Why Rural Schools Matter by Mara Casey Tieken

Author:Mara Casey Tieken
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Published: 2014-03-10T16:00:00+00:00

TIED TO THE SCHOOLS

And so it goes in Earle—school and town, past and future, hope and despair—all tied so tight. These schools have shaped this town. They have been used to separate white and black, to keep white children and black children apart, to keep their families and their communities apart, to maintain a historic, gaping division. These schools are also the leading character in a story of Earle, a story of decline—for most, a messy story of circling, spiraling declines of both town and school, declines linked in their descents; for some, a simpler story of a decline that began one night in 1970. Others, though, tell a different story of Earle, a story that explains the schools as a source of influence and control for the black community, political leverage within a system designed to withhold power. And now, the schools offer hope—both a necessary hope, the realization that the schools must lure business, bring stability to this town, and a bolder hope, the hope that these schools will ensure the future success of their graduates, the hope that these schools will save Earle itself. Much depends on these schools.

Yes, history hangs heavy in Earle. But as the decades accumulate, eras end, and others begin. Power and politics change, and a green shadow of mildew creeps up the side of a big white house on Highway 149. Different stories emerge—new stories not yet told, oft-told stories not yet heard, stories that begin to reflect and explain this change, this history. History is never over, but neither is it finished, fixed, permanent.

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