Meredith D. Pugh

Interscholastic Athletics and Educational Expectations.

This paper represents a replication and extension of a study reported by Rehberg and Schafer in 1968. Our findings reproduce the original study in showing that the relationship between athletic participation and higher educational goals is not eliminated when controlling for parental SES, parental academic encouragement, and student grade average. The extension of the original study involves introducing perceived peer status and school value climate as intervening variables between athletic involvement and educational expectations.

Statistical assumptions and social reality: A critical analysis of achievement models.

The statistical assumptions of asymmetry and linearity in path models of academic achievement are critically examined using data from a sample of Connecticut high school seniors. Analysis suggests that student self-evaluations of academic capability and school performance may be reciprocally related and that academic achievement may be more resistant to change among poor than among average students. Both findings would be masked in simple recursive path models. The data are consistent with the Equality of Educational Opportunity Reports conclusion that different predispositional factors affect achievement among blacks and whites.

Attitudes of Catholic and Protestant Clergy toward Euthanasia

The findings of this study do not categorically confirm the popular assumption that the clergymen are opposed to euthanasia because of the sanctity with which they regard human life. Although they find active euthanasia highly unacceptable, they view passive euthanasia more favorably. However, Catholic clergymen more than Protestant, are significantly opposed to both forms of euthanasia. From the response patterns, a Guttman Scale with a high coefficient of reproducibility was derived, revealing a definite ranking in periority of the different circumstances under which the termination of life supporting techniques would be acceptable. Even though Catholic and Protestant clergymen, in about the same proportions, tend to see the terminal patient as competent to make decisions concerning euthanasia, the two groups, strongly agree that neither the individual patient nor the state should be allowed sole responsibility for the decision.

Status Inconsistency and Professional Militancy in the Teaching Profession.

Social scientists have shown a long-standing interest in status inconsistency as a predictor of human behavior. Status inconsistency may be conceived as a nonvertical configuration involving several dimensions-occupation, education, income, race, religion, and ethnicity-some of which are directly related to economic class attributes. Research in recent years has focused on the effect of two o r more inconsistent status dimensions on patterns of behavior (Lenski, 1954; Jackson, 1962). Several studies cite an association between status inconsistency and liberal ideology (Lenski, 1954, 1956; Segal and Knoke, 1970); others have suggested that status inconsistency may lead individuals to seek conflict resolution through right-wing extremism (Rush, 1967; Hunt and Cushing, 1970-1971). 1 Methodological considerations in evaluating the sometimes contradictory findings of status inconsistency research abound (Treiman, 1966; Kasl, 1969). One problem concerns the question of reference. Inconsistency on various status dimensions can result from an individual’s departure from reference g o u p norms, or from his departure from national

Euthanasia, the Terminal Patient, and the Physician's Role

A random sample of Cleveland clergy was asked to assess 1) the terminal patients views on death, 2) the desires of some terminally ill patients to find an easy and dignified death, and 3) the role the physician ought to play in treating terminal patients. Protestant clergy more than their Catholic counterparts are substantially in favor of 1) disclosure of terminal illness, 2) allowing an easy death for the terminal patient at his request, and 3) facilitating the role of the physicians in cases of terminal illness. Fundamentalist Protestants are less approving than liberal Protestants. Clerics who saw their role extend beyond mans spiritual need approve of the physicians disclosure of terminal illness and his cooperation with patients who request with-holding or terminating medical treatment.

Patterns of Student Participation in a Free University

The focus in this paper is upon correlates of student participation in a free university established at Bowling Green State University following the Cambodian invasion of May 1970. More specifically, our interest centers on participants and nonparticipants in terms of four explanatory factors: satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the regular university, academic characteristics of the students, political orientations of the students, and alienation. Immediately following the Cambodian invasion in May 1970 and the deaths of students at Kent State University and

Attitudes of Catholic and Protestant clergy on euthanasia and abortion

This study analyzes the attitudes of a random sample of Cleveland clergy toward: (1) acceptance of euthanasia; (2) the establishment of legal guidelines; and (3) the similarity between euthanasia and abortion. Although the clergymen find active euthanasia highly unacceptable, they expressed a definite ranking in priority of the different circumstances under which passive euthanasia would be acceptable. The clergy tend to oppose legalizing euthanasis, and indicate their fear of potential abuses. More than their Protestant counterpart, Catholic clergy significantly oppose any statement linking euthanasia and abortion. Clergymen who define their role as purely spiritual in nature tend to express greater disapproval of the three issues.

Faculty Response to the Institutionalization of a Free University

Since the Berkeley demonstrations in 1964, student dissent has taken a variety of forms and has spread to a wider spectrum of college campuses. The call for reforms within the university ranges from threatening demands to conventional requests, and from radical seizures of power to patchwork reforms in the curriculum. It is clear, however, that university reform has received a lower priority from student activists than have political and economic issues. Glazer (1968: 6) has noted that,