"Tall Tales on Tour" consists of a mobile unit of books, posters, puppets, plays, videos, teachers' guides and other resources designed to kindle enthusiasm and love for tall tales in students in grades 3-8 and to establish links with rural Washington County, Maine, schools. The program consists of three main components: (1) immersing…

Comparing Maine to Appalachia, the author describes the similar educational problems related to school facilities, administrator and teacher attitudes, and practices. A discussion comparing American education to the English system notes the influence of Piagetian psychology and the importance of educational change beginning at the preschool level.…

Describes an ethnographic dissertation that portrays how patterns of culture and history in a rural community in Maine negatively influence many rural students' academic aspirations. Consolidated schools exacerbate the effect by separating students from their parents and communities and alienating them in school. (TD)

Two concepts have been confused: equality of opportunity and equality of ability, which has led us to link intellectual giftedness with elitism. This linkage undercuts the ability to nurture and benefit from the gifts of the gifted, an important issue in rural places experiencing either withering economies and loss of population or an influx of…

This paper addresses dilemmas facing rural schooling today as a result of industrialization and the changing nature of rural communities. Examples are drawn from the literature on Maine and West Virginia schools and from the movie "Hoosiers." Although some rural communities have benefitted economically from industrialization, in most…

This paper discusses the difficulties that rural students on a Maine island encounter as they make the transition from a small local elementary school to a large distant high school. The elementary school is characterized by small class sizes, close nurturing teacher-student relationships, and the involvement of parents and families. When students…