A study of seven school communities of Hawkins County, Tennessee

The University of Tennessee is the legal head of the public school system of Tennessee and its function is to serve the whole state in every possible way. Therefore, to meet a very urgent need, President H. A. Morgan established a Department of Rural Education in 1922 with the following objectives: (1) to study intensively rural school conditions in Tennessee; (2) to train teachers for the rural schools; (3) to cooperate with the state school authorities in every possible way in making the rural schools more nearly to meet the needs of the rural communities. In order that this program might be done more effectively, it was planned to make detailed surveys of the educational, social, and economic conditions in the rural counties of Tennessee: carefully study the data gathered; and then make such practical suggestions and recommendations as would tend to bring about an improvement, not only in educational, but in economic and social conditions as well. The first county to be surveyed was Union County in the fall of 1922 by B. O. Duggan, Professor of Rural education in the University of Tennessee. This study of seven high school communities in Hawkins County, Tennessee, has been made for two-fold purpose of promoting a readjustment of the organization and management of the schools and the improvement of instruction.