No time to fool around with the wrong education: Socialisation frames, timing and high-stakes educational decision making in changing rural places

There have been as yet few qualitative analyses of either the lives of rural youth or their schooling in North America. While urban or suburban sociologies of education have focused heavily on the social mobility of youth, rural sociologies of education have focused on the geographic mobility of youth, typically out of rural areas. Indeed there have been a number of studies of youth migration from rural parts of North America, but these have almost exclusively focused on national or regional data sets. This study uses mixed methods in order to understand the interplay of structure and agency linking postsecondary decision making for rural youth and their families with the broader transformations at the structural level. Using semi-structured interviews and ethnographic observation, and drawing theoretically on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, this paper analyses decision-making frames employed by families in a coastal community to understand and navigate the increasing demand for formal education their children face in changing rural communities.