The Attitudes of Elementary School Children toward School and Subject Matters

Research on attitudes of students toward school and subject matters has been limited by a lack of suitable instrumentation, among other problems. The present study was designed to ascertain the attitudes of elementary school students toward school and seven subject matter areas as a function of grade level and sex. Approximately 3,000 students were administered a non-verbal attitude inventory. Results indicated a sizable decline in attitudes toward school as a function of grade level, extremely low attitudes toward social studies, a sizable decline in attitudes between grades six and grades seven and eight in most areas measured, and predictable boy-girl differences, the most serious of which indicates that attitudes toward school decline more drastically for boys than for girls.