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A series of chapter essays delves into the author's experiences as a high school teacher in Vermont's rural "Northeast Kingdom." In essays on such subjects as the Future Farmers of America, sex, courtesy, parents, college, and lovers' quarrels, anecdotal narratives are woven together with reflections on the challenges of teaching, demands peculiar to rural communities, and the difficulties of teaching anywhere. That teachers themselves are educated by their students is a point that is reinforced throughout the book. The essays frequently portray opposing realities: the promise and energy of the young, and the oppressive effect of their cultural and economic disadvantages; the beauty of the Northeast Kingdom and its people, and the rough and sometimes ugly edge of life there; the need for discipline, and the importance of rebellion. By taking the reader into school and out of it, the book explores the relationship of community, family and school to reveal the highest charge of the teacher's vocation: the real and potential lives of his or her students. (Author/TD)