Nobody doubts the importance of education in the configuration of any society, advanced or not, to guarantee its continuity over time. It is an aspect that obviously conditions its structure and determines its evolution. The quantity, quality and type of education is one of the crucial decisions, especially in the medium and long term, that public managers, with competencies in the matter, must make in order to improve society as a whole. In the democratic constitutions of advanced societies, general principles that affect education are included, for example, in the case of Spain, the right to education, freedom of education, university autonomy, free and compulsory basic education are included, to name a few, as well as many others of equal importance.

It is evident that what we label as "rural" is susceptible to different approaches, definitions or classifications, but it is a socio-economic and cultural reality that contributes to shaping the broader society in which it is integrated. Therefore, the general principles of the set must be applied to it, among them those previously mentioned. Accepting this implies that said general principles must be incorporated in an obligatory way, through the corresponding legislative development, but allowing and guaranteeing that the circumstances, peculiarities and contents of the part of society that we could label as rural are necessarily considered, a concept very linked to traditional culture and territories.

If we want to revitalize rural territories, update them and facilitate their survival and adaptation over time, it is necessary that education of all types and entity, especially regulated and official education, at all academic levels, offer an alternative to those who freely decide to continue with a lifestyle that allows them to develop the economic, cultural and territorial management activities that their ancestors have previously exercised and that also carry a cultural legacy that is part of the peasant heritage that they can transmit to them.

Formal education is needed to sustain the intellectual capacities of rural people and enable them to integrate their traditional knowledge with scientists.

Traditional knowledge must be transmitted, but its main route of transmission has not been formal academic training, so it is not necessary, although it may be appropriate, especially in specific issues, to adapt it to that format. Yes, it is essential to also provide, to those who inherit such knowledge, the academic and scientific knowledge necessary to adapt to the current environment and thus allow the subjects receiving the formation to integrate both types of wisdom to adapt and evolve in their rural activity in a way updated and solvent.

If the official “agrarian / rural” education has a broad base, with a high level and can be compared to any other activity in terms of level of difficulty and social prestige, it is possible to prevent the most capable from emigrating in search of alternatives, denying of the tangible and intangible assets of their ancestors or their families.

In vocational training there is much room for improvement. A specific professional training, but that also includes more general subjects (such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, literature, philosophy, languages, new technologies ...) would allow those young people who feel comfortable with their peasant family tradition and at the same time have concerns intellectuals in the scientific and humanistic field, can continue to carry out this activity while being equal in knowledge to any other student from another center with a different work or academic orientation, being able to continue with higher university studies if applicable. And this without having to decide at an early age if he rejects the life and family environment in which he was born. It would also allow those who do not have a family tradition to feel attracted to rural life, by having one more training alternative available.

That is, a high-level professional training that complements the dignity of rural jobs with a prestigious academic title for the agricultural, livestock, forestry, artisan, and food professions and that qualifies the student, future professional, matching said qualification and their profession to a high knowledge and also a high capacity, it is a good tool to guarantee the generational change in the peasant farms, and by extension to contribute to the continuity of the rural world.

Research supports education and journals such as JEEER contribute to increasing the scientific knowledge necessary to support the training necessary to update and integrate traditional knowledge with scientist, giving an alternative to those who want to remain and give continuity to the rural world. Research lines that promote the economics of education and its possible integration as a tool that helps to curb rural depopulation and the abandonment of sustainable management of the territory are a field of great research potential.