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A case study of the impact of modest scholarships on the education of poor, rural Chinese girls found a "bonus effect"--an increase in the value placed on female scholarship recipients by their village. In mountainous Shaanxi Province, poor economic conditions led to many girls dropping out of school by grade 4. In one village, the All-China Women's Federation awarded small scholarships in 2000 and 2001 to help female dropouts return to school. Recipients included 14 elementary students and 6 secondary students, 5 of whom attended boarding school. All the girls were chosen due to severe financial difficulties in their family. Additional information on 12 families and interviews with some of the girls revealed no surplus resources or assets in the family. Nevertheless, all the girls persisted in their school attendance on only a minimal scholarship. Some fathers made extraordinary efforts and borrowed money well beyond their means, actions that fly in the face of logic about "long-term return on investment." Given the poor economic conditions of the village, school did not promise a return on investment for these girls, and their devotion to schooling appeared to be to schooling per se. It is suggested that traditional Confucian values regarding education combined with a modern disposition allowing girls a new flexibility of role or identity. The scholarships increased this flexibility of attitude on the part of fathers, and they responded to their daughters' passion for schooling with compassion and parental support. An appendix presents data on the recipients. (SV)

A study investigated whether Future Farmers of America (FFA) members and non-members differed in their perception of the overall image of FFA and whether their perceptions were influenced by social and demographic characteristics. A questionnaire was administered to 404 first-year students enrolled in the Agriscience Applications course in 27 high schools in North Carolina. Participants responded by indicating the strength of their agreement or disagreement with 18 statements regarding FFA's image. Statistical analyses included the Pearson Product Moment Correlation and descriptive statistics. Findings indicated FFA members reported higher mean scores for every image item; both members and non-members agreed FFA is not just for those students who wish to become farmers; a student's decision to join or not join FFA was influenced by his/her perception of FFA's image in his/her school; a student's gender, ethnicity, enrollment choice, prior enrollment in an agriculture class, block scheduling, grade level, and extracurricular activities did not influence perception of FFA's image; students tended to join and participate in FFA when they believed it was able to meet a student's need for a sense of belonging; and social aspects of FFA were motivating factors in the desire to be members. The researchers concluded that FFA may need to work toward providing more sophisticated methods of instilling that sense of belonging and comradeship that FFA has enjoyed in its long history. (Contains 13 references.) (YLB)

This study is one in a series that examines cohorts of American Rhodes scholars in order to determine how changing dynamics of merit, sponsorship, and democratization affect elite membership, socialization, occupational structures, and perceptions of leadership. This segment of the study examines the ways in which elite baccalaureate credentials interact with pre-college cultural capital to shape distinctive career outcomes. The sample (n=220) included two cohorts of Rhodes scholars from the late 1940s and the late 1960s, and the research sought to determine: (1) whether between World War II and the late 1960s Rhodes scholars had become more diverse in terms of social origins; (2) whether an upper-class background increased the likelihood of achieving professional prominence; (3) whether attendance at a "big 3" graduate school had an independent effect on career prominence; (4) whether social class and educational effects on career attainment differed for Rhodes scholars in the 1940s and 1960s; and (5) what interactions of social background, baccalaureate origins, and graduate school prestige affect career prominence. The study concluded that factors outside of formal education and social background account for the majority of the variation in the career pathways of Rhodes scholars chosen for eminence. (Contains 40 references.) (CH)

This paper analyzes biases in academe concerning what constitutes "legitimate" and "rigorous" scholarship and examines how these biases interact with decision-making power to place minority scholars and their research into a traditionally ascriptive secondary role. Looking specifically at the Chicano/Latino scholar, it is argued that the racial/ethnic factor seems to interact with another pervasive source of division among scholars: the tension between doing research for research's sake and the more applied aspect of academics. This brings into play larger questions about political commitment, partisanship, and advocacy, as well as the relative merits of researcher objectivity and "scientific detachment" versus the empathic understanding of the participant observer. Data from the Carnegie National Faculty Survey (1984) and the National Latino Faculty Survey (1987) are used to compare the views of Latino and non-Hispanic faculty on scholarship and university life and to present the perceptions of Chicano and Puerto Rican faculty on how Latino group-based research is rated in academe. The concluding section discusses the paucity and limitations of existing research on Chicano faculty and the ethnic/racial cleavages in academe. Contains 28 references. (SV)

Shifts in the number of women in the workplace and a greater diversity and prestige level in their work may have an impact on the educational and occupational level to which students aspire. To examine the consequences of this shift, a comparison of the educational and occupational aspirations of high school students with the educational and occupational attainments of their parents was conducted to investigate gender differences. The participants were 272 male and 313 female high school students. They completed a questionnaire titled, "High School Students Survey: Work, Values, Interests and Skills in Career Guidance." Results showed that students aspired to significantly more education than that achieved by either their father or their mother. Also, the occupational prestige aspirations for both male and female students were significantly higher than the occupational prestige attainment of either parent, and females had significantly higher prestige aspirations than males. (MKA)

This document is intended to describe the approach of the City Technology Colleges (CTCs) in Great Britain to provide young people older than 16 with a vocationally oriented curriculum while still ensuring their intellectual and cultural development. Following a summary, the first chapter is an introduction. The second chapter describes the old concept of vocationalism, with the low prestige associated with it and four consequences it has produced (low participation rates in postcompulsory education and training; many young people leaving the system with low or no qualifications; few science and technology graduates produced by the United Kingdom; and, until recently, unregulated vocational education standards). Chapter 3 describes current educational reform in the United Kingdom. Chapter 4 describes the provision of vocational education in the CTCs, where efforts have included developing a new model of vocationalism, developing a business culture, broadening and accrediting the curriculum, developing a technological baccalaureate, and developing methods of credit transfer. Chapter 5, entitled "The Shape of Things to Come" provides a glimpse of likely national and international issues related to the opening of the Single Market in Europe from 1993. Appendices describe education in seven countries and the World ORT Union and describe a technological baccalaureate program. There are 53 references. (CML)

Five economic hypotheses of what American universities value (profit, production, prestige, faculty consumption, or academic resources and activities) were tested to illustrate the implicit value framework, a conceptual framework for inferring the objective economic values of an organization from the manner in which society has defined its relationships of exchange and production. The population for the study was comprised of 166 comprehensive and research-doctoral universities and the time period was the 1982-83 academic year. Since a period longer than one year is needed to produce graduates, cross-sectional data were used. The universities were divided into four types: selective-private, selective-public, less selective-private, and less selective public. Data on several other variables were collected: inputs and outputs (students, degrees granted, articles published), faculty, departmental and administrative services, library services, and physical plant. Findings indicated, among other things, that students have a negative exchange value, that financial aid programs do not affect the exchange value of the student to the university, and that the universities that publish the most have relatively high marginal exchange values for research. These results are consistent with the hypotheses that universities maximize faculty consumption. They are inconsistent with maximizing prestige, profit, production or with valuing intrinsically academic activities. (JB)

While gender stereotyping of occupations has been investigated, the relationship between such stereotypes and job status has received less attention. Two studies were conducted in which assessments of occupational gender stereotyping were compared with assessments of occupational prestige made by the same subjects. In study one, subjects were 20 male and 20 female adults employed in various occupations. Subjects rated the sex-type and prestige of 46 occupations. Approximately 26.1% of the occupations were viewed as feminine, 23.9% as neutral, and 50% as masculine. Prestige ratings of feminine occupations had a very small range, while ratings for masculine occupations had a broader range. In study two, 20 men and women employed as human resource professionals used the same rating procedures used in the first study to rate 134 occupations. Results revealed that 15.7% of the occupations were rated as feminine, 8.9% as neutral, and 75.4% as masculine. Prestige ratings for feminine occupations again had a very small range. Masculine occupations, in general, received higher prestige ratings. The findings of these two studies suggest that adults in the workplace have consistent estimates of gender stereotypes. The majority of occupations are perceived as being masculine, and those that are viewed as feminine are thought to be less prestigious. (NB)

Most students think that a college education, no matter where, is a ticket to success. But how much does this success depend on which college students attend? The author argues that institutional prestige is a more important factor in creating pathways to leadership than we think. (Contains 16 references.) (Author)

College student persistence and overall educational attainment were studied, based on data from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972. Attention was directed to the influence of student socioeconomic status, academic aptitude and preparation, educational goal commitment, college quality/selectivity, college orientation to academic/graduate education versus vocational sub-bachelor's degrees, college size and complexity, and average student involvement. The analysis is based on a causal model derived from the sociological status attainment and conflict paradigms and from Tinto's model of college persistence/withdrawal. Statistical analysis involved Joreskog and Sorbom's technique for maximum likelihood estimation of models with multiple indicators of latent constructs: LISREL (linear structural relationships). Analyses were conducted separately for males and females who entered college in academic programs in fall 1972. Results show significant effects of students' social and academic background, institutional characteristics, integration and performance in college, and goal commitment after college entrance. Findings indicate the importance of examining dimensions of institutions other than the commonly used selectivity or quality dimension. (Author/SW)

A Finnish study sought to verify the "exclusiveness theory" of education developed by Randall Collins. The exclusiveness theory proposes that educational requirements and the educational levels required for employment continually increase, not in response to the actual requirements of jobs, but so that the professions can maintain exclusivity and social status by excluding those with lower levels of education. Education is seen as a means of continuing or bettering social class rank rather than as job preparation. In the study, a sample of 392 students from a population of 1,604 at a open university were administered a questionnaire, with a response rate of 74 percent. The questionnaire asked about students' reasons for obtaining higher education and about their perceptions of their social class. The study did not support the hypothesis that elevation of social status was a significant factor in students' reasons for studying at the university. (KC)

As the fit between job values and job rewards becomes more important to American workers, it is important to understand factors which may affect these values. Data from the combined General Social Surveys of 1974, 1976, 1977 and 1980 were used to investigate the influence of education, job prestige, earnings, age, sex, race, and family characteristics on the value placed on intrinsic rewards. Specifically, respondents (N=1,857) were asked to rank in importance five job-related rewards: high income; no danger of being fired; working short hours; chance of advancement; and having important work which provides a sense of accomplishment. The ranking of this "sense of accomplishment" reward, clearly intrinsic in nature, was the dependent variable in the analyses. Results showed that having more education produced the highest ranking of the dependent variable. Having a father with more education and being white were also significantly associated with placing high value on intrinsic reward. Being older and having a father with a higher prestige occupation were also associated with intrinsic reward, while sex and the number of persons in the household were not related to this value. The findings indicate that the major determinant of the value placed on intrinsic job reward is pre-employment experience. Efforts to increase both individual and organizational outcomes by providing intrinsic rewards may not be successful for all types of workers. (JAC)

Factors that influenced applicants' decisions to attend Tufts University, a private institution in Massachusetts, were studied based on a 1985 survey. Enrollment decisions were examined for the following groups: matriculants and nonmatriculants, liberal arts and engineering applicants, applicants from each of seven geographic regions, applicants who chose to attend Tufts over six top competitors, and applicants who chose to attend public institutions. Applicants completed a survey and listed in order of importance the three factors that most influenced their final college choice. Location was one of the most frequently cited factors for the total sample and for each of the subgroups examined. Both institutional prestige and academic reputation were frequently cited as important factors in the final college choice by accepted applicants. Size was an important factor for students selecting Tufts over some of its major competitors, while finances were an important factor for students who decided to attend public universiites. Factors that were cited less frequently were: the social environment, the adult influence, admissions activities, athletics, and postgraduate jobs. (SW)

The context for implementing general education is discussed, based on research at a comprehensive midwestern research university which has a prescribed distribution general education curriculum. Two major contextual factors are identified: prestige is achieved through research and strong graduate programs; resources to support graduate courses and research tend to be generated by enrollments in general education. Two propositions are offered: departments organize and implement general education activities as efficiently as possible primarily to generate resources to pursue preferences for research and graduate programs; and competition for resources becomes competition for a share of the general education enrollments that generate graduate student and faculty stipends. The research involved interviews with department heads and faculty and used the procedure of constant comparison. Course implementation was influenced by the scale of general education courses involving multiple sections. The extent of faculty participation in general education instruction was influenced by the nature of different fields (i.e., well-defined and codified versus not well defined). It is concluded that faculty involvement in general education is primarily managerial and is guided by the need to minimize the time required, given the preference for research. (SW)

A national sample of 337 college students who initially aspired to be physicians were studied for 9 years to determine the influence of precollege characteristics, college origins, and the academic and social experience of college on the likelihood of becoming a physician. Estimates of a 14-variable causal model indicated that the major direct effects on attainment were attributable to college characteristics and the academic experience of college. The selectivity/prestige of the undergraduate institution attended, collegiate academic achievement, and majoring in the physical or life sciences each had significant direct effects on becoming a physician. The direct positive influence of college quality, however, was counterbalanced by its negative indirect effect. The greatest advantage in attending an elite institution accrued to those students with relatively high levels of academic performance. As academic performance declined, so did the positive effect of college quality. The effects of precollege characteristics on becoming a physician were largely indirect, mediated by the student's college experience. While women were no less likely than men to become physicians, being female had a significant negative indirect effect. (SW)

Assessed college students' occupational preferences, activity preferences, and career self-efficacy expectations. Results supported the importance of prestige in all of the major types of vocational interest data and also validated the spherical-structure-of-interests construct. People used prestige in responding to activities as well as to occupations. (RJM)