It is becoming increasingly apparent that rural communities will have to alter their economic patterns as the United States economy shifts and rural areas cannot compete successfully with cities for emerging industries and future jobs. Instead of catering to the large firms and high-tech companies that are expected to predominate in the future, rural educators might be wiser to focus on training small-scale entrepreneurs--exemplified by family farmers. To do this, rural educators can draw on the proven strengths of vocational agriculture programs coupled with a new program--school-based enterprise. First suggested by Jonathan Sher in the mid 1970's, the school-based enterprise is designed to create jobs, to strengthen the ties between rural youth and their communities, to give rural youth real-life responsibilities, and to offer both entrepreneurial training and employment experience. Georgia and Arkansas have led the way in demonstrating that school-based enterprises can work in economically depressed rural areas. Successful projects in these states have ranged from publishing a town's first weekly newspaper to operating child care centers and developing a computer-assisted swine management program. For future rural development, vocational agriculture, cooperatives, and small-scale entrepreneurship offer better models for rural education than trade- and industry-oriented vocational training programs. (JHZ)