This ERIC Digest reviews past and present rural educational philosophy, focusing on the views of Wendell Berry, a Kentucky farmer and novelist who in recent years has emerged as a leading American philosopher. The major difference underlying rural and urban living is the relationship of people with nature. Rural living is much more closely related to nature. Farming, fishing, and logging--typical rural enterprises--must be carried out in ways that conserve the natural world. This principle seems less relevant in an urban setting, where production can often be pressed to whatever level the markeet will bear. Historians believe that schools have incorporated urban tendencies and have required students to become little more than good producers and consumers. The Commission on Country Life, created by President Roosevelt in 1908, was an attempt to counter rural to urban migration. One solution was to stress the study of nature in rural schools in hopes that the appeal of urban life would weaken. By 1920, this movement lost its momentum perhaps due to its proposal that small, rural schools consolidate into larger schools, which was resisted by rural communities. Wendell Berry contends that at present rural schools actively contribute to the decline of rural areas, in both environmental and human terms. Berry calls for a liberal arts curriculum that incorporates rural knowledge and concerns. This will empower rural youth to undertake wise action to cultivate practices and knowledge that will influence their lives for the better. If rural communities are going to survive, rural education must re-establish its equilibrium with nature. (LP)