Attitudes, socio-economic status, and achievement of Inuit students in Labrador

Trask, Noah Albert (1979) Attitudes, socio-economic status, and achievement of Inuit students in Labrador. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to measure the attitudes, socio-economic status, and achievement of Inuit students and to determine the relationship among these three variables. -- To obtain the necessary information utilized in the analysis of the questions posed in the study, a questionnaire was administered to sixty-seven Inuit students enrolled in the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades in two all-grade schools in the isolated, coastal region of Northern Labrador. The first section of the questionnaire elicited background information concerning the socio-economic indicators, parental education, parental occupation, family size, and family possessions. The final section of the questionnaire utilized an attitudinal scale, the semantic differential, to measure the students' attitudes towards self (ME) and education (SCHOOL, BOOKS, ENGLISH, TEACHER, DISCIPLINE, EXAMINATION, READING, HOMEWORK, STUDYING, and LEARNING). Attitude towards education was also measured by a question directed at the students' expectation of the grade level to be achieved. A basic data sheet recorded from the students' report cards an indication of actual school achievement, the students' total grade average and subjects failed for first two school terms. -- The main findings of the study indicate that, while socio-economic status and achievement of Inuit students are low, their attitudes are not negative. The findings also indicate that, of the variables investigated, only the indicators of socio-economic status are significantly related to the indicators of school achievement. Father's education, father's occupation, and mother's occupation are significantly related to the students' total grade average, and father's occupation is significantly related to subjects failed. -- The study concludes that socio-economic status, not negative attitudes, is the major obstacle to educational achievement among the Inuit students in Labrador. It also concludes that the Inuit student appears to have made only tentative and weak commitments to the values of the educational system and the "White culture" it represents.

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