A STUDY OF THE PERCEPTIONS OF NEW JERSEY EDUCATORS REGARDING NATIONALISTIC INSTRUCTION.

"The new social studies" present a dilemma to the teacher for he is confronted with a tradition of nationalistic instruction which seemingly contradicts the premises on which much of "the new social studies" is based. Do educators perceive the school as receptive to open inquiry in areas involving nationalistic education? Do they perceive the school should be more receptive to such inquiry? The major hypothesis was that N.J. suburban school educators would perceive the school would act in a significantly less tolerant way than it should act in situations involving aspects of nationalistic instruction. Differences were hypothesized for both "would" and "should" perceptions for several independent variables. A situational questionnaire was devised and sent to educators in four N.J. suburban, K-12, school districts. Data were analyzed with analysis of variance tests, using Scheffe's post hoc test for significant contrasts. The data confirmed the major hypothesis. Educators did perceive the school differently, both in terms of what it would do and what it should do in these situations. Implying the school is not hospitable to open inquiry, the findings suggested some of the difficulties that confront attempts to implement a curriculum based on "the new social studies," particularly with respect to nationalistic instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]