Social values of secondary students and occupational preferences in Guyana

Abstract

This study was designed to survey the social values of the students and their attitudes to manual work, in order to find out whether school leavers had internalized the values and attitudes consistent with the national ethos as conceptualized by the state. Questionnaires were administered to 485 students of 18 secondary schools. The independent variables were sex, geographical location, and school type, and the dependent variables include self-reliance, national unity, sense of responsibility, sense of integrity, self-help, manual work, local food, and occupational preference. Results of the analysis showed that most value orientations were favorably assimilated.