On the meaning of higher education for transition to modernity youth: Lessons from future orientation research of Muslim girls in Israel

Abstract This article examines the role that charting future orientation about higher education has for Muslim adolescent girls in Israel, as a case of transition to modernity adolescent girls. Based on quantitative (path models) and qualitative analyses (hopes and fears narratives) carried out in the last three decades, the article shows that (1) for Muslim girls in Israel investment in future orientation related to higher education reflect a desire for personal emancipation entwined with the pursuit of traditional family roles and community service. (2) Future orientation related to higher education mediates the indirect relation between family environment and academic achievement. (3) Their hopes and fears narratives indicate that Muslim girls in Israel are aware of the effect of the family on future orientation, of the instrumentality of high school academic achievement for fulfilling hopes about higher education, and of the inevitable tie between higher education and early marriage. The relevance of this analysis for the development of adolescent girls in other transition to modernity settings draws on earlier future orientation research, and on relevant socio-cultural and family processes underlying adolescents’ future orientation.