The philosophical debate about making high fliers out of low academic achievers in places considered educationally and culturally deprived like rural Appalachia warms the hearts of those who see education as the road to economic well-being for the nation. However, education reform rhetoric must be saleable to rural residents who distrust outsiders with big plans for making "deprived" people want to be "middle class." Changing rural schools means changing the community and its culture. This paper briefly reviews the history of education reform and resulting school consolidation in West Virginia since the early 1980s, and discusses local realities and responses in rural areas, particularly Braxton County, West Virginia. The discussion focuses on local opposition to state and national initiatives that pull scarce funding away from locally perceived needs, the interrelationships of rural schools and their communities, beliefs that education either prepares youth to leave their community or is irrelevant to their future, educational and occupational aspirations of Braxton County youth, attitudes toward community of West Virginia youth, and technological possibilities for rural school improvement. Contains 12 references. (SV)
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