Kids These Days Tracking high school faculty family

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Kids These Days… Tracking high school faculty family status and educator attitudes about teenagers

Kids These Days… Tracking high school faculty family status and educator attitudes about teenagers Mr. Kryczka & Mr. Rodriguez, researchers

Sociological Question: • What is the relationship between a teacher’s family status and their

Sociological Question: • What is the relationship between a teacher’s family status and their attitudes about teenagers?

Literature Review • Marge Scherer in Educational Leadership of Sept 2002 summarizes the current

Literature Review • Marge Scherer in Educational Leadership of Sept 2002 summarizes the current state of student attitudes about their commitment to school. Most of the data cited describes a downward trend in enthusiasm for school among American students. • Penny Travlou in her 2005 study of teenage interaction with urban spaces, identified that the adults with the least amount of interaction with teens were the most likely to hold negative attitudes about young people.

Hypothesis • We hypothesized that those teachers who had children who were currently in

Hypothesis • We hypothesized that those teachers who had children who were currently in elementary or high school would hold more conservative and judgmental opinions about teenagers in general and specifically about those here at Von Steuben.

Research Model SURVEY: • We designed a 10 question survey that asked faculty about

Research Model SURVEY: • We designed a 10 question survey that asked faculty about their attitudes on several topics: – Teen sexual behavior – Teen substance abuse – Teen attitudes toward school • We also tracked demographic variables including: - family status - years teaching - gender - age - number of children (over & under 21)

The Survey

The Survey

Administering the Research Model • We passed out over 120 surveys, depositing them in

Administering the Research Model • We passed out over 120 surveys, depositing them in the mailboxes of all teachers, administrators, and educational support personnel. • Faculty filled out surveys on their own time, returning surveys to Mr. Rodriguez’s mailbox. • After one week, we had received 46 surveys back from respondents, and we began our data analysis.

Data and Analysis

Data and Analysis

Sample of respondents: family status Teachers with adult children 13% Teachers with children under

Sample of respondents: family status Teachers with adult children 13% Teachers with children under 21 49% Teachers without children 38%

Tabulating the Data

Tabulating the Data

7. Which of the following statements best describes your attitude toward teen sexual behavior?

7. Which of the following statements best describes your attitude toward teen sexual behavior? (circle) A. Teens should not involve themselves in dating whatsoever. B. Teens can date, but ought to be chaperoned to avoid any physical contact. C. Teens ought to date, but should be strictly taught to save sexual contact for marriage. D. Teens ought to date, but ought to understand that sexual contact automatically carries the commitment of a monogamous relationship. E. Teens ought to date freely, but be well-informed of the risks and consequences associated with sexual behavior. F. Teens are at their sexual prime and ought to experience their sexuality in the least restrictive environment available.

Teacher Attitudes on Teen Sexual Behavior

Teacher Attitudes on Teen Sexual Behavior

8. Which of the following statements best describes your attitude about teenage substance abuse?

8. Which of the following statements best describes your attitude about teenage substance abuse? (circle). A. Teens should never be in an environment where drugs and alcohol are consumed. B. Although teens may be exposed to an environment with drugs and alcohol, they should never partake in those substances. C. Teens may partake in alcohol or drugs in moderation in the presence of family members. D. Teens may partake in alcohol or drugs only in moderation and only if they are responsible. E. Teens should experiment with substances as much as possible in the least restrictive environment.

Teacher Attitudes on Teenage Substance Abuse

Teacher Attitudes on Teenage Substance Abuse

9. Which of the following teenage cultural attitudes would you associate with the majority

9. Which of the following teenage cultural attitudes would you associate with the majority of students at Von Steuben: (circle) A. Commitment to academics as essential to success in life. B. Intellectual curiosity as a motivating force in life. C. Attaining the bare minimum to get out of high school. D. Completely delusional about the realities surrounding academic and career goals. E. Obsessed with the social lives of their peers with little or no interest in academics or career goals. F. Totally apathetic about academic and social life. G. Outwardly confrontational or resistant to all aspects of the school setting.

Teacher Impressions of the Majority of Von Students "I can't wait for my next

Teacher Impressions of the Majority of Von Students "I can't wait for my next A. P. class" 7 7 6 6 "Reading Weber really helped broaden my philosophy" 5 5 5 "What I gotta do to get a D? " 4 4 "I'm gonna be a megamillionaire rapper basketball star beauty queen when I grow up" 3 3 "What/who did you do this weekend? " 2 1 1 0 0 000 Teachers w/o kids 1 000 Teachers w/kids under 21 1 11 00 0 Teachers w/kids over 21 "School sucks, my peers suck, the world sucks" "#$%& you, Mr. Rodriguez/Mr. Kryczka!"

Is Von a place for your kids? • We also asked teachers to rank

Is Von a place for your kids? • We also asked teachers to rank their hypothetical comfort level with Von Steuben as a potential setting for their kids (whether real or imagined). • We generally received middle of the road answers, but the majority of staff rated Von Steuben on the positive end of the spectrum (meaning more teachers reported feeling comfortable as opposed to uncomfortable at the prospect of their children attending Von). • We asked faculty to rank their feelings with regard to: sexual mores, substance abuse, and academic motivation. • We noted no large differences between those teachers with or without kids, except that those with kids seemed more uncomfortable with regard to the use of drugs at Von.

Conclusions • Hypothesis NOT supported: Although we originally predicted that teachers with young children

Conclusions • Hypothesis NOT supported: Although we originally predicted that teachers with young children would be more critical of teenage culture, our data revealed the opposite to be true for this sample of respondents. • Instead, the teachers with no children were more likely to favor a completely drug-free environment for teenagers and were far more likely than other teachers to judge Von Steuben students as under-achievers. • One slight difference in sexual attitudes that we noted was that the teachers with children were more likely to link sex with marriage rather than simply monogamy, while the teachers without kids responded more favorably to monogamous sexual relationships as opposed to marriage.

Conclusions Successes of Project: • Questions seemed well-designed to spur thoughtful and honest responses

Conclusions Successes of Project: • Questions seemed well-designed to spur thoughtful and honest responses from faculty (it was a valid mechanism). • The data adjusted our perceptions about the effects of having children on people’s impressions of youth culture. • Provoked interesting discussion and further questions on various topics.

Conclusions Problems: • Because we relied on voluntary anonymous responses from faculty, we had

Conclusions Problems: • Because we relied on voluntary anonymous responses from faculty, we had no way of knowing whether we had obtained a representative sample with regard to the family status categories that we tracked. • Many surveys were not returned, while others were faulty or incomplete, further limiting our sample. • Our field project was valid, but extremely unreliable. Advice for Future Research: • To correct the errors in representation, we advise conducting a preliminary demographic study to create accurate percentages for the relevant categories (with kids, without kids, etc. ). This data could then serve as a way of producing a second, more reliable study.