ABSTRACT

This chapter shows that higher family income students wish to get higher education and similar occupational or professional skills as their parents have'. This shows again that school has a major impact in shaping the daily lives of middle-class urban Indian adolescents. School is an important socializing factor, nevertheless variances in individual achievements may be ascribed to differences in factors beyond the individual's responsibility. India has a rapidly growing economy, facing a globally interdependent system of high technology, confronting the population with First World labour demands. Schools in India have to deal with complex and diverse conglomerates of students, facilities and opportunities. In India, it is not the rupture but the stretching of traditional values that becomes a means for the young person to realize his dreams for life'. The chapter shows how school environments as educational institutions play an important role as main influencing factors regarding children's future in India.