Battle Rock: the Struggle Over a One-Room School in America's Vanishing West

School Administrator, Oct, 2003 by Ernie Jean

Battle Rock: The Struggle Over a One-Room School in America's Vanishing West is an extended case study of a small rural school in the southwest corner of Colorado. Battle Rock is a charter school in the Cortez School District.

William Celis, a former reporter with The New York Times, details one school year in this multigrade one-room setting that serves pupils in kindergarten through 6th grade. Not only does he record the educational activities, but the author interviews community members, board members, teachers and students.

Celis uses this study to look deeply into rural America, but not the one of our founders. It is a rural America that is coming full face with 21st century urban values. Celis attempts to show the clash between the generally homogenous rural residents and "new thoughts" of those moving into the country school from more urbane locales. Change is difficult for most in this setting.

While mildly instructive, Battle Rock would have limited value for most school administrators. It is a niche book describing incidents in one school during one year. Celis makes little attempt to extrapolate his findings to a broader context.

Rural education in America is not dead. In fact, there have been slight increases in the number of one-room schools in America. Demographers call this the rural rebound. Because of this, Battle Rock offers some insight into education at this level.

(Battle Rock: The Struggle Over a One-Room School in America's Vanishing West by William Cells, PublicAffairs, New York, N.Y., 2003, 233 pp. with index, $25 hardcover)

Ernie Jean

Consultant, Missoula, Mont.