Educated Out - by Mara Casey Tieken (Paperback)

About the Book

"A former third grade teacher in rural Tennessee, sociologist Mara Tieken attended one of her former students' graduation from high school and was struck that not one of the graduates was headed to the kind of elite four-year college where she had landed a tenure-track job. Her students were representative of a larger national phenomenon: In 2015, 28 percent of rural adults aged 25 and older held some sort of postsecondary degree, compared to 41 percent of urban adults. Rural students also trail nonrural students in educational attainment, especially bachelor's degrees from selective colleges. Why? Tieken asked. And what happened to the handful of rural students who did attend expensive and prestigious schools far from home? Tieken followed a group of nine students at a university she calls Hilltop, an elite New England private school. Through interviews with the students and their parents, Tieken describes critical moments in their educational lives when their rural origins mattered most: She shows how students, when applying to college, are hindered by limited college counseling resources. Once they've arrived on campus, they embrace opportunities and struggle to make sense of new social and academic climates. But as students approach graduation, Tieken shows, being "educated out" becomes a complicated burden to bear. None want to return home, and while some find jobs in big cities, others can't afford to. College thus requires an impossible sacrifice: for the possibility of a better life and better job prospects, students give up ties to their communities in irreparable ways, sometimes without even attaining the easier, richer life the students and their parents have worked so hard for. Tieken ultimately asks us not only to consider how space drives inequality in college but the choices that are demanded of students who try to escape rurality. Our stratified economic system depends on cheap rural labor, driving young people away from their communities. Without meaningful economic change, some students will have to make the impossible choice to leave home-and far more will remain at the margins with no way out"--

Book Synopsis

Through the stories of nine rural, first-generation students and their families, Educated Out shows how geography shapes college opportunities, from admission to postgraduation options.

A former third-grade teacher in rural Tennessee, education researcher Mara Casey Tieken watched as her former students graduated high school. She was shocked at how few were heading to college--and none were going to elite four-year schools. These students were representative of a larger national phenomenon: In 2021, 31 percent of rural adults aged twenty-five and older held a postsecondary degree, compared to 45 percent of urban adults, and rural students are especially unlikely to pursue degrees from private, selective schools. Why, Tieken wondered? And what happens to the handful of rural students who do attend elite colleges, colleges that may feel worlds away from home?

Tieken addresses these questions in Educated Out--a study that shows how geography shapes rural, first-generation students' access to college, their college experiences, and their postgraduation plans and opportunities. Tieken closely follows a group of nine students for their college years and beyond at an elite New England private school that she calls Hilltop. Interviews with these students reveal the critical moments in the students' educational careers when their rural origins mattered most: when applying to college, she shows how students are hindered by limited college counseling resources. Once on campus, they learn that many of the school's opportunities are not available to them: they cannot access spring break trips, job networks, or low-pay-but-important internships. These students discover that home and college are very different worlds with different academic, social, and political climates--and, over time, they start to question both. As they near graduation and navigate a job market in which the highest-paying and most prestigious opportunities are located in urban centers, they begin to feel the complicated burden of their schooling: they've been "educated out." Their stories show the costs of college for rural students: If they do not pursue higher education, they lose the opportunity for social mobility; if they do, they face a more permanent departure. These costs are individual, but rural families and communities also suffer--they lose young people with talent and skills.

In addition to advocating for a higher education landscape that truly includes rural students, Tieken critiques a system that requires people to leave their rural homes in search of opportunities. Our current economy depends on inexpensive rural labor. Without meaningful change, some students will have to make the impossible decision to leave home--and far more will remain there, undereducated and overlooked.

Both engaging and accessible, Educated Out presents important and timely questions about rurality, identity, education, and inequality.

Review Quotes

"We are indebted to Tieken for not only giving voice to rural students but also bringing rural life into the spotlight of sociological inquiry. Educated Out is a book that permits many different reads, from the perspective
of researchers, educators, and practitioners. And in each, we learn something new about the world we live in, especially the corners of it that we too frequently overlook.

-- "Contemporary Sociology"

From the perspectives of past students, idealistic respondents, and motivated parents, Tieken offers a nuance and appreciation for rurality, resilience, and hope. By detailing the personal triumphs and obstacles that many rural families must overcome in their pursuit of economic mobility, this book artfully calls for renewed investment in rural communities and greater institutional support for rural students. While college may not be the universal solution to economic mobility, this book offers an optimistic yet realistic account of what rural, first-generation students can achieve when given equitable opportunities.

-- "Social Forces"

This book offers a complex and eloquent analysis of the struggles rural youth face to make it work in college and at home. It is about big debates in education and society, about the role of geography and the socially just face of education and America. It demystifies media and popular discourses that devalue rural people and places and provides a thoughtful account of the challenges, costs and opportunities for rural youth to "study up" at an elite urban institution. Its power, for me, also relies on the author's astute sociological insights, her sophisticated prose, and in the qualitative longitudinal aspect of the study. Rarely do we see research that follows individuals for an extensive period of time, interviewing them and their significant ones several times, and building a research intimacy that provides space to unearth stories which transcend individuality. Against the objectification of the present, Tieken with her longitudinal and qualitative research, renders visible how rural young people make meaning of everyday life and use resources to build their biographies over time. Ultimately, Tieken paints a nuanced and insightful picture of growing up rural in America, contributing significantly to the rural education and sociological imagination.

-- "Australian and International Journal of Rural Education"

"This book offers a complex and eloquent analysis of the struggles rural youth face to make it work in college and at home. . . . Rarely do we see research that follows individuals for an extensive period of time, interviewing them and their significant ones several times, and building a research intimacy that provides space to unearth stories which transcend individuality. Against the objectification of the present, Tieken with her longitudinal and qualitative research, renders visible how rural young people make meaning of everyday life and use resources to build their biographies over time. Ultimately, Tieken paints a nuanced and insightful picture of growing up rural in America, contributing significantly to the rural education and sociological imagination."-- "Australian and International Journal of Rural Education"

"Dr. Tieken tells a powerful story of the sacrifices rural students and their families make to pursue the American Dream. Educated Out reveals hidden truths about our education system and shows how much colleges can learn from rural students and the places they call home."--Nicholas Hillman, University of Wisconsin-Madison

"Educated Out, represents a must-read for anyone interested in spatial inequities and higher education access for rural youth. The questions and issues that Tieken explores here are all the more salient given America's growing cultural and political divisions that are both rural-urban in nature and place our educational system increasingly into the 'Culture War' crosshairs."--Kai A. Schafft, Penn State University

"How do working class rural kids get into an elite college, make it through to graduation. Then do they move on to claim the rewards promised in the meritocracy? In this accessible, lucid and careful ethnography, we journey with Mara Tieken and nine rural youth through complex, often lonely, and ironically resistant identity work and relationship management they face in elite tertiary education. This book offers no easy meritocratic or boot-strap formulas. What it does offer are rich, situated accounts of the lived experience of young people moving between emotional, social, and physical geographies. It also offers inspiration and hope while illustrating, theoretically and empirically, the multiple place-based, social and cultural barriers, identity gymnastics, and the constellation of factors that must align in order for first generation rural youth to gain entry and thrive/survive in an institution not made for them. In the end, the question remains: 'was it worth it?' Tieken's compelling answer to this question is perhaps the most important contribution of this fine book."--Michael Corbett, Acadia University

"Educated Out masterfully reframes the debate on college access, exposing the profound spatial inequities that deny rural students the opportunity to pursue higher education, while elevating the resilience and unique perspectives they bring to campus. Vividly illustrating the rural student experience, Tieken dismantles stereotypes that rural students and their families lack ambition or simply don't value education, offering a bold and incisive call for a more equitable system that uplifts rural life without reinforcing cycles of injustice."--Nicholas F. Jacobs, Colby College

About the Author

Mara Casey Tieken is associate professor of education at Bates College. She is the author of Why Rural Schools Matter.