Rural Suburbia

I live in what I would call 'rural suburbia'. The population of my county has about the same number of people population-wise as the school system where I work has students. My neighborhood is a planned town community that will eventually be (somewhat) self-sustaining. The homes are close together, linked together by careful landscaping and sidewalks. The library and school are in place and shops will be along someday...post (dare I say it?!) recession. What is interesting about this county is that the people this neighborhood and a few other neighborhoods like it have brought with them the demand for crazy things like high speed Internet access (thank the Lord we have it where we live!) and quality technology in the schools. Hmph. Rural suburbia comes crashing down on a happily rural community!

So today I was in a meeting where somebody pretty high up where I work commented on the high speed access to our students and 'who wouldn't want that?!' and while YES! I love my high speed access, I think I can find some people who don't want that. They don't want their taxes raised and they don't understand the relevance of 21st century skills in their world. And me, being the empathetic soul that I am, sort of gets it that the concept of living in a flat world just doesn't seem to mesh with a county seeking to embrace the State Fair. But rural suburbia is pulling through and putting pressure on the school board to check in on our small school system and see that the computers are working.

But I hope a lot of things happen before my hypothetical children enter this school system of rural suburbia. They will be far ahead of their peers in access and literacy if things don't generally change. I know, I'm a snob! But sometimes the way we perceive ourselves down here v. how outside counties perceive us bugs me. Where I work is truly rural suburbia in its identity...an identity crisis happening every day somewhere in the county. Looking at where I live and how people where I work judge this county...people just crack me up! People in glass houses...seriously should not throw stones.