Nicaragua: The Values, Attitudes and Beliefs of its Educated Youth.

The study examines the attitudes of young people in the secondary schools and universities of Nicaragua toward politics, government, religion, education, and work. The report also looks at teacher's attitudes towards education. Over 50 instruments which provide information concerning attitudes, values, and beliefs were sent to random samples of students and teachers. Many of the instruments are described in the paper. The report shows that there are definite changes in the belief systems of the educated young in Nicaragua, mostly in the direction of attitudes held by people in more advanced industrialized nations. The study's conclusions include the following: several items on politics and equality indicate a strong shift from elitism toward a greater egalitarianism; although Nicaraguan young people still see their culture as more spiritual than that of North America, numerous responses indicate a growing sense of materialism; traditional political attitudes are in a state of flux and are moving towards democratic involvement by all people; and 98% of the teachers want to take an active part in the reform of the secondary curriculum. One part of the study compares the values and attitudes of Nicaraguan youth with the values of college-age males in the United States, Australia, Israel, and Canada as measured by the Rokeach Values Survey. Family security and a comfortable life are ranked considerably higher by Nicaraguans than by youth in the other countries. (Author/RM)