As Racist as You Think Perspectives of Military Brats and Their Civilian Counterparts on Diversity, Race, Class in Education

Sady Horn

Date of Award

2007

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Ryan, Kimberly

Keywords

Diversity, Military, Education

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

As the country continues to increase in ethnic and cultural diversity, there are questions raised as to how this will affect group relations and the understanding of American identity. The military, while being very ethnically diverse has come to be seen as one of the most successful U.S. institutions concerning race relations in integration and promoting equal opportunity. Yet, little research has looked into how this racial climate might affect military dependents. This study compares the perspectives of former students of Department of Defense schools (DOD) and former public high school students on issues of diversity, race, and class. The study also examines social distance and self-esteem in these two groups. Former DOD students reported more experiences with diversity that were positive than former public high school students. These students also reported more egalitarian relations among students than public high school students. Former DOD students were also more likely to choose alternate ways (other than race or class) in explaining student organization and other social dimensions. Former DOD students had significantly less social distance and higher self esteem than those who had attended public high schools.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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