As the borders between rural and urban zones tend to vanish and different cultural worlds get mixed, the socio-economic difficulties make life a hardship for whoever lives from agriculture. The rural youth emerges as a population deeply affected by these processes. For a long time, this population has not been the object of academic research in Brazil. This article is thus aimed at calling the attention to the fate of the Brazilian rural youth, based on a research that tried to give hints to projects intending to diminish drop-out and illiteracy rates in such regions as the Vale do Jequitinhonha, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Rural youth; Identity; Education; Socialization; Assistance