Gerald W. Smith Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

Gerald W. Smith 81
Wversity] at that time and the mst dominant educational leader in
western Illinois was one of the people whom I becm personally ac ainted
with as a result of that experience, as well as the admhistmtors&
munities Like Quincy, and Pkcomb, and Galesburg, and the larger
professional life also of public school people centewd in the
State Teachers Association, now known as the Illinois Education
You mved Into activity in the state association thm@ your divis/ions,
regional divisions, we wem: in the Western Illinois Regional Divisim which
reached from Galesburg to Macornb, I'm somy to Quincy, a whole block over
there in Western Illinois. I imdiately became active in that and served
as a delegate to the State Education Association ny second year, in 1929,
which was first mle in that activity. We met here in Springfield in
the auditorium of the Centennial Building. So, I began to move and I be-
gan to hold offices and to serve on codttees and to be known by rm~
mng rry fellow educators within that area.
Q. In your own dnd, how did you justify to yourself using your time and
your energies for this kind of thing? For this kind of professional acti-
vity, how did you see that in relationship to your own school district and
your own responsibilities there?
A. Well, first of all I envisfoned each one of these orgqmizations as a
supporting force for education and it was qy judgement that many of the
things that core out of leadership and supportive activity that strengthen
schools cam throw the leadership of those organizations. So, I really
felt that I was serving school district well by behg active in those
organizations, first of all because I becam mch better Informed about
the activities and the problems and the issues of the day, and I also
becm a participant in them. I saw that as a contribution to the school
district in which I worked.
Q. This was a natural progression for you, then, an evolutionary progression
in your own growth.
A. Yes. I felt then, and I have always felt, that althorn school districts,
probably in a financial way and sometimes in terms of time, do have to make
a contribution through their personnel, I have always felt that those school
districts probably receive more rewards than the cost.
Q. Is it fair, do you think, for me to think about this kind of thing over
the years in this context? As I think back of own experience, roughly
to the s m time, the era that you were speaking of, the various associations
and societies that existed that were of interest to me as a future acadedcian
generally tended to be directed toward self-improvement, improvemznt
of the educational processes, improvemnt of the local institution and this
kind of thing. But through the years these organizatfons have taken on
quite a different purpose, and it seems to me that one of the reasons we're
receiving so much criticism in education today is the fact that we have
allowed these things to becom self-serving rather than serving the cause
of education.
A. Well, I belong to the generation that definitely has that cmvi
t
tion,
that's Ti&t. I can think in all those years, when I attended thos organizational
meeting that I'm talking about, rarely ever hearing anyth g