Conserving Rural Public Schools Is Not Reform
Apart from centuries-old religious institutions, there is probably no system in the United States as fundamentally conservative as its public schools. And, among the various types of public schools, none is nearly as conservative as the rural K-12 schools safely tucked away in Midwestern farmlands, Appalachian hills, and Southwestern deserts, among other sparsely populated places.
The trouble with this philosophy of tradition and preservation that permeates rural schools is that, more often than not, rural schools are far from high-performing organizations that empower students to make choices about the kinds of lives they hope to live. According to The Condition of Education 2007, put out by the National Center for Education Statistics, “Public schools located in rural areas were less likely to report offering AP