ABSTRACT
Th eir days begin long before the sun starts its climb up the sloping mountains of East Tennessee. In cars dusted with weather and limestone, they curve their way through areas that bear descriptions for names: Hanging Limb, Crooked Creek, Bone Cave. Some traveling for more than an hour and a half, they leave behind hometowns where they commune with their neighbors through Sunday morning services and Friday night football. Th ey are deep country; they are rural America-they are nontraditional university students studying to become elementary teachers.
