Romania continues to be known as “the most provincial country” of Europe, the statistics showing that almost half of the Romanian population is represented by the rural population and that more than 45% of the population is involved in rural activities. Compared to the countries of the European Union Romania is situated among the last ones concerning the conditions of life of the population, while the countryside is of great account for the unfavorable balance in the case of our country. In the last 20 years (the transition period of Romania) the rural – urban discrepancies have deepened considerably: a decreased level of incomes; unstable sanitary conditions; a more decreased level of education and a bigger number of young people who abandon school; a more reduced level of comfort. The difference at the educational level between the rural and the urban is more evident if we consider the statistics: at a national level 44,6% of the rural population is involved in the educational process at all levels as opposed to the 80,3% of the involved urban population. The majority of these problems the ask for taking actions of educational politics suitable for securing a consistent improvement of the world of rural education, the consequence of which cannot be anything else but the rising of the standard of living in the rural environment through the reducing of the social and educational discrepancies between the rural and the urban. These are only a few of the premises that were the basis for the elaboration this work aiming at the analyzing of some elements of continuity and discontinuity in view of education in rural environment by means of its institutions. The main purpose of this paper lies in rediscovering the rural educational characteristic in order to lay emphasis again on the Romanian spiritual inheritance characteristic to the traditional rural communities and to synchronize it with the values of the present. Due to the fact that the pursuits for education in rural environment through the specialized institutes have seemed to be specific and continuous in Romania already since the second half of the 19th century, while in the interwar period we can say that it hit the roof, we considered it necessary to stop at the values of the past because they are worth it and they need to be part of the present and future of our cultural life through their reminding power.

In working out the changes that have taken place in the course of time the investigations on the spot were really helpful realized in the rural part of Transylvania. Within this framework the interviews with the old of the villages and the analysis of certain archives of the villages emphasizes the most the educational values of the past. These were of a special interest to us because the history of rural education represents the basis for understating the present state, and more importantly, for the elaboration of projects for the actions to be taken in the world of the Romanian villages.

Approaching one aspect of the characteristic of education in rural environment in Romania through the perspective of the past and the present, this paper wants to be a pleading for the need of returning back to the rural; for the desire for reawakening what once offered so much vitality and naturalness to our villages, but not only, but to our all society – the culture and education of the Romanian peasant. The reconstruction of social life in the Romanian rural environment has to find support in the cultural and educational segments. Since only culture can civilize the individual, while in order to become a civilized society first of all it has to become an educational one.