Recent research suggests things schools and communities can do to protect children against the very real threats that confront families and individuals. This Digest interprets these findings for application in rural communities. Such a shift in thinking constitutes a radically new way of looking at an old phenomenon. Competence includes the capacity to deal with external threats, and all children need to develop such competence. Through overuse the term loses meaning.
Life inevitably entails threats, after all, no matter how comfortable one's circumstances.
Fortunately, researchers began studying infants born to at-risk families years ago. Some combination of circumstance and temperament helped these individuals to withstand the threats that life handed them. The presence of protective factors in family, school, and community environments appears to alter or reverse predicted negative outcomes and foster the development, over time, of resiliency. Across the nation, rural communities and schools differ dramatically from one another. No single set of prescriptions could possibly cover rural communities of Mexican Americans, African Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, or Appalachians.