Town mouse and country mouse, we of anglicized schooling were
taught, realized that they were very different mice. They loved
their respective ways of living and could not live in the other
mouse's mileu. Country mouse could not learn the ways of the
town, and town mouse could not learn the skills of survival
required in the country. When we seek to school our children, it
may be wise to heed this parable. It is not that the children of
our cities and the children of our villages should be taught
different things. The curricula must obviously be of the same
standard. But it would be wise to recognize that the different
contexts have fostered different inherent skills and abilities.
Their initial upbringing would have also emphasized different
skills, so they start from a different qualitative baseline. Not
only are the students, but also the education environment
varied. Many rural schools have less robust buildings, problems
in access with seasonal variations, and less access to a range
of knowledge centres