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To date no major study exists on the impact of the Great Famine on patterns of participation in superior education in Ireland, or on the impact of superior education on the life courses and inheritance potential of boys from small farming families. This paper provides a historical analysis and interpretation of patterns of participation in superior education in post-Famine Ireland. It explores the impact of superior educational attainment on the life courses of boys from farming families and examines the strategies of inheritance adopted by their families in the post-Famine period. It is argued that micro-level research, utilising family reconstitutions and school records, is key to examining and understanding the relationship between the Famine, family background, strategies of inheritance and educational attainment in rural society. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]