Reasons given by Anglo/Hispanic parents/guardians for choosing a Catholic high school in the southwestern United States

Abstract

The purposes of this descriptive study were to determine the reasons for which Anglo and Hispanic parents/guardians send their children to a Catholic high school in the southwestern United States and to investigate the effect of specific demographic elements upon the parents'/guardians' reasons. These elements were sex, age, and ethnicity of student; age, sex, ethnicity, religion, educational level, and social-economic status of parents/guardians; and marital status, family school affiliation, and family configuration, and family mobility. A modified Delphi procedure with two questionnaires was used to both identify the reasons and to investigate the possible effects of the demographic elements. A RVAX computer with SPSSX was used to apply measures of central tendency, factor analysis, and ANOVA to the data. The study revealed that the main reasons for this Catholic school choice were academics and discipline/environment. The secondary reasons were teachers/students, size and programs, and religious instruction and atmosphere. The two remaining reasons were dissatisfaction with public schools and family tradition. The study indicated that the interaction of age, sex, and ethnicity of students did significantly influence the evaluations of discipline/environment, religious instruction and atmosphere, and family tradition. In addition, the evaluations of the seven factors were significantly influenced by various combinations of family mobility, economic status, family configuration, marital status, religion, educational level, and ethnicity, age, and sex of parents/guardians. The study suggested that although parents/guardians in 1986 agree with those in a 1974 study that academics is important, they place much less importance upon religion. Other major findings suggested that the values of specific categories of parents/guardians cannot be accurately predicted and that it should not be assumed that Anglo and Hispanic students are sent to a Catholic school for different reasons. Finally, the study suggested that academics and discipline/environment, the main reasons for which parents/guardians make the Catholic school choice, should be a concern of all schools, whether they are parochial, private, or public.