ABSTRACT
This chapter offers interpretation relevant to rural school consolidation and the arguments that have made it such an attractive proposition both in Braxton County and throughout twentieth century America. The story of Little Kanawha is more than the story of one school, or of one region in the US. It is one story that probably represents thousands of American rural schools. The chapter analyses the dynamics of national schooling trends and policies in the US since the early twentieth century as they have affected rural schooling. American rural schools have historically been involved with adapting children to the world of work, first as rural populations flocked into regional population centers, and as they are challenged to create career-oriented rather than place-oriented citizens. Rural school consolidation symbolizes the economic transformation of the country from an agricultural one to an urban and suburban one.
