This paper examines themes in Maine history and literature related to the character of traditional Maine people, particularly coastal people, and their attitudes toward education. The historical survey touches upon early settlement, subsistence farming, frontiers in the woods and on the islands, influence of the sea and sailing, and influences of…

Patterns of history and culture help define the path one finds acceptable and follows. In Tremont, Maine, out-migration coupled with the influx of summer visitors has helped create a culture that undercuts students' appreciation of their own abilities and diminishes their aspirations to postsecondary education. Maine students in the "high…

This paper addresses dilemmas facing rural schooling today as a result of industrialization and the changing nature of rural communities. Examples are drawn from the literature on Maine and West Virginia schools and from the movie "Hoosiers." Although some rural communities have benefitted economically from industrialization, in most…

This report overviews the rationale for conducting an ethnographic study of cultural factors that influence student aspiration in Tremont, a small rural community on Mount Desert Island, Maine. Although Tremont is the poorest community on Mount Desert Island, Tremont students scored as well or better on the Maine Educational Assessment than did…

There is an immense gap between the success that Maine's elementary school children achieve on national tests and the rate at which they go on to postsecondary education. This gap is not explained by Maine's low per capita income. Maine's homogeneous population created a culture valuing hard work, independence, pragmatism, family, community,…