A Comparison of the Vocational Aspirations of Paired Sixth-Grade White and Negro Children Who Attend Segregated Schools

Abstract

THE POSITIVE relationship of motivation to learning is universally accepted by both educators and behavioral scientists. This phenomenon can give impetus, purpose, and direction to an individ ual as well as make the essential difference be tween a meaningless exercise and an exciting learning experience. Though we appear to be mo tivated similarly in the area of our basic needs, individuals differ greatly outside this narrow con text. Within a culturally similar framework of conditions and pressures, individuals display vast personality and motivational differences. The high percentage of drop-outs recorded in schools today is attributed to many causes, one of which is the lack of academic motivation. This along with vo cational aspiration, forms the principal focus of this study. It was the author's intention to view aspiration and motivation from a phenomenologi cal approach since he feels that the way an indi vidual sees himself determines the significance of his perceptions. Self-concept and motivation, therefore, become closely related to the aspira tions of man. It follows also that classroom in struction will become more efficient when more is known about the way the student sees the world, and thinks about himself, both in the present and in the future. This study deals with only one aspect of the self of young adolescents: their vocational as pirations at a particular time in their lives. Their aspirations will probably change often; however, according to perceptaual psychology, they are significant in that they reveal the way in which these students viewed themselves phenomenologi cally. The research population consisted of two groups of sixth-graders who had similar economic status, regional environment, and intelligence quotients, but had difference racial backgrounds. They also attended segregated schools. The prob lem consisted of determining if the occupational aspirations of these two groups of adolescents dif fered significantly. It is hoped that from this and related studies, generalizations can be made related to desired responses gained from individuals of various backgrounds and subject to different environ mental pressures. Such data-gathering ?would lead to a better understanding of self-concept forma tion. It could also evolve into a compatibility of the effective humanistic approach to individual psycho-therapy with the broader, more educa tionally significant movement currently studying peer-dynamics among adolescents and young adults. Method