The capacity to aspire for young people is significant, as they cannot choose to be what they cannot experience or imagine becoming. Student exchange programmes that expand experiences of STEM may increase opportunities, interests, and participation for rural young people in the STEM subject field. This paper creates a cartography with data…

Aspirations predict students' trajectories, and knowledge of how youth develop and achieve goals is crucial to supporting success. However, rural students may encounter constraining conditions that can curtail their aspirations, and students of color often face institutional barriers that impact their postsecondary pathways. Guided by theories…

Young people aspire, make choices, and develop within a particular place and historical context. Recently, federal and state governments, policy and research institutes, and advocacy organizations have shown a growing interest in the aspirations and transitions of rural youth--and, in particular, the role that schools play in shaping and…

Rural adolescents approach the transition out of high school with individual concerns about making an emotionally or financially expensive "mistake," family concerns about young people leaving home, and national and local concerns about declining rural economies and out-migration. The literature concerning this topic considers factors…

We argue here that critical educational scholarship is crucial to developing educational analysis attuned to the nuances of place, mobility, and change in rural locations. Critical sociological analysis, we argue, can also nuance and complicate simplistic portrayals of rural communities and their social, economic, and cultural character. Two…

Digital storytelling was used in a high school classroom in the Midwestern USA as a part of the curriculum for "non-university-bound" rural youth. Though described as "unengaged", in this paper we illustrate the way this digital storytelling project redefined the teacher-student power relationship, and students responded by…

Purpose is a concept receiving increasing attention in the developmental sciences. Making sense of your place in the world and finding meaning--a process fundamental to purpose--support positive development in adolescence and beyond. Using traditional ethnographic strategies, this article examines the development of purpose among a small group of…

Despite the significant proportions of rural Americans, schools, and public school students situated in the geographic peripheries of an increasingly urbanizing country, rural education in the United States has consistently occupied both scholarly and policy peripheries. This is to the detriment of rural America, especially to the extent that…

THIS ARTICLE REVIEWS RESEARCH LITERATURE ON EDUCATIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL CHOICES OF FARM BOYS, AND THE PROCESS BY WHICH THEIR OCCUPATIONAL PERFORMANCE IS INFLUENCED. IT CONCLUDES THAT GEOGRAPHIC ISOLATION AND PLANS REGARDING FARMING INFLUENCE THE NONFARM OCCUPATIONAL SUCCESS OF FARM-REARED YOUTH. THE ARTICLE SUGGESTS PRACTICAL PROGRAMS TO…

Questionnaires to determine political influence aspirations were distributed to 292 members of a rural Wisconsin high school junior class. Results indicated that a large proportion of these youth neither wished to nor believed that they could be politically influential at age 25 or even at age 45. (DS)

THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO ANALYZE THE EDUCATIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL EXPERIENCES OF THE 1959 HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS AT JUAB, SANPETE, AND SEVIER COUNTIES UTAH. INFORMATION WAS GATHERED AS OF OCTOBER 1960, AND APRIL 1961, THROUGH THE USE OF MAIL QUESTIONNAIRES AND PERSONAL INTERVIEWS. FINDINGS INCLUDED--(1) RATES OF COLLEGE ATTENDANCE ON THE PART…

THIS CONFERENCE REPORT CONTAINS A SUMMARY OF THE SURVEY MADE BY ELMO ROPER AND ASSOCIATES, "A STUDY OF THE PROBLEMS, ATTITUDES, AND ASPIRATIONS OF RURAL YOUTH," AS WELL AS THE MAJOR ADDRESSES FROM THE CONFERENCE. IT PROVIDES A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF DISCUSSIONS ON PROBLEMS OF RURAL YOUTH INVOLVING URBAN ADJUSTMENT, OCCUPATIONAL TRAINING…

A study was conducted to: determine the aspirations and capabilities of rural youth in selected low-income counties in Arkansas; relate aspirations, capabilities, and the discrepancy between the two to the experience background of the youths studied; and relate the youths' occupational plans to present and projected labor market requirements. The…

THE EDUCATIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL ASPIRATIONS OF RURAL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WERE STUDIED IN RELATION TO SOCIAL, CULTURAL, AND ECONOMIC FACTORS. QUESTIONNAIRES WERE ADMINISTERED TO AND COMPLETED BY 3,535 RURAL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS. SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION WAS GATHERED BY PERSONAL INTERVIEWS WITH 992 STUDENTS. COUNSELORS, ADMINISTRATORS, AND…