Education in rural America is saddled with a number of special problems, which are highlighted in this report. For the most part, they relate to the social and economic characteristics of rural regions as well as their general lack of educational facilities and services. The belief that a simple solution exists for these problems is untenable, for whatever that solution may be, it is likely to require more money, facilities and specialized manpower than can be supplied. The complexities of rural development make this perfectly clear. Nonetheless, through an examination of specific areas of concern, some new, problem-solving approaches within the capabilities of rural schools and communication technology can be conceived.
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References
1.
See KormanFrank, “Innovations in Telecommunications Technology: A Look Ahead,”Educational Broadcasting Review, Vol. 6, No. 5, Oct. 1972.
2.
Bureau of Educational Statistics, Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Nov. 1970.
3.
See, for example, The People Left Behind: Report of the National Advisory Commission on Rural Poverty, Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office, 1967.
4.
United States Department of Agriculture, Age of Transition, Rural Youth in a Changing Society, Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office, 1967, (Summarized in Edington, p. 3).
5.
EdingtonEverette D., A Summary of Research on Rural Education: Testimony to the United States Senate Select Committee on Equal Education Opportunity, Sept., 1971, ERIC ED 053 842, p. 10.
6.
The People Left Behind: Report of the National Advisory Commission on Rural Poverty, p. 41.
7.
MacLurkin (see footnote 23).
8.
Current trends in educational specialization conjures an impression that this list is just a starting point when compared to urban services. See also MacLurkin (23).
9.
United States Department of Agriculture, Rural People in the American Economy, Economic Research Service, report no. 101, Oct., 1966, (Summarized in Edington, pp. 2–3).
10.
Figure quoted is a conservative approximation based on CushmanM. L., The Role of School District Reorganization in Improving Rural Education, National Committee for Children and Youth, Sept., 1963, p. 9.
11.
Office of Education, H.E.W., Report of the Task Force on Rural Education, Washington, D.C., 1969, p. 12.
12.
Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
13.
“Instructional Television Fixed Service”, Educational Product Report, No. 31, Educational Product Information Exchange, New York, 1971, p. 12. (Total channel capacity changed from 31 to 28 educational channels since date of publication).
14.
MolendaMichael H., “CATV and Access to Knowledge”, in The Cable Fable, HeitlerBruce and KalbaKas, eds., special issue of Yale Review of Law and Social Action, Vol. 2, No. 3, Spring 1972, pp. 243–251.
15.
Bill sponsored by Cong. Tiernan (R.I.) in 1972.
16.
This is one conclusion reached with respect to a drill-and-practice program in elementary mathematics evaluated by Patrick Suppes and Mona Morningstar in Evaluation of Three Computer-Assisted Instruction Programs, Institute for Mathematical Studies in the Social Sciences, Stanford Univ., May 1969, pp. 52–53.
17.
For a discussion of the PLATO system see AlpertD. and BitzerD. L., “Advances in Computer-Based Education,”Science, Vol. 167, pp. 1582–1590. Mitre's TICCIT system is described in: Mitre Corporation, Toward a Market Success for CAI: An Overview of the TICCIT Program, McLean, Va., June 1972.
18.
For example, a Westinghouse Automated Learning Desk is described in Educational Product Report, No. 45, Educational Product Information Exchange, New York, 1971–72.
19.
These above are commonly observed barriers to the rapid diffusion of computerized instruction. They have been presented most recently in Educom. See also Oettinger.
20.
Bureau of Educational Statistics, 1970.
21.
The relative cost inelasticity to population scale of CAI is suggested in Table D in Richard E. Speagle, “The Costs of Instructional Technology”.
22.
Report of the Task Force on Rural Education, p. 37.
23.
MacLurkinW. D., Rural Education in the United States, New Mexico State Univ., Sept. 1970, p. 38.
24.
The concept of rural communications centers has been developed in Edmund FordH., Rural Renaissance: Revitalizing Small High Schools, Office of Education, H.E.W., Washington, D.C., 1961.
