The development of worldmindedness is an educational objective endorsed by many prominent educators. How worldmindedness can be created and developed is a question acknowledged in much of the literature and needs to be answered if the world is to move toward a future of peace and understanding. Authorities agree that to prepare Americans for an interdependent world, the United States must incorporate global education into the nation's existing educational system. This task will require strong leadership on America's college campuses. Consequently, before an effective worldmindedness program can be established in institutions of higher learning, administrators' attitudes toward such a program must be determined. Just as a person's attitude toward nationalism/internationalism can indicate that person's response to government policies, so also are administrators' attitudes firm indicators of their interest in higher education's implementation of worldmindedness programs. For this investigation, worldmindedness was defined as a value orientation toward the human race rather than knowledge or interest in international relations. Sixty administrators in higher education in the state of Oregon were studied to ascertain if their family, personal and educational backgrounds had any effect on their worldminded attitudes. Respondents were employed at community colleges, private or state institutions, with positions in the administrative hierarchy ranging from presidents to directors or deans of academic departments. Data were obtained utilizing two instruments combined into one: a questionnaire composed of demographic socio-economic, personal and educational background information, and the "World-mindedness Scale," developed by Donald L. Sampson and Howard P. Smith. The results of the study were encouraging. Only 10.3% of the subjects were below the neutral score, 39.7% were above the mean and 31.0% were in the top third of the Worldmindedness Scale indicating strong worldmindedness. A total of 87.9% were above the theoretical neutral. The findings of the literature were supported by the study. Socio-economic backgrounds, educational experience (formal and informal), college major, course work, foreign language study, travel and type of world news garnering were found to assist in the development of worldminded attitude. No significant differences were found between administrators and institution of employment.

Graduation date: 1997