Much is made of the lost educational opportunities of students living in desperately poor urban communities -- and rightly so.

But, as I toured rural Mississippi last week on assignment for ASBJ, I was struck by the plight of another at-risk population -- poor students living in economically depressed rural communities.

This is not a small group of kids. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are more than 10 million students living in rural communities -- and more than one-third are eligible for free and reduced price meals. Nearly one in five of poorer rural students eventually drop out of school.

In Potts Camp, Miss., a rural community of about 500, Principal Ken Basil doesn't cite statistics but true-life stories -- of high school girls who look no farther into the future than marriage, and boys ready to graduate and start a life of farming or factory work. For them, college is not a consideration.

That's a daunting mindset for Potts Camp educators to tackle. When a teacher organized a "college night" at the high school, only one parent showed up, Basil says. "That's the biggest challenge, changing the expectations here."

Basil hopes the school has turned a corner. About half of last year's graduates enrolled in college, he says, and teachers are constantly preaching the message that the world is changing -- and education is the key to the future.

I thought that message was obvious. I thought most students gave up on college because their families needed them to work -- or their academic failure discouraged them. But apparently I was wrong. And that makes me wonder: Whether your school district is located in a rural, suburban or urban community, how many of your students simply don't "see" the value of continuing their education? It might be more than you think.

Del Stover, Senior Editor