A College Program for Rural Sociology

Abstract

The departments of sociology in the American colleges can no longer be charged with the neglect of the rural community. No division of the science of sociology has made more rapid progress during the last ten years than has rural sociology. This progress has been mostly due to the emphasis that rural sociology has received in the program of the sociological departments of the colleges. Courses have been established in the majority of the colleges where sociology is taught, research has been undertaken, especially in the form of survey studies, and recognition for the rural social interests has been obtained at national conferences. The pioneer days of rural sociology are coming to an end, and from now on the importance of this division of social science will be taken for granted. The need of pleading the importance of rural social interests has passed. The teacher of rural sociology must now increasingly busy himself with the routine of teaching and with the problem of increasing the scientific value of his subject-matter. Teachers of rural sociology frankly confess their present difficulties in teaching their subject. There can be no reasonable question in regard to the importance of the social life of the rural community, but it is open to discussion whether we have as yet enough substantial knowledge regarding this social life to afford a comfortable teaching equipment for the instructor. To state this does not mean to discount in any degree the value of texts recently published. The task of the teacher of rural sociology has been lightened by these texts, but the books themselves bear the marks of the pioneering days of the study of rural social life. The instructor in the field of rural sociology finds his work less difficult than it has been but he still carries the handicap of teaching a body of knowledge for the most part still in the process of being