DKFFERENTiAL IMAGES OF SCHOOL TEACHERS Thai: for flu beam of M. A. MiCHE‘GAN STATE COLLEGE James C. Gamer 1954 :IHE; 1‘.) This is to certify that the thesis entitled Dif fer en ti al Images of Sch 001 Teachers presented by James C. Garner has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for M.A. degree in Sociology & Anthr apology 5 01m Major professor Date March 1, 1955 DIFFERENTIAL IMAGES OF SCHOOL TEACHERS by James C. Garner A THESIS Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Sociology and Anthropology 1954 .4 .“l slubt q ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am most deeply indebted to Dr. Wilbur B. Brookover, Professor of Sociology and Anthropology and Social Science, for the very great amount of time and effort that he has expended in the materialization of this thesis. Special appreciation is due to Dr. Brookover and Dr. Leo A. Haak and the Michigan Communications Study for making available the time and material, and for the many helpful suggestions that these two faculty members have made. To Dr. Charles P. Loomis, I am grateful for his patience, encouragement, and understanding. To both Dr. Duane L. Gibson and Dr. John Useem, I wish to extend special thanks for suggestions which have been incorporated in the thesis. J. C. G. 85082? \ TABLES I II III IV VI VII LIST OF TABLES RESPONSES BY AGE GROUIINGS RESPONSES BY EDUCATIONAL GROUPINGS RESPONSES BY OCCUPATIONAL GROUPINGS SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RELATIONSHIP OF "DON'T KNOW" RESPONSES TO OTHER RESPONSES GIVEN BY THE THREE SOCIAL GROUPINGS PERCENTAGES OF "DON'T KNOW" RESPONSES MADE BY MEMBERS OF THE VARIOUS AGE GROUPINGS PERCENTAGES OF "DON'T KNOW" RESPONSES MADE BY MEMBERS OF THE VARIOUS EDUCATIONAL GROUPINGS PERCENTAGES OF "DON'T KNOW" RESPONSES MADE BY MEMBERS OF THE VARIOUS OCCUPATIONAL GROUPINGS APPENDIX A: TABLES 1 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AGE AND OCCUPATION OF 211 RESPONDENTS RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AGE AND EDUCATION OF 211 RESPONDENTS RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EDUCATION AND OCCUPATION OF 211 RESPONDENTS iv PAGE 25 8: 26 35 & 54 38 & 59 45 49 5O 52 PAGE 71 72 75 CHAPTER II III IV TABLE OF CONTENTS THE PROBLEM Theory and Method The Community Background ofthe Study METHODOLOGY Independent Variables Dependent Variables ANALYSIS OF THE DATA Differential Images Differences in the Degree to Which Various Groupings Share in the Community Teacher Image Common Community Teacher Image CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY APPENDIX.A: Tables, Referred to but Not Included in the Text APIENDIX B: The Area Covered in the Sample APPENDIX C: The Questionnaire iii PAGE 11 14 17 24 24 55 62 69 71 74 75 CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM This thesis is an attempt to determine if the mem— bers of various social groupings in a midwestern town— country community have differential images of school teachers. The problem has three main aspects: (1) the extent to which images are shared, or held by social groupings in common, as opposed to differential images held by each of the groupings, (2) which of the social groupings are impor- tant in that the responses made by the members of the group vary from the responses made by a majority of those inter- viewed, and (3) what the components of the images, (or image as the case may be,) are. Theory and Method The theory out of which this study deve10ps may be divided into three main aspects. Basic to the whole study is image theory. Another aspect is the theory of reference groups. The final body of theory is that which deals with the teaching profession Specifically. .It is essential therefore to examine these three theoretical developments before proceeding with the analysis of the problem. The inception of the theory of imagry in the soc- ial sciences stems to some degree from Cooley's concept of the "looking—glass self". In his analysis he postulates that the reaction of the individual to his associates is similar to his appraisal of himself before a mirror. Thus, his conception of himself is a compilation of what he feels others think of him. "A self—idea of this sort seems to have three principal elements: the imagination of our ap- pearance to the other person; the imagination of his judge- ment of that appearance; and some sort of self feeling, such as pride or mortification. The comparison with a look— ing—glass hardly suggests the second element, the imagined judgement, which is quite essential."1 Out of this has grown the more recent image theory. The "image" in current use is expressed perhaps most con- cisely by Kimball Young, "....The true memory image.... is the recall or revival of the representation of the perception some time after the originating stimulus for the perception has disappeared. A perception although distinctly affected by central or internal factors, is externally aroused. Its inception lies in the stimulation of the receptor organs. In contrast, the inception of the memory image is through association from the internal or cortical field. The image is a kind of incipient, anticipatory perception centrally controlled."2 1C. H. Cooley, Human Nature and the Social Order, (New York: Scribner, 1905), p. 184. 2Kimball Young, Social Psychology: An Analysis of Social Behavior, (New York: F. Si CrOfts & Co., 1955), pp. 104—5. This view of the image is rather close to that held by many in the field of psychology. Drever says that the image is, ".... a revived sense experience, in the absence of the sensory stimulation, e.g. seeing with the mind's eye."5 Image as used above by Young and Drever is the corollary of the theory as it was used by Cooley. Newcomb makes this transition rather clear when he speaks of a boy who is adapting his r61e as a boy in our society. "The motivated r61e behaviors which the boy is acquiring include perceptual as well as performance aspects. He is learning new ways of looking at his social world and at himself. After all, his social world is composed largely of people who expect him to act like a boy of a certain age, and his picture of it is determined by the demands which those people make upon him. His self-picture is necessarily dev- elOped in relation to this picture of his social world."4 At this point, it will be of some value to place the image theory in its reference group setting. Any image one holds in necessarily derived from the range of his experiences. For this reason the group within which one finds himself may be important in the acquisition of images through assoc— iation with other members and also important in determining 3James Drever, A Dictionaryof Psychology, (Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1952), p. 127. 4Theodore M. Newcomb, Social Psychology, (New York: The Dryden Press, 1950), p. 412. which images are retained. Many writers have recognized this important relationship.5 Centers states, "A person's status and r61e with respect to economic processes of society imposes upon him certain attitudes, values and interests relating to his role and status in the political and economic sphere. It holds, further, that the status and r6le of the individual in relation to the means of production and exchange of goods and services gives rise in him to a consciousness of mem— bership in some social class which shares those attitudes, 6 values and interests." Newcomb says that every society is composed of a "complex organization of positions."7 Each of these positions performs certain functions toward the purpose of the system, and carries its own standards for behavior toward those who compose other systems.8 5While it is perhaps the most completely worked out statement of imagery and referent group theory the author has encountered, Merton's referent group theory is not ap- 'plicable to this problem. There is not sufficient Specific data for such detailed investigations. See Robert Merton and Alice S. Kitt, "Contributions to the Theory of Refer— ence Group Behavior", in Robert Merton and Paul Lazarsfeld, Continuities in Social Research, (Glencoe: The Free Press, 1950), pp. 40 - 105. 6Richard Centers, The Psychology of Social Classes: A Study of Class Consciousness, (Princeton: Princeton Univ- ersityPress, 1949), pp. 28 — 29. 7Newcomb, op. cit., p. 277. 81bid., p. 278. These stations may be based on age-sex, occupational, pres- tige, family, or associational groupings.9 These groupings form frames of reference. He states that, "The essential thing about a frame of reference, you will remember, is that it determines the way in which a thing is perceived."10 Lindesmith and Strauss see the reference group, not as the group to which the individual belongs, but the group to which he aspires to belong. Membership to the group with.which he identifies may be prohibited for some reason. On the other hand, the individual may not aspire to member- ship in any other group and thus, the group of which he is actually a member, becomes his reference group.11 Images or stereotypes of those who occupy various occupations are quite commonplace. The development of these images or stereotypes (about the occupational groupings) is best expressed by Waller, "Those who follow certain occupations play out the r61es which go with it rather con- _sistently. Other persons come to think of these r6193 as characterizing the occupation, and when they think of the one they think of the other. Experience of persons playing those r61es leaves residua in the form of imagined constructs 91b1d., p. 279. loIbid., p. 287. I 11Alfred R. Lindesmith and Anselm L. Strauss, Social Psycholggy, (New York: The Dryden Press, 1949), p. 253. relating to the appearance of behavior of persons falling within certain occupational categories. These imagined constructs are stereotypes. When a stereotype has been organized out of the community experience of persons belong— ing to certain occupational groups and consistently playing out certain r6163 that go with it, the members of the com- munity tend to organize all experience of the persons in such an occupation in terms of the existent stereotype; they have a low perceptual threshold for behavior conform- ing to the stereotype. ....When a stereotype has once become current, it may be passed from one individual to another by social contagion, and it tends to distort the first naive experience of new members with persons belonging to the group included in the stereotype."12 The teacher occupies a r6le which makes him partic- ularly amenable to this type of stereotyping. For one thing, it is known that typical teachers tend to come from a very restriCted range of background types.15 Most teachers are women.14 This virtual restriction to one sex also 12Willard Waller, The Sociology of Teaching, (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Ific., 1952}, p. 419. 15Wilbur Brookover, A Sociology of Education With Social Psychological Implications, (Ifierican Book Company, ypescrip capy , ehap. 10, p. 4. 14Ibid., chap. 10, p. 5. makes stereotyping easier. In addition, the teacher is expected to diSplay special virtues, after—hour require- ments are great, and the teacher is closely supervised in her life in the community.15 Waller feels that an inflexibility of personality, reserve, withdrawal in order to prevent others from really getting to know what the teacher is like, a "didactic and authoritative manner" in discussions, and conservatism to the point of primness, are all important in the formation of the popular image of the school teacher.16 In addition to the above, one might also postulate that factors which contribute to the social image of school teachers are: (1) teachers are present in almost every community, (2) teachers have played an important part in the life of almost every person in our society, (3) very few people had the Opportunity to understand the teachers with whom they came in contact, and (4) all too frequently the contacts with teachers have proven frustrating. The latter is especially true of "in-the-classroom" contacts. As has been outlined, images or stereotypes are perceived in terms of the segment of society, or reference group, of the person holding the image. Since members of 151bid., chap. 10, p. 10. l6Willard Waller, as cited in Brookover, op. cit., chap. 10, pp. 15 - 16. '- the referent group share similar experiences and values, it is possible that in perceiving and formulating images of groups, which, like school teachers, are readily amen- eable to stereotyping, these shared experiences and values will cause similar images to be held by the various members of the group. Also, since the experiences and values of the various reference groups differ, it is reasonable to assume a difference in the images or stereotypes held by the members of the different groups. Our problem is to determine if the members of cer— tain social groupings, which we shall select, do have dif- ferential images of school teachers or if they share in community images of the teacher. If the social groupings used.do have differential images it would seem to support the theory that in the aspect of teacher image involved, the social groupings which have the differential images are realistic social groups, or that they share certain conditions which cause them to have these differential images. In developing this problem, we shall, of course, make certain findings about directionality of differences, if we find differences. However, this is outside the main problem with which we are concerned. In terms of teacher recruitment, an effective means of learning the expectations of the power segments of soc- iety would be invaluable. It would be important also to learn how powerful the dissenting segments of society are. This thesis does not attempt to answer all of these ques- tions, but rather, to point out certain trends which may be helpful. The Community Background of the Study The community studied was that served by the St. Johns High School. It is located in Clinton County, Mich- igan in the south central portion of the lower peninsula. The city of St. Johns forms the center of the area and is the location of the high school. St. Johns was incorporated as a city in 1904 and its growth in population has developed at approximately the same rate as the corresponding rate for the state. In 1950 the official population was 4954. The population in the high school service area is about 7000. A large pro— portion of the population is native—born white. In 1950, 45.6% of the St. Johns pepulation were in this category. The newspaper, the Clinton County Republican, is a weekly with a circulation of 5582. It has a comparatively high proportion of Space devoted to school news and is con- sistently one of the best weekly papers in the state. This was one of the reasons for selecting this community for study. The larger project of which this is only a portion is concerned with school-community communications. 10 The city is located in a rather good agricultural area. Twenty percent of those interviewed derived their income wholly or in part from farming. Many of these are part-time farmers who also hold jobs in the cities. Other farmers are very specialized. Mint is rather intensively grown on the muck-type soil which is found in various parts of the community. St. Johns serves as a trading center and county seat for this agricultural area. In addition to the agricultural activity thenais some industry. There are some diversified manufacturing plants. None of these is large. St. Johns also serves as a place of residence for numerous workers who commute to Lansing and Owosso for employment. One—fourth of those interviewed in this study worked outside the city or county. The St. Johns High School serves the city and some 208 square miles of rural area. The latter comprises about 40 elementary school districts. The total enrollment of the high school is about 650. About 55% of these students come from outside the town school district. A proportion- ate sample of households was drawn from the town and sur- rounding rural area for this study. 11 CHAPTER II METHODOLOGY The material on which this thesis is based was I gathered by the Michigan Communications Study. A ques- tionnaire was administered by trained interviewers to a seven—percent random sample of the residents of the area delineated for the study. This resulted in 250 interviews, 105 from the rural area around St. Johns, Michigan, and 145 from the city of St. Johns itself. The results of this questionnaire were tabulated and recorded on IBM cards. Ten questions which were relevant to the area of teachers in the school were selected for this study.2 The age and education was ascertained for all of the respondents and they were grouped as outlined in Chap- ter I. Next, the occupation was ascertained for each male respondent, and the occupation of the male head of the 1The Michigan Communications Study is a project sponsered by the Midwest Administration Center, University of Chicago, and Michigan State College. The Communications Effect Study, a portion of the total project, was under the direction of Dr. Lee A. Haak, Dept. of Social Science, and Dr. Wilbur Brookover, Depts. of Sociology and Anthropology and Social Science. Special thanks are due to these two farpermission to use this material and for generous aid throughout all stages of the preparation of this study. ‘2A complete questionnaire may be seen in Appendix "C". It must be kept in mind that the location of a part— icular question in the interview may have some effect on the answers which are elicited. l2 household given by each female reSpondent. Thus, while distributing the reSponses among the occupational groupings only the occupations of male heads of households were used. The female respondents who did not list a male head of household were eliminated for the purposes of this study. This reduced the total number of interviews on which this study is based to 211. This method was pursued for it was felt that in America with the patriarchial—type traditions and social organization, the occupation of the male head of household would be of far greater influence in the deter- mining of social level than the occupational positions of women who work outside the home. The study is based on the assumption that the res- ponses to the various questions selected will reveal some aSpects of the image of school teachers which the partic— ular reSpondent holds. It is further assumed that the response, "Don't know" to the questions asked indicated. that the reSpondent does not have a clearly formulated image of school teachers in the area covered by the ques— tion. It is recognized that "Don‘t know" responses may result from the respondent's wish not to talk about a cer- tain item, or from the interviewer's failure to establish satisfactory rapport. Since it is difficult to ascertain the extent of such conditions, one can only state that every effort was made to obtain the maximum rapport and 13 and most accurate responses possible. This gives us confi- dence that "Don't know" responses are a valid indication of very limited, if not an absence of, a teacher image in a particular area. Contingency tables were prepared to examine the relation between the variables of group membership and the various criteria of teacher image. Analyses by means of chi—square computations were used. Chi-square is used here to determine the probability that the distribution in a particular contingency table would occur by chance.5 5"The differences between observed and expected frequencies are squared and divided by the expect d number in each case, and the sum of these quotients is X . The more closely the observed results approximate to the expec- ted, the smaller is chi-square and the closer the agreement between the observed data and the hypothesis being tested. On the other hand, the larger the chi—square, the greater the probability of a real divergence of experimentally observed results from expected results." Henry E. Garrett, Statistics in Psychology and Education, (New York: Longmans, Green and—00., 1947), p. 241. The formula used for computing chi—square is: X2 = z(f’fc )2 150 Margaret Jarman Hagood and Daniel 0. Price, Statistics for Sociologists, (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1952), p. 569. For tables which consisted of not more than two columns one way by any number the other a different formulae was used. This formulae was graciously given to me by Dr. Wilbur Brookover. x2 . flp1 + f2p2 + .... + fnpn - FP . Pq 14 A chi-square value which would occur five times or less out of one-hundred times by chance was accepted as indicative of a significant relationship between the vari- ables indicated in each table. Similar methods were used to analyze the relation between group membership and presence of a school teacher image. Those giving "don't know" responses to each quesf tion are compared with those giving other responses to the questions. This enables us to determine what group mem- bers are more likely to participate in the "educational community" and thus have images of their school teacher. Independent Variables The independent variables used in this study are the membership of the respondent in the various social group- ings studied. Each respondent is included in three differ- ent social groupings, one for age, one for educational achievement, and one for occupational classification. The term grouping has been used to apply to these divisions rather than group for each of the various divisions is com- posed of a number of people who share at least one attri— ‘bute. The social characteristics on which the divisions are based are not felt to be the only possible ones which could be used. The selection was based on availability of material. In addition, certain arguments can be developed 15 for the use of the social characteristics selected. Age, in our culture, as in most, certainly plays a large part in the view that the individual has of his surroundings, both human and physical, and in the way that he is viewed by his fellow man. Differences in the amount of education, by the very nature of this attribute, implies differences in direct relationship or familiarity with the educative process and educative personnel. Occupation, like age, in our society, has certain connotations of social level or prestige, and may, like age, influence the way in which the individual views his surroundings or is viewed by others with whom he comes in contact. We have used four age categories: (1) 29 and under, (2) 50 to 49, (5) 50 to 64, and (4) 65 and over. These may be artificial categories in the sense that they may include people who feel no appreciable identification with each other. At the same time it is clear that age—grade peer groups are common phenomena in American society. The delin- eation of the exact composition of such groups was beyond the resources available for the study. Similar observations could be made about the cate- gories basedon educational level. The educatidnal groupings used were: (1) high school graduates and training beyond high school, and (2) did not complete high school. Although it is sometimes limited, persons With such levels of 16 education may feel some affiliation with others in the same categories. This would seem to be especially true of those who have special interests due to college or other more Specialized training. The members of certain of the occupational group- ings used, (1) professional, proprietors, and managers, (2) "white collar", which includes clerical workers, sales personel, and semi-professional workers, (5) manual, serv- ice, and Operatives, and (4) farmers, certainly experience considerable feeling of "belongingness". The farmers feel a high degree of integration due to farm organizations and a very high degree of kindred interests. Professionals, proprietors, and managers tend to associate more within their own groups than with others. The "white collar" and manual, service, and operative groups in all liklihood do not relate themselves to others of their groups as strongly as those mentioned earlier. This is due in part to a diversity of interests and backgrounds of those who make up these two groupings. It is also due in part to the fact that many of the members of these groups aSpire to, and attempt to orient themselves to those groupings which may carry more social prestige. These independent variables are not independent of each other. Tables 1, 2, and 5, Appendix "A", indicate that the relationships are signifi— cant in each case. However, all are indices of the reSpon— dent's position in the social setting in which he moves. l7 Dependent Variables The dependent variables in this study need greater amplification. They are determined by the answers given by.a sample of 211 persons to a set of 10 selected ques- tions concerning teachers in general and those in their community specifically. The images studied in this thesis are thus derived from the responses to the several questions discussed below; The questions are listed in the order in which they appeared on the original questionnaire. They were u not in every case presented consecutively as listed here. In several cases other questions intervened. It must be kept in mind that the order in which questions.are asked and the position that they occupy in the interview may have considerable effect on the answers that they elicit. Since these questions were asked in the same sequence of each respondent, the order of questions is a constant factor in the analysis of the teacher images. The questions used in this study were: 1. About what doyou think is the average age of teachers in your high school? 2. About how many of the teachers in your high school are college graduates? 5. Of the 50 high school teachers about how many are men? 18 4. If you were,hiring a teacher what type of person would you employ? 5. About what proportion of the teachers in your high school come fairly close to this description? 6. 0n the average how much do you think high school teachers are paid? 7. What do you think teachers should do during the summer? 8. Do you believe in general, the wife of a high school teacher should work for pay outside of the home? 9. In general, why do men leave the teaching pro- fession? 10. Different ways of teaching are used in Michigan schools. Some teachers teach about like Mrs. A, who makes assignments from the text, assigns time for the pupils to study, and then marks each pupil on how he recites when called upon and answers on written tests. Others teach more like Mrs. B, who outlines the t0pic to be covered, then works out with the pupils ways of getting information from various sources and experiences, as well as ways of reporting their findings. Now, in general, which method is most like the method used in your grade school? In your high school? In response to the first question about the average age of the high school teachers, the reapondents were allowed to answer in any way they wished. If, however, the age was given as a range, such as, "0h, between 50 and 45, I'd say," the respondent was asked to be more specific. Attempts were made to keep the range to five years. 19 The second question, "About how many of the teachers in your high school are college graduates?", gave an indica— tion of the educational status image of teachers. The ans- wer to this question was accepted in either a proportion or a percentage. The response was then coded as a percentage of the total. The third question was, "Of the 50 high school teachers about how many are men?" Answers to this ques- tion were accepted.in the form of numbers, prOportions, or percentages and later coded as actual number ranges. This question was designed to reveal the respondents image of the sex of "the school teacher." For the fourth question, "If you were hiring a teacher what type of person would you employ?", any answer given was recorded as accurately as possible. Attempts were made to secure as complete a picture as possible. This question follows several questions which pre—testing revealed to produce little frustration among respondents. They served as "primers" for a ready flow of description. The fourth question, "About what proportion of the teachers in your high school come fairly close to this des- cription?", followed directly the previous one and was based on the answers to it. This question could be answered by a proportion or a percentage; in some cases reSponses were in actual numbers. It turned out to be particularly 2O revealing as a measure of criticism of the school in the community studied. It may not be an accurate index of the more general image of teacher personality. The fifth, "0n the average how much do you think high school teachers are paid?", tapped the. respondent's image of the teacher's economic position. The reSponse to this could be given in monthly or yearly earnings or by the term. In each case the time unit was recorded and the in- come was converted to a yearly basis before recording the data on IBM cards. "What do you think teachers should do during the summer?", was designed to elicit some aspects of the res— Pondent '5 image of teaching as a position in our society. A113 re8ponse was recorded. It was felt that the one impor— tant aSpect tapped by this might be the respondent's feeling about the professional or the subordinate nature of the school teacher position. A response like, "They should do what they want to," or, "That's their business," may indi- cate that the respondent felt that the teacher occupied a more "Professional" position and was not required to follow a set Pattern of behavior. Answers such as, "They should 3° to School and catch up on the latest stuff," or, "They should go out and get a job so that they could have differ- ent exPeriences," may be an index of the respondent's "professional" image of the teacher. Such people may feel 21 the teacher occupies a position in which many of their activities should be determined for them. One can not be sure that this is a correct inference from the question asked. On the other hand, the willingness to give such responses indicates that the respondent does feel strongly that the teacher should be permitted to do as she wants. The eighth question, "Do you believe in general, the wife of a high school teacher should work for pay out— side of the home?", involved both an image of the teacher's economic position and some aspect of expected family life. This question was pre-coded with "Yes", "No", and "Don't know" responses. If the response was either "Yes", or "No", the reapondent was asked, "Why?", in order to further re- veal the pattern of expectations built up around the fam- ilies of school teachers. The ninth question, "In general, why do men leave the teaching profession?", sought to elicit some of the negative aspects of the respondent's image. If the first response was, "To get more money," the respondent was then asked, "Is there anything else?" The answers to this question also reveal some of the respondent's attitudes toward those who remain in teaching. The last question in which the reSpondent is asked to determine which of two types of instruction in the class— room at the present time, was used to determine if the 22 teacher was considered to be more autocratic and traditional or more democratic and "progressive" in classroom activities and.relations with the students. For the purpose of this thesis only the part of this question dealing with high school is used. The answers are pre-coded "A" and "B". Many peOple responded "Both" or "A combination of the two." It may be noted that the questions fall into two classes. First, there are those questions which require specific information in order to supply the answer. These might be termed questions of fact. Such questions are numbers: one, which deals with the ages of the current teachers in high school, two, which is concerned with the education of the teachers employed at present, three, which deals with the proportion of males to the total number of teachers at the present time, five, which asks for an eval- uation of the present teachers, and ten, which seeks to determine the current teaching practices. Other questions require more general types of infor- mation and may be termed questions of Opinion or attitude. These questions are numbers: four, which is concerned with what the respondent feels is the ideal person for a teacher, six, which is concerned with the average salary of high school teachers, seven, which is concerned with what the respondent feels that the teacher should do in the summer, eight, which deals with what the teacher's family is . a. 23> expected to do, and nine, which is concerned with why men leave teaching. It is believed that the aSpects of teacher image which are revealed by the ten selected questions will pro— vide enough insight into the teacher image to permit com- parison of the images held by the respondents who compose the various social groupings. 24 CHAPTER III ANALYSIS OF THE DATA Our first task is to determine if there are sig— nificant differences between the various social groupings in the images that they hold of those who occupy the teaching profession. This follows naturally out of the hypothesis that there are differential images of school teachers held by members of the various social groupings based on variations in age, educational level, and occupation. Differential Images Differential images among age grouping_:— First we shall treat the hypotheses that various age groupings have different images of the teachers in this community and teachers in general. As will be noted in Table 1, significant chi-square values indicate that age groupings differ in their teacher images as determined by four of the 10 questions. We will look at these four items in more detail. More than 52% of the people 29 and under indicated thattflmateacher should have a "pleasing personality" in res- ponsetx>the question, "If you were riring a teacher what type of person would you employ?" "Interest in children" followed in frequency of occurance (22.5%) followed by TABLE I RESPONSES BY AGE GROUPINGS ‘ -. ._—__.-_._ —-——— Question If you were hiring a teacher what type of person would you employ? Pleasing personality Interest in children Good moral character Teaching ability Knowledge of subject Education Good relation to community About what proportion of the teachers in your high school come fairly close to this description? 1/2 or less 1/2 to 3/4 Most or all About what do you think is the average age of teachers in your high school? Too low (Below 30) About right (30 to 49) Too high (50 and over) About how many of the teachers in your high school are college graduates? 84% or less 85% to 95% 111 —.~ —-—~-4—’ - — 29 & under 47 03803 ...._ ..-._._, .._.. 32.2 i 22.3 8.2 15.7 14.0 6.6 .8 20.0 25.0 55.0 7.6 17.9 74.3 ,M“- r anu— ~— .. ....___._.-- -..- -—.-- ~-.. 25’ 30 to 50 to 65 a x2 49 64 over 93 45 26 C8893 C8805 085.8 26.8 % 32.4 % 26.3 % 23.2254 . b 17.2 21.2 17.5 13.6 16.6 26.3 15.u 10.1 17.5 14.5 10.1 5.2 8.6 4.6 5.2 306 no 107 20.5 38.2 3.7 44.1088 * 23.5 19.1 18.5 55.8 42.5 77.7 9.7 21.2 22.2 7.2996 59.7 51.5 33-3 30.5 27.2 u4.u 9.3 8.8 7.1 2.3328 10.6 8.8 1u.2 80.0 82.3 78.5 ’Ofiumfi— -— aThe "Don't know" responses were deleted for the computation of the percentages on this table. bThe asterisk (*) is used to denote those chi—squares which are significant at the 5% level. 3 TABLE I (Cont.) 26 Question 29 a. 30 to 50 to 65 a. 12 under 49 64 over 47 93 45 26 1 cases cases cases cases Of the 30 high school teachers about how many are men? Too low (12 or less) 39.4 f 43.0 i 63.6 i 76.9% 9.2872 * About right (13 to 22) 60.5 56.9 36.3 23.0 On the average how much do you think high school teachers are paid? Too low (Less than $3150) 48.0 72.2 62.8 63.3 12.8520 . About right ($3150 - $3600) 44.0 13.8 14.2 30.0 Too high (More than $3600) 8.0 13.8 22.8 6.6 In general. why do men leave the teaching profession? More money 62.2 60.3 60.6 59.2 2.6600 Not interested 14.7 12.9 11.4 7.“ Better advantages 13.1 13.7 11.4 14.8 “1101‘ 9.8 12e9 16.3 18e5 What do you think teachers should do during the summer? SPOCific activity other than . vacation 50.0 55 01 #8.}. 1+3 .3 011.199 Vacation 33.9 28.0 33.3 36.6 "What they want to” 16.0 16.8 18.5 20.0 13" 37°“ believe in general. the Wife 01‘ a high school teacher Shad-d Work for pay outside the hon-lg? 15;: 34.3 42.0 41.5 34.2 1.3489 N depends" 48.4 39.3 42.8 34.2 ° 17.1 18.6 15.5 31.5 whatigeth'Dd of teaching is used Your high school? g 48.6 45.1 41.9 14.2 7.1513 Conbi 45.9 48.3 58.0 85.7 ' n“tion 5.4 6.4 0. O. 27 "teaching ability" (mentioned by 15.7%) and "knowledge of subject" (mentioned by 14.0%). The 30 to 49 year-old grouping also mentioned "pleasing personality" more frequently than other charac— teristics (26.8%). "Interest in children" was next most frequently mentioned (17.2%) with "teaching ability" the third (15.4%). "Pleasing personality" was also mentioned most frequently by the 50 to 64 age grouping. Over 32% of those who gave responses other than "Don't know" gave this type of reSponse. This grouping named "interest in children" in 231-275 of the cases but this older grouping mentioned "good moral character“more often than the younger peOple. Over 16% gave that response. We may conclude from this analysis that older res- Pondents are more likely to mention "good moral character" as a trait they would look for in hiring teacher-awhile younger adults are more likely to look for persons with a pleasing personality and some knowledge of the subject to be taught. ReSponses to the next question, "About what prOpor- tion of the teachers in your high school come fairly close to this description?", also varied significantly among age groupl'l-lilgs. Those in the grouping, 65 and over, were much more likely to think that all or most of the teachers met their criteria than the other groupings. The greatest proportion of those who felt that many of their high school teachers failed to meet the criteria they had set was found in the 50 to 64 year-old grouping. Over 38% of these indi— cated "1/2 or less" of the teachers met their standards. It must be noted however that these differing images of the ’5‘" qualifications of St. Johns teachers are based on standards that varied somewhat from age grouping to age grouping. We may conclude however that the age groupings varied in the degree to which they thought these teachers met the ’ a specified criteria. The question, "Of the 30 high school teachers about how many are men?", also produced a significant variation in responses. The older the respondent the more likely to underestimate the proportion of men teachers in the high school. It is of interest that only one respondent of 211 gave a proportion of men which was too high. This would indicate that while the members of all of the groupings make responses which tend to be conservative, the older respondents give responses which are markedly so. The fourth significant variation among age groupings was found in the responses to the question, "On the average flow mUCh do you think high school teachers are paid?" The I'eBPOICld.ents over 50 years of age were more likely to under- estimate teachers' salaries while the middle age groupings 29 also over-estimated salaries more often than the oldest and youngest groupings. The grouping under 50 gave esti- mates that were "about" right more often than any other grouping. Although there is not a linear relationship be- tween age and this aspect of the teacher image the age groupings do vary in their image. It may be of some value to examine the questions on which the responses made by the members of the various 7 age groupings did not vary significantly. ‘ The difference in response to, "About what do you ;J think is the average age of teachers in your high school?", approached significance at the five-percent level. The younger the respondent, the more nearly correct his answer is likely to be. This suggests, as we shall see in later analyses, that younger people are more involved in the school community and have more accurate information about teachers. The variation of responses to the question about the method of teaching used in high school approaches sig- nificance. The younger the respondent, the more likely he is to respond that method "A" is used. The older the respondent, the more likely he is to respond "B". Only small proportions of those below 50 responded that a combi— nation of the two forms were used. It is difficult to equate the answers to the above questions. To the question dealing with age the younger 50 respondents are more well informed. On the other hand, to the question dealing with the current teaching method. used in the high school the younger respondents are less likely to be correct than the older respondents if infor- mation gained from the administrators of the high school is accurate. The responses to, "About how many of the teachers in your high school are college graduates?", "In general, why do men leave the teaching profession?", and "What do you think teachers should do during the summer?", showed no significant differences berween the members of age groupings. The only variation of any magnitude between the responses made by the various age groupings to the ques- tion, "Should the wife of a high school teacher work?", occurred in the oldest grouping. They were nearly twice as likely to respond that the wife should not work than the members of any other grouping, but this did not show a significant relationship between age and such reSponses. In summation of the analysis by age groupings, one ight state that the major differences tend to arise from he responses made by the oldest grouping. This is true 1 greater or less degree of the responses to all of the Lestions except three, four, seven, and eight. 51 This difference between the members of the oldest grouping and the other age groupings in the images held in connection with certain aSpects of teacher image may possibly be explained in part by one important fact. For the most part the experiences which the members of the oldest grouping have had with the schools, both in their own schooling, and in the schooling of their children, occurred some time in the past. As Ogburn has stated, "In a culture that is rapidly changing, social forces will make habits in the young which will be somewhat different from the habits of adults because culture has changed 1 Included in Ogburn's "habits" are within a generation." habitual ways of thinking of things which are as much habit as anything else that we do. That is to say that the infor- mation.of the members of the oldest age grouping has not kept pace with the changes. This is borne out by examining 'the nature of some of their responses. Of primary impor— ‘tance to them is whether or not the teacher has good moral character. They tend not to criticise their teachers. They .feel that the wife of a teacher should not work. These are ‘values about education which are traditional in this coun- 'try'but which are being replaced. The members of the oldest 1William Fielding Ogburn, Social Change: With ReSpect tn) Culture and Original Nature, (New York: The Viking Press, IF9fifi}} PP- 178-9- 32 grouping feel that most teachers are women, that teachers are younger than actually is the case, and that their in- come is lower than it actually is. All of these were much more true of the teaching profession some years in the past than at present. This, however, does not as patently account for the s i .‘- g -' .1. difference in the response of this oldest grouping to the question about the current teaching method used in high school, or the lack of differences in the reSponses to the other questions. These may indicate aSpects of the teacher ;g- role that have changed less in the last decade. Differential images among groupings with varying amounts of education:— We shall next examine the images held by the members of groupings of varying educational achievement. We find, upon investigation of Table II that significant variations occurred on three of the questions. These questions, and those which showed somg,but not statis— tically significant, variation in reSponse between the two groupings, will be examined in some detail. The first question we shall examine is, "If you were hiring a teacher what type of person would you employ?" The grouping with the highest education rated "pleasing person— ality" as most important with 28.1% of the reSpondents in the grouping making that response. Over 21% reaponded "inter- est in children" and "teaching ability" came third with 15.8%. 55 TABLE II RESPONSES BY EDUCATIONAL GROUPINGS ‘ Question 12th. grade Less then. X? or beyond 12th. grade 109 102 cases cases If you were hiring a teacher what type of person would Eng you employ? f ' Pleasing personality 28.1 % 29.3 % 10.3028 * b Interest in children 21.6 16.2 r Good.moral character 11.0 21.b 5 Teaching ability 15.8 9.9 Knowledge of subject 12.9 12.5 Education 7.1 . 6.8 ; Good relation to community 3.2 3.1 M About what proportion of the teachers in your high school come fairly close to this description? 1/2 or less 21.4 22.2 1.9154 1/2 to 3/u 30.9 20.3 Most or all 47.6 57.4 About what do you think is the average age of teachers in your high school? Too low (Below 30) 11.7 17.7 2.9908 .About right (30 to #9) 63.8 50.0 Too high (50 and over) 2h.h 32.2 About how many of the teachers in.your high school are college graduates? 8h¢ or less 8.0 . 1.7 3.3883 85% to 95% 1u.0 10.3 All. 78.0 87.9 aThe "Don't know" responses were deleted for the computation of the percentages on this table. bThe asterisk (*) is used to denote those chi-squares which are significant at the 5% level. TABLE II (Cont.) 54 Question 12th. grade Less than X2 or beyond 12th. grade 109 102 cases cases 01‘ the 30 high school teachers ' about how many are men? Too low (12 or less) 34.2 ‘5 55.3 1 6.3799 "' About right (13 to 22) 65.? M6 0n the average how much do you think high school teachers are paid? Too low (Less than $3150) 55.1 76.5 6.3710 * About right ($3150 - $3600) 30.7 12.7 Too high (More than $3600) 11+.1 10.6 In general, why do men leave the teaching profession? More moncy 61.7 57.9 .9506 Not interested 12.7 11.9 Better advantages 11.15 15.0 OthQr lueo 15.0 What do you think teachers should do during the summer? Specific activity other than vacation 52 e2 50 .0 3 .8661 Vacation 26.8 36.6 "What they want to" 20.8 13.3 Do you believe in general. the wife of a high school teacher should work for pay outside the home? Yes “3.9 33.5 9.9352 "It depends" l+1.7 95.8 No 1h.2 20.6 at method of teaching is used in your high school? A no.1» 42.1 .6621 B “9e3 52453 Combinati on 6 . 1 3 05 -..§ _ ”luv:- { w.“ “is, The grouping with less than high school education also named "pleasing personality" most frequently; 29.5% of the grouping mentioned it. This grouping, however, placed "good moral character" next with 21.4% of the members of the grouping giving that answer. "Interest in children" came third with 16.2%. It will be noted that the signifi- cant variation results from the difference in prOportion 0f the two educational levels who reSpond with "interest in children", "good moral character", and "teaching ability". To the next question, "Of the 50 high school teachers about how many are men?", those with 12th. grade education or more are more likely to be correct in their response, while those with the least education will more frequently respond with a figure which is too low. The responses to the question, "On the average how much do you think high school teachers are paid?", shows similar results. The pe0ple with more education are more likely to name a figure which is about correct, while those with less education tend to name a figure which is too low. The distribution of responses made by the members of these groupings to the question, "Do you believe in gen- aral, the Wife of a high school teacher should work for pay >utside the home?", show a difference that approaches sig- ificance. Again, the grouping with more education respond, Yes, she should work," more often than those with less -. ' “gag-girl! education. The latter more often reSpond, "It depends", or "No". As previously stated this trend is not sufficiently strong to produce a chi—square which is significant, but one which is nearly so. To the question, "About what do you think is the average age of teachers in your high school?", the members of the less well educated grouping are less likely to give the correct answer. They reSpond more frequently with answers which are too high or too low. Conversely, to, "About how many of the teachers in your high school are college graduates?", those with less education are somewhat more likely to reSpond with the cor- rect response, i.e., that all of the teachers are college graduates, than the more highly educated grouping. Only slight variations between the responses of the two educational groupings to four of the questions were found. The questions were, "About what proportion of the teachers in your*high school come fairly close to this description?", "In general, why do men leave the teaching profession?", "What do you think teachers should do during the summer?", auni, "What method of teaching is used in your high school?" In examining these responses the first and perhaps most obvious observation is that the grouping with less education have had fewer and more tenuous associations with edhuiational representatives or agencies, and for this reason 57 are less likely to be correct in reSponding to certain questions than the grouping with more experience with the educational personnel and processes. The similarity of response between the members of the less educated grouping and the 65 year old and older grouping in the previous section appears to be due in part to the fact that the individuals who comprise the less educated grouping represent a great proportion of those over 65. A table setting forth this relationship may be found in Appendix "A", Table 2. -Neither of these explanations can account for the correct responses made by the members of the less educated grouping to the question about the proportion of teachers who are college graduates. Differential images among occupational groupings:- Now we shall investigate the reSponses of the members of the occupational groupings to the 10 selected questions. By inSpection of Table III we see that only two questions pro- duced responses which showed significant variation. We shall again look at these in more detail. The first question which had a significant variation of reSponses was, "If you were hiring a teacher what type of ‘erson.would you employ?" The reSponses made by the members . 5? If. ' f i. T2551... 4 styrene “77/ ,_ A. '.l . k z t - El - / '3’. . A‘ " ‘ '. / /£u|E D C be“ LE I P10: «P I, ’f ! ,4 N o “I.“ r 'A 7 I ° 9\ L U I / 3 /‘ V " an 4' I .. ' d ‘ r». not , ' ' I 1mm" " +- . ' . I} _ ‘ 3"mm 3 E - ' 0 1r . O . ~ I . ' q u E 5 U P L _'._N. _ ~ I new»? Venn-e .. / / ‘1; 1 . :0.”an , I . - I ,P-' . ’I- e . /W'D x \l/j._ __’ __._ _ lO-Leen " ///l_ \ /////// ° '""°' V/\ A ' . f ,' ' , ' . 1 7mm.“ ~‘ .- ‘ o lo ‘. 1 1 cu. r 11mm 9 2r sauce 1 ‘ f ‘ ... l, 4" 0‘” SF u can 1’ er ., a IIJIIAIII . .e ‘ . OJ L A s I: L o v o— J_ J 2 1 Law . ‘_- . . , ~ 3 ‘ a ' ‘ ' ' geeovt I 3 stone . 8 can Luz 2m U ‘ ' 7m SM n ‘. 4 1 e- " m uno- ( 3 I . / c 1' a - :— - ._ _ . ________ ‘— - I I \I 5 "n , ‘F “count" 1: e I ‘" I / ' 5 o: wrrr I /,O 1 CI ' \‘ 9 ‘ I k / m eA'fH 4 < .- I RURAL Ace. a .4 ....... /- ' f 2 4 '§ 0 - a .0 g If 55' b E A T O N C O U N T Y I I N G H A M E] 12 GRADE ous'rmcr LEGEND VILLAGE on cmr —.-._n—.. COUNTY LINE ‘ ------ SCHOOL 0.51m“ UN: 110:2 Human or SCHOOL 0131mm m mwnsmr F FRACTIONAL SCHOOL DISTRCT :3 The Area Covered in the Inter- viewing for this Study. APPENDIX C :21 Research assent of 5 _~_-;_.:an State : ....... ' 1.2 About he! 1.2.1 Is (A1 1.2 I 1.3 About wha 9 L301 In sch AEPiCUItu Michigan Conmmications Study - Schedule Social Research Service Eight Draft Department of Sociology and Anthropology June 26, 1953 Michigan State College 1. School Facilities. * 1.1 Where do the children from this neighborhood go to grade school? * 1.2 About how many pupils go to this school? *‘ 1.3 About what is the total enrollment in St. Johns High School? .9 . Showers.......................( 1.2.1 Is your present grade school satisfactory? Yes( ) No( ) DK( ) (Are "you" satisfied with the school building, equipment, and grounds?) 1.2.1.1 If the answer is "No," ask: "In what way is it unsatisfactory?" Urn—at are things which made you say that it is unsatisfactory?) T' 1.3.1 In addition to the usual classrooms , do you have, in your high school, special rooms for: l 2 3 h Have Have? DK Is it satisfactory? Agriculture...................( Art...........................( AmwflWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCO( Business Educ. (incl. typing).( 0816mm.....................( Mailman”...............( Guidance Counsellor Office....( Homemaking (or Home Economics)( Library.......................( Medical or Dental Rom........( Music or Band Room............( Science.......................( ShOPOOOOIOOO0.0000000000000COO( VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA VVVVVVVVVVVVVvV AAAAAAA/‘AAAAAAA TeaCheI'S' Lomge..............( !‘_ 1.3.2 For each room checked in column 1 ask: Is this room satisfactory? . 1.3.2.1 If not: Why? - 2 - 1.3.3 Otherwise are your h h school buildings and grounds satisfactory? Yes( ) No( ) DK I 1.3.3.1 If the answer is "No,” ask: "In what ways are they unsatisfactory§“‘ A _.4 ‘— 2. 3139118. '* 2.1 Since about 1950 has the enrollment in your grade chool decreased( ), stayed the same( ), or increased )? * 2.1.1 what do you think will happen to grade school enrollment in the next five years? Will it decrease( ), stay about the same( ), or increase( )? ‘* 2.2 How about the enrollment in your high school since about 1950? Did it decrease( ),stay the same( ), or increase( )? * 2.2.1 What do you think will happen to high school enrollment in the next five years? Will it decrease( ), stay about the same( ), or increase( )? '* 2.3 At what age may pupils enter school? -* 2.3.1 By'what age "must" they be in school? ‘* 2.3.2 At what age may pupils legally and their schooling? _A 2.h How does the school find out the number of pre-school children who are not yet in the school? (Under five years) ‘* 2.5 About what proportion of the high school pupils live outside of the St. Johns school district? Record verbatim.response. * 2.6 If the St. Johns High School is overcrowded, or becomes overcrowded, what do you think should be done? -.—‘— _.~. _..._“ _A *' 2.7 About what proportion of the pupils who enter your high school graduate? Record_gerbathm response *. __,_..-....---~—.. -3- * 2.7.1 About what proportion of the pupils who do graduate from.your' high schodl go on to college? Record verbatim respoggg. 2.8 By the way, how long have you lived in this school district? 3 2.9 Do you have any children? Yes( ) No( ) 2.10 In which grades in your grade school and the St. Johns High School have you had children? Encircle the appropriate grades. None, All, K 1 2 3 h 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Ask only ifgyou get a "Yes" to 2.9. Now I'd like to find out something about your children: Record on back if more children. CHILDREN 1 ' 2- 3 -- 1* 2011 Age 2.12 Sex For those in schOol: 2.I3 Grade Completed 2.13.1 Jr. and Sr. Egg School students: Oécupation you hope he will enter: -v—- For those not in school: '2TIE—Orade completed 2.11:.1 'why did he/she end school at this point? 2.1h.2 Occupation W- ~1——-.—--0 w 00---- -— _ww t—w— I ..2.1h.3 Where do they live? __- - -... -u *5 -"b “H— ....~‘-~U‘~-r..-“‘.-r—.—--.v-~-‘—-‘-"‘.‘ - < —-v‘., —--.A. >—o-—~-—-‘~,.' ~O-’4 -— "‘~ A ~ *— - ~—‘ - h - 3. School Programs. 3.1 According to the laws of’thhigan whatimust be taught in all public schools? 3.2 What do you believe should be given more time and attention in your schools? (This includes both in the classroom and outside of it) (What do you believe is left out of the school courses and.activities or is under emphasized) 3.3‘What do you believe should be given less time and attention? Same probes as above except "over emphasized" for "under emphasized." 3.b The schools are frequently urged to add to the subjects taught in high school. Are the following taught in your school? Use column 1 l 2 3 h Would‘ Would Would Have Eliminate Add 038 A. H0“ 150 drives car.‘e............ I ) j ) (—) B. How to dance (social dancing)... ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) Co Home ”Meeeee‘eoeeeeeeeeeeeeee ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) D. International affairs........... ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) E. Choosing an Occupation.......... ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) F. Religious Education............. ( ) ( I ( I ( ) Go 01711131:Defense................ ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) a. First Aid ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) I. Sex.Education................... ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) 3.h.l Of those which you have, are there any which you think should be eliminated?(Not taught) If the answer is "yes," ask: Which ones? Use column 2 Yes( ) N0( ) DK( ) 3.b-2 Of those which you do not have, are there.any which you favor adding to the school program? ___If mascara! is 'EEEJJEE "Which- mes? Use- 991%. 3. Yes( ) No( ) DK( ) -5- 3.b.2.1 Of those which you do not have, are there any which you would oppose adding, even if many people wanted them added? ‘ If the answer is "Yes," ask: Which ones? Use column ’4 3.5 Do you think most high school pupils spend too much time and energy on dramatics, band, orchestra, clubs, athletics, parties, and other activities outside of the classroom? ‘ Yes( ) No( ) DK( ) If some do andrspme don'lt( ) and ask: "What in general do you think is the case?" 3.5.1 If the answer is "YesL': ask: "On which activities?" 3.6 As far as you know are there any evening classes for adults offered by your high school? Yes( ) No( ) DK( ) 3.6.1 Are you in favor of your high school offering classes for adults? Yes( ) No( ) 1:. School Teachers. 14.1 Do you think that the work of the elementary school teacher is as important, more important, or less important than the work of the high school teacher? More( ) Less( ) The Same( ) h.1.1 mm ' 1:.2 Of the 30 teachers in your high school about how many are: (Well, what would you say. Take a guess.) Under 30? DK( ) 14.2.1 Fifty and over DK( ) * 14.2.2 About what do you think is the averag age of teachers in your high school? DK * 1:.3 About how nany of the teachers in your high school are college graduates? DK( ) Ml: Of the 30 high school teachers about how many are men? DK( ) In general, would you prefer your children (if you had any) to be taught by men or women in the following subjects in high school: h.h.1 Biology7....... Men( ) Women( ) Either( h.h.2 Algebra?....... Men( ) Women( ) Either( h.h.3 History7....... Mené ; Women( ) Either( hohcl‘ Eng-l 18h? o o .4 o c 0 Men Women( ) Eimer( WVV - 6 - 11.5 If you were hiring a teacher what type of person would you employ? h. 5.1 About what proportion of the teachers in your high school come fairly close to this description? DK( * 11.6 About how much do you think your rade school teacher is paid? 8 per DK * h.6.l On the average how much do you think high school teachers are paid? 3 per DK( ) * 14.7 About how many hours per week do you think the average teacher puts in on school work? h Hrs. DK( b.8 What do you think most teachers do during the summer? 14.8.1 What do you think teachers should do during the summer? h.8.1.2 Why, do you say that? * 14.9 Do you believe in general, the wife of a high school teacher should work for pay outside of the home? Yes( ) No( ) DK( ) * h.9.1 Why? h.9.2 Do you believe that a married woman teacher whose husband is employed full time, should be paid as much as an unmarried woman teacher with the same qualifications? Yes( ) No( ) DK( ) 11.10 In general, what is done in St. Johns (or in your community) to make teachers feel at home during their first year or so in the community? DK( A h.10.1 What is done to encourage teachers to continue to teach in St. Johns? -7- * th'In general, why do teachers move from St. Johns to some other school system? L M ') * h.ll.1 In general, why do men leave the teaching profession? If the remonse is "To get more money_,_" then ask: (Is there anything else?) i .9159). 14.12 What else would you like to say about school teachers? b.13 Have you ever been a school teacher? Yes( ) No( ) 5. Methods 9; Teaching. Different ways of teaching are used in Michigan schools. (A) Some teachers teach about like hrs. A, who makes assignments from the text, assigns time for the pupils to study, and then marks each pupil on how he recites when called upon and answers on written tests. (B) Others teach more like Mrs. B, who outlines the topic to be covered, then works out with the pupils ways of getting-r; information from various sources and experiences, as well as ways of reporting their findings. * 5.1 Now, in general, which method is most like the method used in your grade school? A( ) B( ) DK( ) * 5.1.1 In your high school? A( ) B( ) DK( ) * 5.2 In general, which method do you believe is better in grade school? ' M ) B( ) DK( ) * 5.2.1 Is your answer the same for the high school? Yes( ) No( ) DK( ) * 5.3 In general, about how many pupils are there in a room in your: grade school? DK( ) * 5.3.1 as. about the number in a class in high school? _ DK( ) * 5.1: What do you consider the desirable number of pupils per room in: grade school? DK( ) - 8 - * 5.h.l How about the number(of pupils per class in high school? DK 5.5 Are all children ready to learn to read and write at the same age? Yes( ) No( ) DK( ) 5.5.1 If "No," ask: Why? 5.5.2 Do you believe your school gives as much attention as it should to slow learners? Yes( ) No( ) DK( ) 5.5.2.1 To fast learners? Yes( ) No( ) DK( ) 5.6 In general, are upils required to do homework in: grade school? Yes( ) No( 3 DK( ) 5.6.1 High school? Yes( ) No( ) DK( ) 5.6.2 Do you believe more homework, about the same, or less homework should be required of high school pupils? More( ) About the same( ) Less( ) DK( ) * 5.7 What methods of disci line do you think should be used in the grades?(Keeping order) * 5.7.1 What method do you think "should not" be used in the grade school? * 5.7.2 How do you Judge whether discipline in the classroom is good or is poor? * 5.7.3 In general, are you satisfied with the discipline in your grade school? Yes( ) No( ) DK( ) * 5.8 If you had a child in the 6th grade what kind of information would you like on the report card? ”-0- ‘ v..— *‘—-..-~—. --.‘.-‘——-—-‘-—- H-O -—‘-'~--.,~_-._- - .— w-u- _-~—-—‘ w --\—-— cow-o... -' * 5.9 As a general rule, are all pupils promoted at the end of the yeAr? Yes( ) No( ) DK( ) - 9 .. 5 .10 What do you think about the way children are taught today? 5.11 Have you ever been or are you now a member of the P.T.A.? Ies( ) No( ) 5.11.1 Have you ever been an officer in the P.T.A.? Yes( ) No( ) _ 6. Administration. 6.1 How'many'members are there on your school board? DK( ) 6.1.1 Do you know any member of your school board well enough so that you feel free to talk with him or her>about school matters? Yes( ) No( ) 6.1.1.1 If the answer is "Yes," ask: "flho?" 6.1.2 What do you think are the most important personal characteristics of a good school board member? '* 6.1.3 Who is eligible to serve on the school board? 6.1.h Are your school board members paid? Yes( ) No( ) DK( ) 6.1.h.1 In any case ask: "Do you think the board.members should be paid?" Yes( ) No( ) DK( ) 6.1.5 Are school board.meetings open to the public? Yes( ) No( ) DK( ) 6.2'What does the State Department of Public Instruction do? w Man~h .# ...~_... _- u" -s‘__ s..-.._. -- DK( ) Wm—--_ou—fi—~-.———_- --. w‘-~_—.«~— —'—-_-—A—.~.—.—.i. . — ...__. --‘-.—A._.. .w-.-“ - 10 .. 6.3 What is the job of the superintendent of schools in St. Johns? 4 6.1; Is there a citizen's advisory committee for St. Johns' schools? Yes( ) No( ) DK( ) * 6.5 Who in your community usually takes an active part in school matters? Get as many names as possible. r 6.6 Schools sometimes send out leaflets, pamphlets, or other publications on school .roblems. Have you read any of these? Yes( No( ) DK( ) 6.? Are you a registered voter? Yes( ) No( ) DK( ) 6.7.1 Is your husband (wife) a registered voter? Yes( ) No( ) 6.7.2 Did you vote in the last school election? Yes( ) No( ) 6.7.3 Did your husband (wife) vote in the last school election? Yes( ) No( 70 Costs. * 7.1 Who pays "most" of the money to operate your schools? The Federal government( ) , the State of Michigan( ), the local property taxpayers“ ), DK( ). * 7.2 Does more than half of the property taxes go to the schools? Yes( ) No( ) DK( ) 7.3 Have you had a special election in your school district since 1950 on the question of raising the 15 mill limitation? Yes( ) No( ) DK( ) * 7.3.1 What is the total property tax rate here? *mills DK( * 7.3.1.1 How much were your schczol taxes last year? A W DK ) * 7.1: Are the St. Johns schools fully paid foreducating the pupils who attend the high school from outside the schooj district? Yes( ) No( ) DK( ) I-v - 11 - * 7.h.1 Who pays the cost of transporting pupils to the St. Johns school from the outside districts. DK( ) 7.5 What do you think of the present costs of running your schools? 7.6 What infbrmation.would you like to have about costs of schools? 7.7 Do you own or rent your home? Own( ) Rent( ) 8 0 Evaluation. * 8.1 What things do you think your schools do best? * 8.1.1 What things do you think your schools do least well? 8.2 In general, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your schools: Hand respondent_oard. Which words more nearly express the way you feel ( ) Very well satisfied Satisfied ( .) Not var" satisfied ( ~) ~Dissatisfied 8.3 What do you think.might be done to improve the schools? M __.-v-.—..—-..-.~-——~--—.___A; w_ A.“ an-..”-_—--o.. A -— -— ‘— . -12.. 8.1: What is your occupation?’ If respondent says she is a house wife— ask: Do you do othér work besides this? fl 8.1:.1 Where do you work? 8.14.2 What is your husband's (wife's occupation?) If re ondent as his wife is a housewife ask: Does she do other work Besides this? ’. ' 8.11.2.1 Where does he (she) work? 8.5 Approximately what was your total family income last year? 8.6 How long have you lived in or near. St. Johns? 8.6.1 Where did you live before you lived here? 8.6.2 Where were you born? If U.S.A., "state," otherwise "country." 8.6.2.1 Did you grow up on a farm, in a town of under 2500 or in a city of 2500 and over. Rura1( ) Town( ) City( ) 8.6.2.2 Would you mind giving us your age? 8060203 2:25: H( ) F( ) 8.7 How far did you go in school? Grade: 8.7.1 Why did you end your schooling at that point? A‘ 8.7.2 Did you like school? 8.7.3 How far did your husband (wife) go in school? 8.8 In what town do you buy most of your hardware? 8.8.1 In what town do you attend the movies most often? 8.8.2 In what town do you go to the doctor?............ 80803 In What tom do moat or your friends 11V6?....... 8.8.1: In what town do you do your banking?............. 8.9 What do you think about the St. Johns community as a place to live? Why? .. 13 - 9. Sources 93 Information. 9.1 To what organizations do you belong? Get names of all organizations. (Church and church organizations) (Business and Professional) I (Civic and Service clubs) (Fraternal or lodge) (Farm) (Labor) (Veteran) (Political) (Any others?) 9.2 Dolyou have a television set? Yes( ) No( ) 9.2.1 Do you remember any program on the radio or television about schools or education during the last month? Yes( ) No( ) DK( ) 9.2.2 What was the program about? 9.2.3 Are you a regular listener to WKAR? Yes( ) No( ) 9.3 Are you a regular reader of the Clinton County Republican-News? Yes( ) No( ) 9.3.1 Is there anything more about your schools and education you wish your local newspaper would publish which it does not now publish? 9.3.2 What other newspapers do you read? 9.1; Do you have a library card or belong to a book club? Yes( ) No( ) 9.5 Are there any magazines which you read fairly regularly? Yes( ) No( ) 9.5.1 If yes: Which ones are they? MM-MM ___—_._.w..-—~ o‘._—-.~.——————mc————-.~ . .. 11, .. 9.6 Do you know anyone who has been connected with the schools in anyway? Yes( ) No( ) 9.6.1 In what way? 9.7 Who is the city manager? 9.7.1 Who is the county agricultural agent? 9.7.2 Who is the county superintendent of schools? 9.7.3 who is the superintendent of the St. Johns schools? it * ‘1? 41' Name of person interviewed? Addre s.s_ No . on sample Date Time : From to Interviewer Evaluation : ROOM USE ONLY. "iii/1717171111711 njiflfilflfifilflffltujtm My]? 1W“