Young children from five ethnic groups completed surveys about self-concept, self-esteem, racial awareness, and knowledge of racial terms, attitudes, and preference. Anglo-American children had a viable self-concept. Most children were highly aware of distinct ethnic differences and liked all colors. Most minority children chose friends outside…

Research suggests that public schools and their authoritarian organizational structure contribute to adolescent alienation, which in turn fosters gang membership. This paper examines alienation and gang membership among eighth-graders in a rural middle school in south central Texas. All 147 students in grade 8 completed a modified version of the…

Little prior research exists on the achievement motivation of Mexican American students. In a rural south Texas junior high school, 120 eighth-grade students completed the 1969 Achieving Tendency Scales and demographic and socioeconomic questionnaires. Subjects were equally divided among four groups: Mexican American males and females and Anglo…

Attributions for school success and failure were examined among 112 Native American and 99 Anglo students at a large, urban multi-campus community college system in the Southwest, by using the Multidimensional-Multiattributional Causality Scale. All subjects were in remedial reading classes; 48% were male and 52% were female. Mean age was 24.1,…

This document comprises two papers. The stated purpose of the first paper was to describe the development of the "Cultural Attitude Scales" (CAS), a pictorial measure designed to assess attitudes toward the black, Puerto Rican, and Anglo-American cultures. The development of the CAS encompassed: (1) the derivation of an item pool from…

Utilizes the General Collectivism Index (GCI), a survey questionnaire, to compare cultural characteristics between Mexican and U.S. college students. Responses suggested Mexican students possess greater collectivist tendencies, especially in interpersonal relationships. (MJP)

Researchers attempting to identify factors that affect the participation of Mexican American females in science courses and careers studied cultural, social, and educational factors affecting 2,442 Arizona secondary school students. Questionnaire responses and interviews with the students and their teachers, counselors, and parents revealed that…

Comprised of two parts, this report discusses the pilot phase of the Model for Migrant Education and describes the model's adaptation and expansion to the normal classroom setting. Purpose of the model was to develop, implement, and field-test a model migrant education program which could be implemented in any school district enrolling migrant…

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between adolescents (particularly males) and their parents. The sample for the study consisted of 2,293 male and 2,482 female adolescents from 27 high schools representing all major regions of the United States. Each student in the sample completed a questionnaire measuring his parents'…

Begun in the summer of 1953, the New Mexico Developmental Education Project was to: study the social and emotional development of American Indian children in public schools; discover their interests, needs, and abilities using exploratory media; develop a language arts program that would be functional for all children; develop learning experiences…

Attitudes, personality, and career preference of Anglo and Cuban male and female medical students at the University of Miami were studied when they entered their surgical clerkship, and their performance was measured 12 weeks later. Most differences observed were a result of the Hispanic females, who may not be as assimilated into the core culture…

Children's perceptions of themselves and of their teachers' feelings toward them were correlated in this study with teacher perceptions of the children's self-concepts and with school achievement in an effort to document the relationships among these factors in terms of ethnic group membership (Mexican American and non-Mexican American).…

Communication between students and teachers is a basic requirement for learning to take place in a classroom. Like words and phrases, behaviors carry specific meanings which may vary across cultures. When teachers are not aware of cultural differences, when they assume that a behavior has a particular meaning while students assume it has another,…

Two studies reporting the results of surveys of minority student perceptions of isolation extant in desegregated school settings in Texas and New Mexico are presented. Study I involved Mexican-American students who were given a 25-item questionnaire concerning their perceived educational environment. Students were asked to what extent each…

A study examining student perceptions of teacher ethnic bias surveyed 2,409 Mexican American and non-Latino white adolescent dropouts and students from three communities in the southwestern United States. Although perceptions of teacher ethnic bias were not rampant, such perceptions existed to a greater degree among dropouts, Mexican Americans,…