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AUTHOR Barger, Robert N.; Barger, Josephine C.TITLE Do Pragmatists Choose Business While Idealists Choose

Education? (Or, Using Philosophy as a Guide inAcademic Advising).

PUB DATE 16 Oct 89NOTE 26p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the

National Academic Advising Association (Houston, TX,October 16, 1989).

PUB TYPE Reports - Research/Technical (143) --Speeches /Conference Papers (150)

EDRS PRICE Mnol/PCO2 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS Business; *College Students; Education Majors;

Existentialism; Fine Arts; Higher Education;Humanities; Individual Differences; *Majors(Students); Natural Sciences; *Philosophy; PhysicalEducation; Realism; Sex Differences; SocialScientists; *Student Attitudes; TeacherCertification; Technology; Transfer Students

IDENTIFIERS Idealism; Pragmatism

ABSTRACTAcademic advisors want to use all available data in

helping a student select a major field of study. Recent researchsuggests that the identification of a student's basic philosophicviewpoint is one such piece of data that is not presently used. Thisstudy examined a. random sample of college students (N=347) in orderto determine the relationship of their philosophic viewpoint to theirchoice of college major. Variables examined included student's scoreson a philosophic preference questionnaire, student's gender, whetheror not the student was a transfer student, and whether or not thestudent was a candidate for teacher certification. Results indiatedthat the philosophic viewpoints of idealism, realism, pragmatism, andexistentialism were both real and measurable. Fine arts majors werelow on pragmatism and high on idealism. Education majors tended to below on realism. Natural science majors were less idealistic than finearts majors, applied science majors, and education majors. Naturalscience majors were also significantly less existentialistic thanhealth/physical education/recreation (HPER) majors, education majors,and business majors. Humanities majors were less realistic., thanphysical education majors and less pragmatic than HPER majors,business majors, and social science majors. Females scored higher onidealism while males were more inclined toward realism. Males werealso more pragmatic. Transfer students were teacher certificationnative students. Whether students were teacher certificationcandidates was not significantly related to their philosophicalorientation. (ABL)

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DO PRAGMATISTS CHOOSE BUSINESS WHILE IDEALISTS CHOOSE EDUCATION?

(OR, USING PHILOSOPHY AS A GUIDE IN ACADEMIC ADVISING)

by

Robert N. Barger & Josephine C. Barger

Eastern Illinois University

Charleston, Illinois 61920

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONOffice of Educational Research and Improvement

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIONCENTER IERICI

/This document has been reproduced asreceived from the person or organizationoriginating it

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TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."

A paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National AcademicAdvising Association, Houston, Texas, October 16, 1989

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Robert N. Berger & Josephine C. BargerEastern Illinois UniversityCharleston, Illinois 61920

We believe that the academic adviser wants to use all availabledata in helping a student select a major field of study. Ourrecent research suggests that identification of a student's basicphilosophic viewpoint is one such piece of data that is notpresently used. This may be because advisors do not know how toascertain that viewpoint or because they do not feel that it isrelevant to the student's choice of major.

We conducted research at Eastern Illinois University on arandom sample of 347 students, representing all six colleges in theUniversity. It showed that the student's philosophic viewpoint wasindeed significantly related to his/her choice of major.*

We examined the following variables in our research: student'sscores on a philosophic preference questionnaire, student's gender,whether or not the student was a transfer student, and whether ornot the student was a candidate for teacher certification.

The following is a synopsis of our results. We found that therewere distinguishable philosophies among the students. In otherwords, separate philosophical viewpoints (Idealism, Realism,Pragmatism, and Existentialism) are both real and measurable. Moreimportantly, they are significantly related to different academicfields of study.

Using SPSSX discriminant analysis, we found that naturalscience majors scored relatively low on Existentialism and high onPragmatism, majors in the humanities were lnw in both Idealism andPragmatism and high in Existentialism. Fine arts majors were low onPragmatism and high on Idealism. Finally, education majors tended toscore low on Realism.

Duncan multiple analysis indicated that natural science majorswere significantly less Idealistic than fine arts majors, appliedscience majors, and education majors; natural science majors werealso significantly less Existentialistic than health/physicaleducation/recreation (HPER) majors, education majors, and businessmajors; humanities majors were significantly less Realistic thanphysical education majors; humanities majors were also significantlyless Pragmatic than HPER majors, business majors, and social sciencemajors; social science majors were significantly lessExistentialistic than HPER majors.

Using SPSSX univariate analysis, oe also found that femalesscored higher on Idealism and that males were more inclined towardRealism. Males were also more Pragmatic. The least gender differenceoccurred with Existentialism.

The only significant difference in philosophical orientationwhen comparing those students wt. ,..) had taken all their coursework atthe University with those students who had transferred was thatstudents who had transferred were found to be more Idealistic thannative students. Whether students were teacher certificationcandidates or not was not significantly related to theirphilosophical orientatioA.

page 2

* The student's philosophic viewpoint was categorized accordingto the following four philosophies which are briefly summarizedbelow:

- Idealism: The Idealist believes that reality is basicallyspirit or idea. Knowledge is gained through the mind. Value ismeasured by conformity to ideals.

- Realism: The Realist believes that reality is basicallymatter or,the physical. Knowledge is gained through the senses.Value is measured by conformity to nature.

- Pragmatism: The Pragmatist believes that reality isbasically process or experience. Knowledge is gained throughtrial and error. Value is measured by norms adopted by themajority.

- Existentialism: The Existentialist believes that reality isself-defined. Knowledge is gained through making personaldecisions about what is true. Value is measured by what anyindividual responsibly chooses as good.

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