[legion]

My wife taught for a year in a rural school district (Mattoon, IL). The kids were poor, far poorer than their inner-city counterparts. They just don't get the same attention (or funding) because they are not as densely concentrated.

The biggest problem was that the parents didn't care about their children's educations. Very few homework assignments get done, and notes home to parents are unanswered, and parent-teacher conferences are unattended.