Provides a brief overview of the Finnish educational system and examines the effects of family educational and socioeconomic background on access to and success in higher education. Data on 1985 and 1990 secondary school graduates and young adults indicated that children tended to aim at the same sort of education and jobs as their parents. (MDM)

This study reports on career and status aspirations of over a thousand children from low income areas in the South and is a follow-up study to a 1969 baseline study involving 1,503 fifth- and sixth-graders and their mothers in three low-income subcultures--rural white Appalachians, rural blacks, and inner-city urban blacks. In 1979, a total of 544…

Determinants of postsecondary education were examined for high school graduates in 1980 to determine whether minority students achieved good rates of enrollment and attainment; and to assess the relative importance of demographic characteristics, achievement in high school, and students' expectations. Data obtained from the High School and Beyond…