“The School Is the Community”: The Creation and Recreation of Two Rural Southern Communities

• In Event: Rethinking the Community of the School: Who Belongs?

Abstract

Countering the urban focus of educational research, this qualitative study provides a more complete understanding of rural schooling—specifically, the ways in which public schools foster community in two rural Southern towns. It documents how the schools of each town pull together a particular group of individuals and knit this assortment of residents into a collective. It also examines the different forms and boundaries of community, explaining how the demographics and historical context of each community could influence these variations. This study underscores the losses many rural towns feel when their schools are closed, highlighting the need for educational policies more sensitive to the rural context, and suggests ways to strengthen the school-community relationship in both rural and urban geographies.

Author

• Mara Casey Tieken, Bates College