supervision: Results of Two-Year Demonstration in Indiana,” 6. See also Bachman, to Burris, , October 1, 1924, Folder 3252, GEB.Google Scholar

50. Krackowizer, , “Report on Supervision in LaGrange County,” Folder 3258, GEB. See also Langvick, Mina M., “Report of Supervision in Johnson County, Indiana, 1923–1925,” typescript, Folder 3257, ibid.Google Scholar

51. Burris, to Bachman, , September 13, 1924, Folder 3252, ibid.Google Scholar

52. Burris, to Bachman, , December 22, 1923, Folder 3251, ibid.Google Scholar

53. Swope, A. D. to “Dear Brother Trustee,” October 24, 1924, copy in Folder 3252, ibid. See also Burris, to Bachman, , November 8, 1924, ibid.; Indiana State Party Platforms, Scrapbook I (Indiana Division, Indiana State Library, Indianapolis); Indianapolis News, May 9, 1924, November 3, 1924; Franklin Star, November 3, 1924.Google Scholar

54. Sherwood, to Bachman, , January 30, 1925, Folder 3253, GEB. On the margin of this letter Wickliffe Rose, president of the GEB, wrote “GEB has no funds for such purposes.” See also Sherwood, to Bachman, , February 2, 1925, ibid.Google Scholar

55. Bachman, to Sherwood, , February 13, 1925, ibid.; Sherwood, to Bachman, , February 17, 1925, ibid.Google Scholar

56. Hughes, to Bachman, , June 3, 1925, ibid.Google Scholar

57. LaGrange, Standard, June 5, 1925; Amundsen, Jonine to Bachman, , July 24, 1925, Folder 3253, GEB.Google Scholar

58. LaGrange, Standard, May 11, 1923.Google Scholar

59. Shaw, to Bachman, , January 11, 1924, Folder 3252, GEB.Google Scholar

60. Langvick, , “Report of Supervision in Johnson County,” Folder 3257, ibid.Google Scholar

61. Bachman, to Walb, Clyde, April 25, 1924, Folder 3248, ibid.Google Scholar

62. Krackowizer, , “Report on Supervision in LaGrange county,” Folder 3258, ibid.; Langvick, , “Report of Supervision in Johnson County,” Folder 3257, ibid.; LaGrange, Standard, January 25, 1924, May 1, 1925; Krackowizer, to Bachman, , May 27, 1925, Folder 3253, GEB.Google Scholar

63. Barker, Perry M. to editor, Indianapolis Star , January 4, 1925. See also Hanan, , LaGrange County Centennial History, pp. 32–33.Google Scholar

64. Krackowizer, , “Report on Supervision in LaGrange County,” Folder 3258, GEB.Google Scholar

65. Amundsen, to Bachman, , July 24, 1925, Folder 3253, ibid.Google Scholar

66. Bachman, to Smith, , April 4, 1925, ibid.; Bachman to Krackowizer, December 29, 1925, ibid. Bachman's initial enthusiasm for the Indiana project was clearly based on the assumption that the benefits would extend to the Midwest generally, not just Indiana. Bachman, , “County Unit Demonstration in Indiana,” Folder 3250 ibid.; Bachman, , “Indiana School Survey,” Folder 3247, ibid.Google Scholar

67. Hughes, Hilda, “Lessons in Supervision of Rural Schools from the Indiana Experiment,” typescript, Folder 3258, ibid. Hughes only briefly acknowledged resistance to the project. See also Hughes, Hilda, “Lessons in Supervision of Rural Schools From the Indiana Experiment,” Journal of Rural Education, 5 (September-October, 1925):39–50.Google Scholar

68. “Value of Rural School Supervision: Results of Two-Year Demonstration in Indiana”; Annual Report of the General Education Board, 1925–1926 (New York, 1926), p. 34; Sherwood, Henry Noble, “Equality of Educational Opportunity,” Department of Public Instruction Bulletin No. 82 (Indianapolis, 1926), p. 8; Hoppes, W. C., “The Value of Supervision in Rural Schools,” Journal of Rural Education, 5 (March-April, 1926):290.Google Scholar

69. Even Dean Smith failed to use the project findings in a study where they could have been most relevant. Smith, Henry Lester and Noffinger, Forest Ruby, “A Basis for the Improvement of Education in Rural Monroe County, Indiana,” Bulletin of the School of Education, Indiana University, 12 (1936):54–55, 61. And a study of LaGrange County schools in 1930–1931 failed even to mention the 1923–1925 project. Hamilton, Otto T. and Murray, Clarence L., “A School Survey of LaGrange County, Indiana,” Bulletin of the Extension Division, Indiana University, 17 (1931). For one follow-up study, see Marshall, Justin E., “A Study of Achievement of the Pupils in Johnson and Whitley Counties” (Masters thesis, Indiana University, Bloomington, 1928).Google Scholar

70. See, for examples, Report of the Indiana Rural Education Survey Committee, 1926 (Indianapolis, 1926), pp. 107–108; An Evaluation of the Indiana Public Schools: Report of the Comprehensive Study of the Public Elementary and Secondary Schools of Indiana (Indianapolis, 1949), pp. 49–51, 336–70; Report of the Joint and Consolidated School Survey Commission (Indianapolis, 1931), pp. 16–18; Favrot, Leo M., “Some Aspects of Rural Education in the United States,” August 6, 1932, typescript, Folder 3774, GEB.Google Scholar

71. Havighurst, Robert J., “Foundation Opportunities in Rural Education: For Discussion,” October 18, 1938, typescript, Folder 5917, GEB. See also Biebel, Charles D., “Private Foundations and Public Policy: The Case of Secondary Education During the Great Depression,” History of Education Quarterly, 16 (Spring, 1976): 3–23.Google Scholar

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