Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

Publication Date

8-17-1973

Abstract

This study analyzed student and school characteristics in an effort to see effects these characteristics might be having on students' feelings about school structure and alienation from school. Several student characteristics were compared with feelings about school structure perceived as bureaucratic. Identification of students by ethnic groups (Chicano and Anglo), socio-economic status (high, middle and low), and students' sex were considered important indicants of students' feelings toward school bureaucracy. Other characteristics operating within students themselves were studied as possible clues to how students adapt to the school's organizational structure. Students' feelings of personal "power" and acculturation to socio-cultural behaviors found in an urban setting were measured. Student characteristics which are readily affected by schools, such as grade level, were studied in order to find out how they might be affecting students' feelings of school bureaucracy and student alienation. Another factor studied was the social class status of schools according to Title I classifications (high, middle, and low). Utilizing one way analysis of variance and multiple regression models, no significant relationships were shown between students' perceptions of school bureaucracy and alienation from school when student characteristics not directly affected by schools (sex, SES, and ethnicity) were utilized. It was only when school type characteristics (age-grade level and SES level of schools) were utilized in grouping students that significant relationships were found between school bureaucracy and student alienation. However, only a small proportion of variance (9%) was shared between school bureaucracy and alienation, acculturation, and total effectiveness for selected sub-samples. These findings suggest that while a significant statistical relationship exists between school bureaucracy and alienation from school, this relationship accounts for only a small portion of the variance and is not distinctively directional. Alienation patterns for elementary, junior high, and high school students were found to be different from each other in some respects. Therefore, using only one or two student characteristics, such as age-grade group or sex, for analysis purposes probably should be avoided. Even more importantly, any attempts to generalize findings utilizing only one particular student group to other student groups appears dangerously misleading.

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Educational Leadership

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy

First Committee Member (Chair)

Ignacio Ruben Cordova

Second Committee Member

Martin Burlingame

Third Committee Member

Horacio Ulibarri

Fourth Committee Member

James Allen Hale

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