This paper/presentation is analytical and concept-oriented rather than strictly empirical based on my research experiences of the field during the last 25 years. I have formulated and will discuss several theses that seems to be more or less hidden assumptions about the educational qualities of small rural schools as learning arenas despite the fact that research studies and reviews point in an opposite direction. Starting with a short sketch of some historical main lines of rural schooling in Norway I present the first thesis about the largest school reform in Norway – the silent closing down of small rural schools based on the mechanism of deficiency (Kvalsund 1995, 2004; Kvalsund & Hargreaves 2009). The second thesis point to the fact that teachers in general (Arnesen and Sørlie, (2010) referring to Hattie (2009); Slavin 2008) and probably rural teachers in particular are considered to be an educational problem or challenge referring to the need of evidence based, pre-produced learning packages (Slavin 2008) – i.e. educational management based on teacher mistrust undermining teacher professionalism, autonomy and independence in work (Freidson 2001). A third thesis is that small rural schools are in fact instrumental institutions continuing the ‘rurbanisation’ of schooling i.e. transforming the educational content of rural schools on urban presumptions and values and at the same time silencing the professional voice of teachers. Two other theses are the propositions that small rural schools are too small and that they have a poor environment for social learning. (Kvalsund 1995, 2004, 2016). Theses that will be discussed are the proposition that small rural schools are inferior in knowledge learning (Kvalsund &Hargreaves 2009) The last thesis is that small rural schools are arenas of out-migration where young persons learn to leave their region and lovcal community (Corbett 2010?). These theses or preconceptions can also be traced in much educational research and add up to bias in research studies: small rural schools as schools to be closed down are neglected as part of the school variation and therefore not selected as cases or units of the sample of schools studied (Kvalsund 2009). This comes in addition to theories that can produce misleading perspectives and research footprints when applied in educational research in rural settings. These hidden assumptions and preconceptions can be felt by rural teachers as ‘trolls’ sitting on their backs, always there, out of sight and producing daily consequences – difficult for teachers to handle.