A Comparative Study of the Adjustment of Negro Students in Mixed and Separate High Schools

Abstract

An increasing number of investigations are being focused upon the psychology of the Negro minority, its attitudes and adjustment patterns. In order to throw light upon the educational problems of the Negro adolescent his school environment is being widely used as a laboratory for research. The type of educational environment to which a child is exposed determines to a great extent the progress of the child not only in the learning process but also in the process of his personality development. Since in some border communities just North of the Mason-Dixon line the -Negro child may attend either a mixed or separate school, the present study has attempted (1) to measure the adjustment of Negro students in mixed and separate high schools, (2) to compare the results obtained in order to show any differences or similarities in adjustment of Negro students in the two school situations, and (3) to determine how the attitude of Negro students toward Negroes correlates with the adjustment of those students. The most convenient and reliable method of measuring the adjustment of a personality to its environment, a method which obviates the time and labor which actual observation of behavior and extended personal inter-