Word: jacob
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...conclusions reached by Philip E. Jacob in his study of Changing Values in College are valid, then a good many educators, here and elsewhere, have been wasting a good deal of time attempting to revise their curricula and their methods of teaching...
Seeking to determine the effect of education on the values held by students, Jacob concludes that college has no fundamental impact on the students' basic values, and that what peripheral effect it has is not to be explained by the influence of the curriculum, of the instructor, or of the teaching methods used...
...Jacob begins his analysis by attempting to determine the main contemporary patterns of value among American students. Drawing chiefly from the evidence of five previous studies, he notes that college students today tend to think alike, feel alike, and believe alike. He notes that most of them are gloriously contented, self-centered, and tolerant of diversity, that they value the traditional moral virtues, that they feel a need for religion, but that religion does not carry over to guide their important secular decisions, that they are dutifully responsive towards government, and that they set great stock by college in general...
Despite the broad uniformity of student values, however, Jacob notes that some 20-25 per cent do not conform, that individuals do depart from the broad baseline, and, "to the extent that they do so," he says, "they mark out the area where their education, and other factors, may have had a decisive influence...
...when he looks at the accumulated evidence, Jacob feels that although college does make a difference, it is not a very fundamental one for most students. He notes that college tends to move students toward a greater uniformity and at the same time somewhat more flexibility of social outlook, but he feels that these are changes on the surface of personality, and do not involve the fundamental values which shape a student's life pattern. "They certainly do not support the widely held assumption that a college education has an important, general, almost certain 'liberalizing' effect," he claims...