Prestige of National-Religious High Schools and Social and Religious Orientations of Students

Abstract

To examine the relationship between differential levels of school prestige and social, religious, and demographic characteristics of students of the Israeli national-religious high school system, 221 students in Grade 11 of a boys' theological academic high school, a girls' theological academic high school, a coeducational academic high school, a coeducational comprehensive high school, and a coeducational vocational high school were administered the Student Religiosity Questionnaire, the Student Social Orientations Questionnaire, and the Conservatism Scale. Also, the School Prestige Questionnaire was given to the 5 headmasters of the schools. Statistical analyses indicated that the schools were characterized by two different levels of prestige based upon academic and social clusters of institutional variables. A differential relationship between school prestige and students' demographic backgrounds and some of their attitudinal attributes was noted. Students with more liberal orientations attended the higher prestige schools; those students with less liberal attributes attended lower prestige schools. The results were explained according to the process-approach model.