Public Narratives and Postsecondary Pursuits: An Examination of Gender, Rurality, and College Choice

There remains a need in education scholarship to understand how social processes act across levels to influence one another, drive cultural norms, and direct students’ postsecondary pursuits, with careful consideration of students’ held identities and the communities in which they are embedded. Utilizing narrative constitution of identity and the ecological systems model, this study uses qualitative data to illustrate some of the social forces that create and sustain cisgendered public narratives about education and careers in rural communities. Implications for future research on public narratives in rural communities and practical recommendations for combatting these public narratives; sharing counternarratives; and creating new, more inclusive public narratives are discussed.