The relationship between students' views about the purpose of school and their race, socioeconomic status, educational aspiration, and academic self-concept

Recent trends indicate declines in the enrollment rate of black students in higher education. These trends may reflect the high rate of poverty among black students and the tendency for students with low socioeconomic status to value goals extrinsic to the educational process. Consequently, these students may be motivated by factors that are not addressed directly by academic activity and, therefore, do not encourage academic achievement or educational aspiration.

The purpose of this study was to develop measures of two views about the purpose of school and determine if differences in these measures existed between students of different races and socioeconomic levels. One view focused on the extrinsic value of school, or the belief that schooling should lead to social and economic advancements. The other view focused on the intrinsic value of schooling and preparation for responsible adulthood. Data were collected in the Southeast from 1000 high school seniors.

Factor analysis and split half reliability results supported the validity and reliability of the variables used to measure views about the purpose of school. Among the various socioeconomic categories, there were no significant differences in mean scores on the intrinsic view of school measure. However, white students in the highest socioeconomic category had significantly lower mean scores on the extrinsic view of school measure. While there was no significant difference between black and white student mean scores for the intrinsic view of school measure, black students had significantly higher mean scores on the extrinsic view of school measure.

From the results of the study it was concluded that blacks and students from the lower socioeconomic categories tended to view schools primarily as preparation for jobs. The implication of this conclusion is that these students may not be motivated by academic activity that is only indirectly related to job preparation.