The structuring of educational ambition among rural youth in Norway, Germany, and the United States was compared. The research thrust was to specify linkages between scholastic rank and educational plan. Social class origin, sex, residence place, and regional context were introduced as additional considerations. (Author/NQ)

This conceptual educational framework considers: (1) the idiosyncracies of national educational structures in Germany, Norway, and the United States in regions which represent a wide range of rural socioeconomic circumstances,and (2) scholastic rank as a determinant of ambition and as a sorting-out mechanism. Social inequalities resulting from…