Status Obeisance and Pupil Control Ideology
| Date | 01 January 1971 |
| Pages | 38-47 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb009655 |
| Published date | 01 January 1971 |
| Author | A. RAY HELSEL |
| Subject Matter | Education |
Status Obeisance and Pupil Control Ideology
A. RAY
HELSEL
38 THE JOURNAL OP EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION
VOLUME IX, NUMBER 1 MAY, 1971
Schools are viewed as a special type of organization in which
neither the organization nor its clients can exercise choice in the
organization-client relationship. That pupil control should he
identified as central to organizational life in schools seemed
reasonable. Status obeisance was theoretically related to a typology
of pupil control ideology which ranges from "custodialism" at one
extreme to "humanism" at the other: Teachers' status obeisance
was hypothesized to be positively related to custodialism in pupil
control ideology. This prediction along with two hypotheses from
an earlier study were tested by multiple regression analysis. The
principal hypothesis received strong support. The results of the
study combined with those of previous investigations suggest that
psychological variables may be important determinants of
educators' orientations toward pupil control. Several directions
for further inquiry on pupil control arc presented.
INTRODUCTION
The control of pupils—"discipline"—in the public schools has
long persisted as a subject of major concern to school adminis-
trators, teachers, and writers in the field of education. Evidence of
this concern is reflected by the long tradition of discipline as a
recurring theme in education journals, a tradition dating virtually
from the inception of many of these journals.
Yet, a survey of this literature reveals that it is largely hortative
in nature, that is, it consists of admonitions, exhortations, and
recipes regarding discipline rather than the results of sustained
systematic study. As a result, the fund of verified knowledge of
pupil control which could inform educational practice is small.
However, within the last few years relevant concepts and
theoretical frameworks have begun to appear from which hypo-
theses can be formulated and tested.1
The present study views the school as a social organization and
a conceptual framework is employed to examine the relationship
between pupil control ideology and status obeisance. Hypotheses
from an earlier related study are also retested.2
DR. A. RAY
HELSEL
is
Assistant
Professor
of
Education
at
Southern
Illinois
University,
Edwardsville.
He
holds
the
degrees
of B.S. of the
Indiana
University
of
Pennsylvania
and M.Ed. and Ed.D. of
Pennsylvania
State
University.
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