ERIC Number: EJ1240282
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1839-7387
EISSN: N/A
Erasing Rural Massachusetts: Consolidation and the Urban Revolution in Education
Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, v29 n2 p66-77 2019
Massachusetts is the least rural state in the US, and its existing rural communities are shrinking. This paper examines the historical processes of urbanization, specifically through industrialization that have come to dominate and erase rural communities in the state. The capitalist mindset behind industrialization has spread to education where the state has a long history of pursuing consolidation as a way to deal with the supposed problems of rural schools. This policy represents a narrow viewpoint of what education should be and does not value the lived experiences of rural youth. These phenomena are analyzed using Henri Lefebvre's "Urban Revolution" in an effort to theorize the way education policy is being used by the state to increase urbanization and erase rural schools and communities.
Descriptors: Urbanization, Industrialization, Rural Areas, Rural Schools, Consolidated Schools, Educational Policy, Social Systems, State History, Rural Youth, Elementary Secondary Education
Society for the Provision of Education in Rural Australia. P.O. Box 659, Wembly, Western Australia 6913. Tel: +08-9285-0626; e-mail: admin@spera.asn.au; Web site: http://www.spera.asn.au/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Massachusetts
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A