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)

Using data obtained from recent cross-national and longitudinal studies, the link between family influences and the traditional patterns of school achievement were assessed in terms of rural educational mobility and sex differentials within the context of the "sponsored" system of Norway's schools and the "contest" system…

Suggests that young women migrate from rural to urban areas in northern Scandinavia because the rural "periphery" is dominated by male economic and leisure activities. A study in northern Norway indicates that more young women than young men valued higher education and highly qualified careers, both of which were more attainable in urban…