Class and geography profoundly influence rural youth's opportunities and aspirations for social mobility (Carr & Kefalas, 2009). Neoliberalism insists this mobility is achievable individually through education, though education is also often antithetical to the rural lifeworlds and communities of youth pursuing it (Corbett, 2007). These…

This article employs historical analysis of a unique collection of essays to examine the college aspirations of rural high school students. Although researchers attribute the low educational attainment of this population mainly to poverty and poor school quality, many scholars continue to believe that historically rooted cultural norms and kinship…

Rural areas in many parts of the U.S. experience population decline from outmigration. Geographic mobility has long been a contributing factor to the social and economic instability of rural communities; high-achieving and ambitious youth are inclined to leave rural areas to take advantage of the expansive economic opportunities and cultural and…

"Art and Social Justice Education" offers inspiration and tools for educators to craft critical, meaningful, and transformative arts education curriculum and arts integration projects. The images, descriptive texts, essays, and resources are grounded within a clear social justice framework and linked to ideas about culture as commons. Essays and a…

This article discusses how the conditions in Russia are changing the characteristics of rural families, reducing the prevalence of traditional culture, changing the behavior of rural youth, and increasing familial conflict and the incidence of divorce. The deterioration of the social and economic situation that is being experienced today by many…

This experimental research found differences between African and European subjects on shape matching responses which were believed to be due to cultural influences. (DM)

"Awareness" of drugs among rural elementary school students (N=53) was studied with a word-association test of drug slang and words with no drug connotations given to students randomly selected from each of the six grades. The study suggests rural students are not immune to influences of the drug culture. (Author)

Recent American research has explored developmental trends in gender segregation of children's peer groups. However, it is important to differentiate systematic trends in children from systematic changes in their environments. This report, based on data gathered from 1972 to 1975, presents evidence on gender segregation in Kipsigis children's peer…

Reports an in-depth participant observation of a rural American commune located in a canyon in Northwestern United States in the summer of 1971, focusing on the internal dynamics of the commune; values and beliefs are viewed as the primary focus of integration in addition to common definitions, solidarity, and other factors. (JM)

A growing body of empirical data suggests that there may be a true psychological distinction between academic and practical intelligence. If there is, then conventional ability tests used alone may reveal substantially less than we want to know about people's competence in everyday practical situations. Evidence to this effect is reviewed from…

Fifty-six bidialectical rural Hawaiian children participated in a study to determine whether they possessed comparable communicative competence in both dialects (Hawaiian-Creole English and standard English). The subjects, selected from kindergarten, first, third, and sixth grades, worked in groups of two to complete a communication task. Half of…

THIS BULLETIN OUTLINES THE FACTORS WHICH HINDER RURAL YOUTH IN OBTAINING JOBS, PARTICULARLY WHEN THEY MUST COMPETE WITH URBAN YOUTH FOR THE JOBS. FACTORS DISCUSSED INCLUDE OCCUPATIONAL ASPIRATIONS, CULTURAL INFLUENCES, LEVEL OF EDUCATION, FINANCIAL SUPPORT AVAILABLE, INTELLIGENCE LEVEL, OCCUPATIONAL CHOICE, PERSONALITY, SELF-CONCEPT, AND SOCIAL…

The 28 papers in the proceedings are separated into 7 categories according to the session at which they were presented at the annual meeting. The areas of rural life covered by the papers are youth, rural development in the 1970's, population, social change, race and culture, community and community development, and ecology and environment. (PS)