The purpose of this study is to determine whether a
sample of First Nations high school students holds the
beliefs of an involuntary minority and to determine whether a
curriculum which demonstrates that First Nations people can
succeed will lead to an increase in the rejection of the
beliefs of an involuntary minority, and an increase in self-
esteem and pride in heritage. This study is a quasi-
experimental design carried out in a natural setting. One
experimental group and one control group from a Lower
Mainland high school participated in the study. The
experimental group consisted of 10 subjects and the control
group consisted of 9 subjects. The groups, which were not
randomly selected, were pre- and post- tested using the
Culture-Free Self-Esteem Inventory by Battle (1981) and the
Pride in Heritage Measure by Kehoe and Echols (1986). All
subjects also participated in an interview, which consisted
of 13 questions aimed at yielding responses indicating
whether or not the subjects hold the beliefs of an
involuntary minority. These interviews took place prior to,
and following, the treatment. Subjects in the experimental
group participated in a treatment, which consisted of a
multicultural curriculum demonstrating that First Nations
people can succeed. Due to the numerous threats to the
design validity of the study, it is not possible to assess
the efficacy of the treatment. However, pre-test measures
did provide information about the measures and the sample.
The self-esteem of the subjects was found to be in the
intermediate range. The mean for 19 subjects was 17.7 out of
a possible score of 25. Their mean on the Pride in Heritage
Measure was 41.6 (n=19) out of a possible score of 48; thus,
their score was high. The results of the interviews suggest
that 13 subjects do hold the beliefs of an involuntary
minority. Although many difficulties were encountered during
the conduct of this study, it did accomplish some things.
Furthermore, it may have contributed to the development of an
interview schedule to determine whether or not individuals
from a group known as an involuntary minority do in fact hold
the beliefs attributed to an involuntary minority. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/3451 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Sipsas, Joyce B. |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Format | 3056949 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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