The Development of Conscience: A Comparison of Students in Catholic Parochial Schools and in Public Schools

Abstract

This report is one of a series of studies on the development of conscience in the area of moral judgment, comparing children attending Catholic parochial schools and children attending public schools., Previously, public school children of average intelligence in two socioeconomic classes (upper middle class and working class) were compared (5). A group of subjects attending public and Catholic and Jewish parochial schools were also studied to compare responses by socioeconomic class and by levels of intelligence (2). A further report in this series will compare the differences between children attending Jewish and Catholic parochial schools (4); and finally there will be a report comparing American preschoolers from upper middleclass and working-class background with studies by Piaget and Harrower of Swiss and English children (3). Comparing the populations studied in public and Catholic and Jewish parochial schools by intelligence level and socioeconomic class (2), it was found that: