山东乡村小学创办于19世纪末20世纪初。在1928年之前，由于战乱频仍，政局不稳，乡村小学发展缓慢，不仅数量较少，而且教育内容也存在明显的城市导向。乡村小学的发展滞后引发了一系列乡村问题，到二十世纪二三十年代，乡村危机凸显。这种现象引起了人们的重视，一些知识人开始对乡村小学教育进行反思。在这一时期山东的报刊上，发表了较多对乡村小学教育进行批评的文章。它们认为既有的乡村小学教育与社会隔绝、与大众绝缘，是造成乡村社会衰落的重要因素。要挽救乡村命运，不仅要大力发展乡村小学，更要实施“为乡村”的乡村小学教育。与此同时，由于这一时期共产党的势力正在逐渐深入乡村，为了与共产党争夺乡村“地盘”，山东省政府教育厅亦非常重视乡村小学的发展。在这种情况下，1928年之后，山东乡村小学进入了发展较快的时期。1928～1937年间，山东乡村小学数量增长较快，有些县份已达数百所，初步形成了一定规模。这些学校的创办人已不是传统意义上的乡绅，他们或者是乡村中的富裕地主，或者是富商，或者是军人或议员。他们希望通过开办学校提高自己在乡间的“权威”，并希望得到由学校带来的“保护”。同时，这也是他们谋取利益、争夺乡村中的权势的一种途径。这些人在乡村中办学，表明这一时期乡村中的“权势”正在发生“转移”。从这层意义上，可以说乡村小学的变迁构成了乡村的历史。作为教育机构，乡村小学最重要的任务是教学。这一时期，国家对乡村小学应该实施什么样的教育作了明确规定。其中，有两点与以前明显不同：一、注重“三民主义”理念的灌输；二、增加教学内容的“乡村性”。这两点体现出国家试图通过乡村小学培养乡村中新的知识人的期望。但在具体的实施过程中，乡村小学并未按照国家的规定执行，而是按照乡村固有的传统在运作。在教学内容上，仍然以四书五经为主；在教学方法上，亦类似于私塾。这说明国民政府的力量还未能“有效”的深入乡村，乡村小学的活动有它相对的独立性，传统的、乡土的的力量，仍然在乡村社会的历史舞台中饰演着主角。二十世纪二三十年代，山东乡村小学教师的来源比较复杂，有乡村师范学校毕业生，有师范讲习所毕业生，有中学或小学毕业生，还有旧式的塾师等。为了提高乡村小学教师的质量，并加强对其控制，山东省政府教育厅进行了小学教师检定工作。但是，乡村小学教师对于这项工作并不热心，甚至还有抵触情绪，报名参加检定者寥寥无几。国家政策在乡村小学中较难得到有效的贯彻，政府的规定缺乏应有的权威。另一方面，这一时期山东乡村小学教师待遇较低，生活条件较差。教师从事乡村教育并不是出于对教育本身的热爱，而更多是出于生活所迫，并且心中常有逃离的想法。在这种情况下，乡村教育要想得到很好的发展，实现乡村教育家所提出的“乡村教师救国”，是很难做到的。乡村小学在数量快速增长的同时，面临着教师不敷用的问题。为了解决这一问题，山东省政府教育厅采取了多种措施，如成立塾师训练班、办理单级师范养成所、创办乡村师范学校等。其中，乡村师范学校作为专门培养乡村小学教师的机构，在这一时期占了举足轻重的地位。1928～1937年间，山东共创办了26所乡村师范学校。这些乡村师范学校免收学费，并且每月有五元的生活补助，这对家庭贫困而有心向学的寒门子弟有非常大的吸引力。乡村师范学校对学生的教育以“乡村”和“师范”为中心，注重三民主义的灌输，注重知识教育、劳作教育和军事教育，体现了新的历史条件下国家培养乡村小学教师的努力。乡村小学在发展过程中遇到的一个重要问题是与私塾的争夺。民国之后，虽然国家曾屡次下令取消私塾，但最终难以奏效。到二十世纪二三十年代，私塾在山东乡村中仍然具有较大的势力。在私塾与小学之争的过程中，私塾作为传统的代表，主要依靠地方的力量。乡村小学作为现代的象征，不断诉诸国家的权威。具体表现为国家不断地在乡村中创办小学，并下令取缔私塾，而乡村人对政府创办的小学并不信任，坚持把子女送入私塾。二者的背离，既影响了乡村小学的发展，也带动了私塾的变迁。乡村中的私塾与小学之争，表面上看是两种教育模式、教育理念的争夺，而实际上体现了国家与地方的较量，传统与现代的矛盾，以及教师和塾师群体之间的利益纠葛。乡村小学不仅是教书育人的机构，还是改造乡村社会的中心。推动乡村社会由传统向现代转型，是乡村小学的重要社会责任。乡村小学教师从帮助乡村人解决实际问题、改善乡村人的生活入手，在改造乡村社会的结构、更新乡村文化心理等方面做了一些工作，在一定程度上推进了乡村社会的现代化进程，但是1937年日军的入侵打断了乡村小学教师的这种努力。目前，中国仍然处于向“现代”迈进的阶段，在这个带有过渡性质的阶段中，乡村仍然处于劣势和“边缘”。乡村文化的“失序”状态仍然有待教育来挽救。因此，乡村教育是一个直到今天仍然在持续的话题，并且在相当长的时期内，会一直延续下去。

The village primary school in Shandong was set up at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. It developed slowly before 1928 because the political situation was unstable. The amount of the Village Primary School was little, and the educational contents were City oriented. Many rural social problems were caused by the slow development of the Village Primary School. The Country Crisis came into being in the 1920-30s. This kind of phenomena received great attention of some intellectuals. They published quite a lot of articles about the primary education on the magazines in Shandong. The existing Primary education was considered not socialize and losing the common touch, and it was thought one of the important factors of the decline of the rural society. To change the Fate of the rural society, not only should they develop the rural school, but also they should implement the education for the rural. At the same time, the Chinese Communist Party was penetrating into the rural society. In order to contend with the Chinese Communist Party, the Education Department of Shandong took the Village Primary School seriously. In such a case, the Village Primary School in Shandong developed rapidly after 1928.The amount of the village primary school in Shandong developed rapidly during 1928 to 1937. There were hundreds of Village Primary Schools in some counties. The founders of these schools were wealthy landlords in countryside, or wealthy merchants, or army men, or parliament represent. They hope to have a rise in social status in rural society by setting up schools and to be protected by the schools. It was also a method of seeking interests for themselves. It indicated that the rural power was removing during this period. In this regard, the change of the village primary school made the history of the countryside.As an educational institution, teaching is the most important work of the village primary school. The government gave clear definitions of the educational content. The remarkable aspects were Three People’s Principles and the rural feature, which showed the government’s hope of bringing up new intellectuals in the countryside. However, they did not been put in practice. Actually, the teaching content in the village primary school was still "the four books and five classics", the style of teaching was similar to the old-style schools. This demonstrates that the power of government did not reach the countryside. The traditional power still had a high place in the countryside.The sources of the village primary school teachers in the 1920s and 1930s were complex. They were graduates of rural normal schools, middle schools, primary schools, or old-style private tutors. In order to improve the quality and strengthen the controls of these teachers, qualifying examinations were done by the Education Department of Shandong. But the teachers were half-hearted about this work and very few people responded. This demonstrates that government policy was difficult to enforce in countryside. On the other hand, the village primary school teachers got lower wages, and they lived in straitened circumstances. They became village primary school teachers not because of the passion about education, but of the pressure of life. Most of them wanted to escape from the village primary school. In such circumstances, steady development was hard to get.In order to solve the problem of teacher shortage in rural primary school, various measures were adopted by the Education Department of Shandong, such as conducting training course of old-style private tutors, setting up facility normal schools, and founding rural normal schools. Rural normal school, as the special organization of training rural teachers, was most important in these measures. There were 26 rural normal schools were set up in Shandong during 1928-1937. These schools were attractive to students who were poor and wanted to go to school because of the fee remissions policy and 5 Yuan extra expenses per month. The education in rural normal schools focused on ‘rural’ and ‘nomal’, emphasizing Three People’s Principles and the knowledge education, labor education, and military education, which shows the government effort of training rural teachers in the new historical situation.Disputing with the old-style private school was a troublesome problem during the development process of the rural school. The national government adopted measures to ban the old-style private school for several times, but it had limited impact. The old-style private school still occupied an important place in Shandong countryside in 1920s-30s. As the representative of tradition, the old-style private school relied on local power. As a symbol of modern, the rural school depended on the power of the state. New rural primary schools were keeping set up while the rural students were sent to the old-style private school. Seemingly it was the dispute between two educational ideals, but in fact, it is the conflict between the central government and local government, tradition and modernity, and the Interest between the old-style private tutors and the modern school teachers.Not only was the rural primary school as an educational institution, but also it was the center of rural society. It was an important task for rural school to change the rural society from tradition to modernism. The rural school teachers advanced the rural social modernization process to a certain extent, started with helping the rural people to solve practical problems. But the outbreak of anti - Japanese war interrupted the teacher’s effort.Today, China is still in the stage of changing to modernism, and the rural society is in a weak position in this period. The situation of rural cultural backwater needs education to save. So the rural education is still continued at present, and will go on for a fairly long time.