What is it about?
This article focuses on the tensions associated with rural education and rural community sustainment. Instead of taking an asset-based, funds-of-knowledge approach to interpreting and supporting rural identities, larger social narratives view rural children and families with a deficit perspective. Furthermore, educational systems often dismiss the funds of knowledge of children and underestimate the rural dexterity that is often present and developed within rural or nature-connected childhood experiences.
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Photo by Tim Hüfner on Unsplash
Why is it important?
If we are to sustain the vitality and futurity of rural communities in the heart of this nation, it is essential that we reframe, reinvest and reimagine educational opportunities that affirm, uplift, and value the experiential knowledge that rural youth bring to the table.
Perspectives
Aa rural kid of a migrant worker, I so enjoyed and appreciated the opportunity to write this article. It was cathartic and empowering for me to name my experiences and the experiences of so many children growing up in these regions. I plan to continue this line of inquiry and to focus specifically on the rural dexterity of immigrant, migrant, and multilingual youth who now make up significant portions of the student population in rural communities in the Midwest.
Associate Professor Amanda R Morales
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Valuing Rural Dexterity: Experiential Funds of Knowledge, Science Education, and Rural Kids, Great Plains Research, January 2019, Project Muse,
DOI: 10.1353/gpr.2019.0004.
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