Morning on the high plains. Inside the red frame Hanging Woman school, 30 miles from the nearest paved road in the cattle country east of Sheridan, Wyo., Fifth-Grader Emily Myers, 10, sits at an upright piano practicing Silent Night for the Christmas pageant. Close by, a second grader starts her daily struggle with sums, while a fifth grader plays a geography game on a computer. Both seem oblivious to the plinking of the carol. Outside, snow is falling on waves of brown, sage-spotted hills.
At Salund elementary school in McLeod (pop. 50), N. Dak., Teacher Janice Herbranson, 51, has served breakfast...
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