We wish to be looked upon: A study of the aspirations of youth in a developing society

Abstract

This study was based on two successive surveys of the aspirations of youth, which were undertaken in Trinidad and Tobago on the eve of major changes in the socio-political situation. The first survey was carried out in 1957, on a representative sample of students in the fifth and sixth forms of 30 schools, including all government and government-assisted secondary schools and eight registered private ones. The survey instruments consisted of two protocols: 1) the autobiography of the future, in which the respondents were asked, under conditions of anonymity, to write freely about their hopes, plans, and expectations up to the year 2000; and 2) a self-administered questionnaire covering the same dimensions through open-ended and multiple-choice questions. The second survey was conducted in 1961, in a smaller sample of school, to further examine some of the conclusions that had been reached in the first survey, and to evaluate the impact of new trends of social change on the aspirations of youth. the book presents the findings of the surveys and a discussion of their implications