A research topic relevant to anthropology and demography is the role of mass education in cultural change. A less frequently examined topic pertains to parental criteria for selecting which offspring should attend school. Such decisions are particularly important when education removes children from the household labor pool in societies featuring familial modes of production. This study employs multivariate categorical data analysis to construct and test a predictive model of Rendille parental decision making with respect to offspring education. Cultural traditions, subsistence patterns, and household characteristics are viewed as possible determinants of parental decision making. Results are interpreted in light of anthropological concepts of egalitarianism as well as the demographic wealth flows model.

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