TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 1970
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Rural American Paradox, Part I
IHIiuiinidiredls off small flown s must grow up
r.... By Gene Kelley
Lincoln Journal Reporter
Small towns and cities are in
trouble.
Size is the dual problem.
Villages are caught in a vicious
cycle. Population drain to the
cities leads to lack of full
services to rural customers and
this, in turn, makes the city
attractive to rural Americans.
The basic cause of the cycle
is the changes role of the small
town in society. Some will ad
just, some will become ghost
towns,'
What is going to be done to
ease the transition?
This series is an attempt to
examine the problem and find
some light at the end of the
tunnel.
Are little fowns ready to
grow op?
A village can be middle-aged
in its century year, a paradox
of hope and despair. Hundreds
of. small communities iff
Nebraska must grow up to
survive the rural-urban im
balance, assuming new roles in
community life.
The quest for the "good life"
which led some generations to
the concrete and steel of the
megalopolis may lead their
offspring back to the fresh air,
beauty and recreation of the
countryside.
Maturity suggests the ability
to confront the forces of change
and survive the transition.
". . . What is wrong with the
small community is that it was
designed to fulfill needs that no
longer exist and has failed to
restructure itself to keep up
with changes that are occurr
ing," said Dwight A. Nesmith,
Kansas State University ex
periment station director, at a
symposium on "Century-21, the
Future of the Small Communi
ty," in April, 1967, at Doane
College in Crete.
Symposium sponsors o f
Vision-17, southeast Nebraska
d e v elopment organization,
heard Nesmith say, "The key
to the future is change. And
conversely, the cause of most
of our major problems today is
resistance to change."
He added that, "our major
reason for doing the things we
do is that we have always done
them that way. And that is a
pretty good indication that
wha we are doing is wrong."
Vision-17, organized in
December, 1967, encompasses a
17-county planning area. Under
the name, Southeast Nebraska
Economic Development Coun
cil, the group had existed for
two years as an industrial pro
motion unit.
The organization is funded by
private donations from in
dividuals, business and
chambers of commerce.
Its avowed goal is to aid ex
isting development groups in
industrial and multi-county
community planning.
The Vision-17 board of direc
tors is composed of three
members from each of the
following counties: Polk,
Butler, Saunders, York,
Seward, Lancaster, Cass, Otoe,
Fillmore, Saline, Thayer, Jef
ferson, Gage, Johnson,
Nemaha, Pawnee and
Richardson.
Some villages will die
because they lack the flexibility
needed to examine their
resources and choose a new
reason to exist. Communities of
all sizes within a given region
must either pull together or fall
separately, said Dr. Howard
Ottoson, associate dean of the
College of Agriculture and
Home Economics, In a com-
munity workshop in Omaha.
America's urban centers and
small towns are both in trouble.
On the one hand, many small
towns have become empty
shells with boarded-up stores
and a majority of homes oc
cupied only by elderly citizens.
In contrast, figures compiled
by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture show that 70 per
cent of he population lives on
about one per cent of the
land.
U.S. Census Bureau experts
say that by the year 2000, cities
will sprawl for hundreds of
miles, with 100 million more
people stacked on top of the 140
million now in urban areas.
Envision a multi-city area of
60 to 70 million inhabitants, the
suburbs growing up instead of
out, to cut costs.
Growing up an echo of the
future. Nesmith sees an an
swer to rural decay in the bur
geoning population projections:
"If overcrowding is . . . the
major problem facing 21st
century man, then our problem
is solved. The small com
munity . . . will not exist. It
will be (part of) a large com
munity . . . spread over the
countryside."
Other specialists see towns,
small cities and open country
linked in a functional, multi
county community. The cluster
would have its own industries
and jobs, its own college,
medical center and cultural
recreational facilities.
Dr. Burt Evans, NU
agricultural economist,
characterizes the planning and
development program of Vision
17 as a "real vehicle for mutual
understanding of problems
which exist in all small
towns."
It's in the interest of a big
city to help small towns remain
stable and slow their population
loss, Evans said. "This
strengthens a city s economic
base. There's a very real in
terdependence between small
towns and a city economic
health in Nebraska."
"A small city down the road
or a big city across the state
may gain a little in population
if a village dies, but the state,
as a whole, is the big loser. The
people who move to California
and the East Coast are some
of our most vital natural
resources."
Evans said that Omaha and
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Eldridge outlines ideas
for improved programs
Lack of relevance in courses
and a need for more emphasis
on the quality of teaching in
the classroom are two reasons
for disruptive student activity
on campuses, according to Dr.
F. E. Eldridge, associate dean
of resident instruction at the
NU College of Agriculture.
Dr. Eldridge, in a speech
delivered at the North Central
Regional Symposium on
Improvement of Instruction at
Madison, Wis., said that these
two reasons must be considered
by agricultural educators in
charting the future direction of
agricultural colleges' teaching
programs and curriculum
development.
Students enrolled in
agriculture at NU hav
answered demonstrators here
that the Ag College courses are
relevant. Dr. Eldridge said.
Agriculture students have
declared, he continued, that,
"basically, we have the
responsibility for trying to feed
this hungry world.
"They (the ag students)
pointed out that there are more
deaths from starvation in this
world each week than there are
deaths from the fighting in
Vietnam."
Learning how to produce
more and better crops, more
and betteer livestock, Improv
ing the diets of people,
modification of food through
modern-food technology,
marketing, distribution and
processing of foods are all
relevant studies of the world in
which we live, he added.
Educators have made efforts
to solve the other cause of
unrest, teaching quality,
Eldridge commented. Many
Missing byline
Editor's note: In last
week's issue a column ap
peared, written in first person,
about journalism students
helping black junior high
students publish a newsletter at
the Malaria Community Center.
The writer's byline did not ap
pear with the sory. The story
was written by Miss Kathy
C'hristensen, NU Journalism
student.
institutions hold their own
symposiums on upgrading
teaching quality.
For example, he said, the
University of Nebraska holds a
one-day symposium between
semesters of the school year,
usually on the campus of
another college.
However, he continued, there
are many areas in which
teaching can be improved, and
in many parts of a univeersity,
little effort has been directed
toward teaching improve
ment. Student demonstrators have
been zeroing in on some of the
following areas within the
teaching program, Eldridge
said:
Overemphasis on research
by professors at the expense of
undergraduate students.
Too little individual atten
tion directed toward student
needs and too much emphasis
on being a college professor.
The need for an evaluation
of teaching so that professors
doing top quality teaching
would be adequately rewarded
and motivated to continue with
their teaching functions.
Employment of persons not
interested in teaching or who
are not performing teaching
jobs adequately.
Eldridge termed university
unrest and demonstrations
"very depressing," and recall
ed from his own student days
"a view of college campuses as
a place that was serene,
peaceful, and committed to
only the highest objectives of
human society."
"I don't want to lose this
rather idealistic view of our
universities," he added.
If agricultural educators can
Improve the quality of
teaching, there will be four
results, Eldridge predicted:
Unrest will not disrupt
College of Agriculture cam
puses. Rewards for good teaching
will follow demonstrations of
good teaching.
-National visibility will
develop for outstanding
teachers in colleges.
The industry of agriculture,
will continue to advance.
fey
Provacative photos by Jim Dean need no words to complete their message.
Look at them and take what you want from them.
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Registration is open
for reading course
Registration is open for a
new summer independent
reading course, Philosophy 6C,
"Current Issues and Current
Philosophies," which carries
three hours' credit.
The course, headed by Pro
fessor Stephen Voss, is a
critical survey of some current
controversies and of the
philosophies which seek to
resolve them, Voss said.
Topics he continued, might
Include racism, racial justice,
the university in contemporary
society, revolution, violence,
colonialism, war and the
respective rights of the in
dividual and of society.
The goal of the course is to
stimulate philosophical think
ing about such social, political,
and moral issues as tlioe
raised by the Vietnam War,
racial justice, the justification
of violence and of revolution
and the respective rights of (he
state and the Individual," Voss
explained
"In the readings selected, the
student should seek some
balance among the various
Issues and among various
perspectives, such as Marxist,
radical, liberal, establishment
and conservative perspec
tives," he added.
The course includes in-
Llncoln should spend more ty of roads, schools and social "This ".JJj'-S
time promoting outstate areas, services." And were is a aireci nan in u p"T. " '
"A ghost town in Johnson relationship between Johnson because of farms, t ranxiy, we
County would mean higher mill County prosperity and city do't buy that refrigerator until
levy and perhaps curtail quali- paychecks, he added. someone sells tnat cow.
Wisconsin's
Sen. Nelson
will speak
Wisconsin Senator Gaylord
Nelson will speak at the Union
at 1:30 p.m. July 8 on the
subject of "Life and Death of
the Environment."
Sen. Nelson, a Democrat, Is
author of a comprehensive
package of bills designed to
eliminate all forms of water
pollution. He has also initiated
interstate and federal action to
save the Great Lakes.
He is widely known as a con
servationist and for his legis
lative achievements in the field
of automobile and tire safety.
Since May, 1967, Sen. Nelson
and the Monopoly Subcommit
tee have been conducting an
investigation into the prescrip
tion drug Industry.
His legislative accomplish
ments include the National
Teacher Corps; the Nelson
Amendment to the anti-poverty
program, which puts the un
employed and elderly to work
on conservation projects: and
. the establishment of automobile
safety standards and tire safe
ty and quality standards.
A native of Clear Lake,
Wise, Nelson served as state
senator from 1948 to 1958, when
he was elected governor of
Wisconsin. He served as gov
ernor until 1962 when he was
elected a U.S. Senator.
dependent readings over the
summer, an individual con
ference or group discussions In
early September and a final
exam in late September.
The reading list is available
at the Extension Division, 511
Nebraska Hall, In order to
register a student must have
signed approval from his ad
visor or dean's office and must
register at the Extension
Division. Registration is open
until July 17.
UWAG opens
office in Union
The University Women's Ac
tion Group (UWAG) is offering
information and resource
material on the women's
liberation movement, birth
control and general counseling
and acceptance of complaints
of job discrimination on the
basis of sex, according to Con
stance Morrison, co-chairman.
The group recently acquired
an office In the Union, office IS
in the Activities Suite, room
345. The office will be open
most afternoons for several
hours, Miss Morrison said.
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SL
ANNOUNCING
The Mount Rushmore Presidential Institute
August 30th to September 4th
in the Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota
Nebraska Summer Repertory Theatre
PRESENTS
Dr. Sidney Warren,
United States
International Universityt
The President
' as World Leader
Dr. Louis Koenitt,
New York Vnivcrsilyj
The Presidency
and The Quality
of American Life
Richard Hansen,
Author of "The Year
We had No President!
The President
and Civil Disorders"
Dr. Fhillip C Bnxks,
Director, Truman Lihrnryi
The Presidential
Libraries and Heseiirch
Opportunities
A Mife of four fee turn bjr nationally known gchoUrt on
the Presidency
Opn to thMJUnts, faculty, teachen utd rneral public
UnaWgraduat and grwioab) vidft ixvn ia PpUv
leal S-ien availabla through Out l'nJvtnih of South
Dakota
Thus attrmtini for scholastic cmlit pay only $150, which
include rrgUtration, tuition, mral.t, kxliting; SchuUrtliips
up to 173.00 per student available
General public attending (not for credit) 190.00 o n I y
special arranginents can b made for accoinodaliop of
families
Tours of Wind Cave, the Spearfljh Paction Flay, the Pad
lands available at discount rates
Three Entertaining Plays
Indians
By Arthur
Kopit
Oh, What A Lovely
By William Shakespeare
A MUSICAL REVIEW
Opens July 6 uud continues in repertory
(except Sundays) through August 22,
SEASON TICKETS Available Now 4.50
Curtains At 8:30 P.M.
Air-conditioned
To moke arrangements call Richard II. Hansen, President of the Institute ttt 14-()07, Lincoln.
For inforrofltioit write r call: Theatre. Ticket Office. Hwtll Tkeatrt. 12th mi
11 R Streets, Lincoln, Nebraska, or phone 472-2073. Tkket Office is open from
. 1-5 p.m., Monday through Saturday.