Education of select groups of rural people in Tennessee

This is a preliminary study of the educational status of rural people in Tennessee, and the relation of education to certain social and economic conditions. The data are analyzed and presented graphically by age, race, tenure, sex, residence, and such other classifications as are justified by the sample.

Parts I and II deal with the education of rural people on relief, the data on which the reports are based being obtained from a study of 2,873 relief households in 12 representative counties of the State. Assembling and analyzing these data was a cooperative project between the Division of Statistics, Finance, and Research, PERA, Washington, D, C.; the Tennessee Emergency Relief Administration; and the Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Tennessee. The information represents a 50 per cent sample of 2,663 relief households in ten counties from June to December, 1955, and 210 households in two counties for Juno, 1934.

Parts III, IV, and V, deal with the education of 2,570 farm operators in 22 counties of the State. The dates of the surveys vary, from 1917 to 1936. Data on each county represents a study of more than 50 farmers.

Little information has heretofore been published on the education of rural people in Tennessee, including the relief population. A study of the subject is desirable as a basis for a well planned system of adult education; in planning a program for children and unemployed young people who will remain on the farm or continue their school work; to enable colleges to better train teachers for rural schools; and to aid agricultural workers in formulating plans of farm organization and management.