Showing papers in "Education 3-13 in 1970"

Law-Abidingness among Conservative and Liberal Students.

Abstract: EDPS Price MF-$0.2c ETC-S0.6 *Activism, *College Students, *Student Attitudes, *Student Behavior, *Student Opinion The rese_ts of several studies are discussed, initially to indicate that most students are not involved politically and do not perceive their problems as necessarily political in origin. The characteristics of those who do become active in campus political protests are listed, as well as the types of protest activities in which these students are likely to participate, and the types in which they have participated. From the evidence, it is concluded that most student protesters remain within the limits of the law. The scope of the paper also includes those who do not remain within the legal limits. The authors concern themselves with one dimension of the problem, namely, the relationship between liberalism-conservatism and law-abidingness. The study upon which the paper was based examined a specific hypothesis: conservatives given their greater Propensit, toward reigidity and conformity, are likely to be more law-abiding than liberals. Two instruments were used to collect data from the sample of 12P students at a California state college: (1) Lentz's Conservatism-Radicalism (C-R) Opinionnaire; and (2) Gregory's Law-Abidingness Scale. The results clearly indicated that attitudes of conservative and liberal students toward the law were not significantly different. The correlates of law-abidingness and law violation are discussed. (TL) LAW-ABIDINGNESS AMONG CONSERVATIVE AND LIBERAL STUDENTS U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE OFFICE Of EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS MEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING 11. POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS SIAM DO NO1 NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY. A Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association Earl R. Kruschke Assoc. Prof. of Political Science Chico State College Kalil I. Gezi and Assoc. Prof. of Education Sacramento State College Minneapolis, Minnesota March 2-6, 1970 LAW-ABIDINGNESS AMONG CONSERVATIVE AND LIBERAL STUDENTS Of the many political phenomena which have competed for public attention in recent years, the upsurge of student protest, particularly on college and university campuses, must surely rank among the few most significant. This increase in student political activity has led to widespread concern among the American people. Indeed, it is the opinion of many persons that American college campuses have become bastions of dissent and of outright subversion, and that students (not to mention their professors) have become bent upon the destruction of the political, legal, and educational institutions of the country. It is not the authors' purpose to engage in polemics. But it is increasingly clear that statements suggesting that American college students have become political hordes willing to involve themselves in any issue which has as its focus opposition to the status a are grossly inaccurate. Indeed, the simple fact is--all the news headlines implying the contrary notwithstanding -that only a relatively small percentage of students are in Eay, way active politically, and that the percentage of students who engage in what might be termed politically-motivated violence is very much smaller still (see, for example, Peterson, 1966; Heist, 1965; Trent and Medsker; 1967; and Trent and Craise, 1967). The reality of student political involvement is well summarized by Trent and Craise who have observed (1967) "...that most of them had a kind of uncritical acceptance of, and contentment with, the status gusi not unlike that of the 'silent generation' of the past." Moreover, Kruschke, in his study of California students (1966), found, for example, that although most students are "very interested" or "somewhat interested" in politics on all levels, and that although most students feel that the activities of the national government have "great effect" or "some effect" on their day-to-day life, they have, nevertheless, not often attempted to influence a government decision