Some Plan to Become Teachers: Determinants of Career Specification Among Rural Youth in Norway, Germany, and the United States

Abstract

This comparative study deals with the selection of teaching as a career goal. To comprehend the meaning of observed differences in the relative popularity of teaching vis-a-vis other professional career alternatives, the general patterning of status ambitions is also explored. Sex and class differentials hold cross-nationally and are maintained with other variables controlled. A career in teaching is an important means for lower status youths and girls in general, to achieve a modest degree of upward social mobility. As entree into teaching becomes more competitive, this traditional escape valve for rural young people will become increasingly less accessible and, consequently, may lead to a decline in the proportion of rural youth seeking college educations.