Seven case studies illustrate how rural people and communities have resisted the arbitrary limits of public policy. In contrast to one-size-fits-all education policy, a history teacher in rural southern Texas motivated his Mexican American high school students to collect oral histories in their community, develop them into a curriculum, and teach it to second graders. A California mother home-schooled her daughter rather than submit to the school's insistence that she be placed in special education. An Alabama community's successful fight to stop consolidation of its school renewed local interest in community and democracy. A college student successfully challenged a National Collegiate Athletic Association decision barring her from sports because of its rigid adherence to arbitrary and regressive educational standards. A Minnesota city council, recycling center, high school, college, and legislature cooperated on a student-run bicycle repair and rental shop. A Native Alaskan adolescent mother completed high school through correspondence courses due to a self-defeating community policy that limited local high school education. A Mississippi community that recommended integration of a student-run credit union into the math curriculum encountered resistance from the school board because it was not the board's idea. Recognizing policy barriers encourages people to work toward replacing them with policies that reflect a broad, inclusive vision of human possibilities. A chart lists state legislative hotlines and contact information for state departments of education, education committees, state-based partners of the Rural Challenge, and state-based rural and rural education organizations. (TD)