The basic assumption of this study is that mainland and island schools reinforce a modality to achieve which stresses contrasting achievement values. For example, the value placed on competitive achievement in United States schools seems to contradict the value placed on cooperative achievement in Puerto Rican schools. In order to bridge the gap between the school policies and practices of these two different educational systems, in the sense that the school refl ects an understanding and acceptance of differences in the values underlying achievement potential, it was imperative to undertake empirical exploration of the relational value orientations and achievement modes of islander and mainlander Puerto Rican college students. Knowledge about these two areas facilitates an understanding of the relational value orientations and achievement potential learners bring into the school and any changes undergone as a result of the school's socializing function. The work of educators in pluralistic settings of the United States as well as in Puerto Rico, especially in the areas of curriculum and instruction, may be enhanced by a comprehension of the relational value orientations and modes of achievement potential prevalent among multicultural learners.

Puerto Ricans

Value Orientations and Achievement PotentialBy Diego L. Coln

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2010 Diego L. Coln
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4502-0435-4

Contents

Introduction...................................................xiiiChapter I The Study...........................................1Definition of Terms............................................3Operational Definitions........................................3Conceptual Definitions.........................................4Statement of the Problem.......................................4Subproblems....................................................8Hypotheses.....................................................8Delimitations..................................................9Limitations of the Study.......................................10Chapter II Achievement Potential..............................11McClelland's Achievement Motivation Theory.....................12Cultural Context of Achievement................................14Chapter III Value Orientations................................23Variations in Value Orientations...............................25Relational Value Orientation...................................28Value-Orientation Profile......................................29American Value-Orientation Profile.............................30Hispanic Value-Orientation Profile.............................33Puerto Rican Value-Orientation Profile.........................34Acculturation of Immigrant Groups..............................37Summary........................................................40Chapter IV Methodology........................................43The Participants...............................................43Research Instruments...........................................45The Kluckhohn Value-Orientation Schedule.......................45The California Psychological Inventory.........................47Data Collection................................................48Statistical Analysis...........................................48Hypothesis 1...................................................49Hypothesis 2...................................................49Hypothesis 3...................................................50Chapter V Results.............................................51Preliminary Analysis...........................................51Hypothesis Testing.............................................54Hypothesis 1...................................................54Hypothesis 2...................................................56Hypothesis 3...................................................58Supplementary Analysis.........................................62Chapter VI Recommendations....................................67Summary of the Study...........................................67Discussion of the Findings.....................................69Implications of the Findings...................................73Recommendations................................................75Appendix A Specimen Questionnaire.............................79References.....................................................87

Chapter One

THE STUDY

This type of study was of particular need, given the uniqueness of the Puerto Rican immigration as compared to other immigrant groups. Some of the factors that make this group different have been pointed out by Fitzpatrick, Anselmo, and Lopez: (1) the first group to come in large numbers from a different cultural and linguistic background (Spanish speaking) who were, nevertheless, citizens of the United States; (2) the first airborne migration to the United States; (3) the first massive immigration of a group with widespread intermarriage across racial lines; and (4) the first group of Catholic immigrants unaccompanied by their own clergy.

In light of the uniqueness of this immigrant group and these differentiating factors and given the large numbers of individuals of second-generation Puerto Rican background residing in the United States, it is plausible, therefore, in cultural contact situations such as those inherent in the United States and Puerto Rico, that differences between the relational value orientations of mainlander and islander Puerto Ricans may be viewed as indicators of the modality in which their achievement potential is actualized. Although under Kluckhohn's model, Wurzel (1979) and Sjostrom (1983) investigated Puerto Ricans' value orientations and other variables, no empirical study had been conducted that examines value orientations and mode of achievement potential for mainland Puerto Ricans with their island Puerto Rican peers, ascertaining the relationship of the relational value orientations and mode of achievement potential for both groups. The need for such a study is emphasized by Vazquez (1979) when he shows that the process of formal socialization that is transmitted to Puerto Rican students is plagued with value contradictions at two levels: (a) in the instrumental-rational content of those value orientations conceived as basic to social change and (b) in the degree of consistency between corresponding value orientations. Moreover, Gray (1975) highly recommends research in the area of cultural and sex differences in achievement motivation when she states that future investigations are needed to determine whether the differences in mode of achievement revealed in her study might also hold for students in other cultural groups and different age groups. Further recommendations are to study differences in mode of achievement in other countries, such as Mexico and Japan, and compare the results with those for Mexican Americans and Japanese Americans to evaluate the impact of acculturation on mode of achievement.

The basic assumption of this study is that mainland and island schools reinforce a modality to achieve which stresses contrasting achievement values. For example, the value placed on competitive education in United States school seems to contradict the value placed on cooperative and collaborative education in Puerto Rican school. In order to bridge the gap between the school policies and practices of these two different educational systems, in the sense that the school reflects an understanding and acceptance of differences in the values underlying achievement potential, it was imperative to undertake empirical exploration of the relational value orientations and achievement mode differences of islander and mainlander Puerto Rican college students. Knowledge about these two areas facilitate an understanding of the relational value orientations and achievement potential the children bring into the school and any changes undergone as a result of the school's socializing function. The work of educators in multicultural settings of the United States as well as in Puerto Rico, especially in the areas of curriculum and instruction, may be enhanced by a comprehension of the relational value orientations and preferred mode of achievement potential prevalent among multicultural learners in their classes. Data regarding the relationship of relational value orientations and mode of achievement potential may be of importance in ascertaining whether this relationship is in fact a behavior pattern, culturally and or situationally prescribed. Youngsters of Puerto Rican parentage reared on the mainland, as well as native Puerto Rican youngsters of the same age group and comparable socioeconomic background reared on the island, may thus have learned different modes of achievement potential and different relational value orientations.

Definition of Terms

For the purpose of this study, the following terms are defined:

Operational Definitions

Relational value orientations refers to the definition of people's relation to others. This orientation has three subdivisions: lineality, collaterality, and individuality. Lineality refers to the relational value orientation that calls for a primacy of groups goals. Continuity through time and ordered positional succession is one of the most important goals of the group. Collaterality refers to the relational value orientation that calls for a primacy of their goals and welfare of the laterally extended group. Individuality refers to the relational value orientation that calls for a primacy of the individual goals over the goals of specific collateral or lineal groups (Kluckhohn 1961).

Operationally, mainland and island Puerto Ricans' relational value orientations were measured by scores received on the subscale of Kluckhohn value-orientation schedule (KVOS).

Mode of achievement potential refers to the need for achievement via conformance (Ac) and need for achievement via independence (Ai). For the purpose of this study, Ac will be equivalent to the achievement for the benefit of others (toward others), and Ai will be equivalent to achievement for the benefit of self (toward self).

Operationally, mainland and island Puerto Ricans' mode of achievement potential were measured by the scores they obtained on the subscale of the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) (Gough 1957).

Island Puerto Ricans refer to Puerto Ricans who were born and reared in Puerto Rico and had not lived in the continental United States for more than three consecutive months.

Operationally, island Puerto Ricans were selected through the use of a personal data questionnaire (PDQ) devised by the investigator.

Mainland Puerto Ricans refers to Puerto Ricans, who were born and reared in the continental United States, are the progeny of island Puerto Ricans and have not lived in Puerto Rico for more than three consecutive months.

Operationally, mainland Puerto Ricans were selected through the use of the personal data questionnaire (PDQ) devised by the investigator.

Conceptual Definitions

Values: The term refers to core conceptions of the desirable within every individual and society. They serve as standards or criteria to guide not only action but also judgment, choice, and rationalization (Williams 1968).

Value orientations: The term referring to complex but definitely patterned (rank-ordered) principles that give order and direction to the ever-flowing stream of human acts and thoughts as they relate to the solution of "common problems" (F. Kluckhohn 1961).

Acculturation: The term referring to the absorption process of one culture into another, usually the migrant or minority group into the dominant one (Gordon 1964, Doob 1960), or to the development process of a new culture, which responds to the needs of both groups and which has characteristics taken from the interacting cultures (Bland and Yamamoto 1970).

Statement of the Problem

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of the relational value orientations with the mode of achievement potential of mainland and island Puerto Rican college students. Many studies have been conducted that deal with the differences in value orientation across culture (Kluckhohn 1951, Schemerhorn 1970, Simoes 1971, Flannery 1972, Wurzel 1979, Portes 1980, Sjostrom 1983). These researchers contend that the closeness of fit between the immigrant and host societal value orientations is a variable in the rate of acculturation for the immigrant, whereby the closer the fit, the more rapid the acculturation. Most investigators of culture contact assume that acculturation leads to assimilation or integration. This could occur through the absorption of one culture into another, usually the migrant or minority group into the dominant one (Doob 1960, Lieberson 1961, Gordon 1964) or through the development of a new culture that responds to the needs of both groups and that has characteristics taken from the interacting cultures (Redfield 1936, Humphrey 1943, Pederson 1950, Lieberson 1961, Blane and Yamamoto 1970). In sociology this latter phenomenon is usually referred to as cultural pluralism, the result of selective retention from the migrants' culture and selective acquisition from the hosts' culture of those cultural behaviors and values that are most meaningful to the migrant (Ginorio 1979). Although under Kluckhohn's model, Wurzel (1979) and Sjostrom (1983) investigated Puerto Ricans' value orientations and other variables, no empirical study had been conducted that examines value orientations and mode of achievement potential for mainland Puerto Ricans and their island Puerto Rican peers to ascertain the relationship between the relational value orientations and mode of achievement potential for both groups. The achievement motivation literature stresses that achievement depends on a generalized desire to achieve; it does not deal with the issue of whether or not a culture values the appropriate achievement behavior. For instance, initial studies of achievement motivation conducted with middle-class white males showed that high-need achievers valued achievement for self (McClelland, Atkinson, Clark, and Lowell 1953). In contrast, studies conducted in this area with Japanese Americans and Mexican Americans showed that high-need achievers were more inclined to pursue goals benefiting others, particularly the family (DeVos 1968, Gray 1975). According to Maehr (1974), the desire to achieve is often confounded with the goal to achieve. In his work on human intelligence, Gardner (1983) suggests that there is persuasive evidence for the existence of several human intelligences, that these are relatively independent of one another, and that they can be fashioned and combined in a multiplicity of adoptive ways by individuals and cultures. In light of Gardner's proposition of cultural variations in cognitive and achievement potential and given the large number of Puerto Ricans presently residing in the United States, it is plausible, in cultural contact situations such as those inherent in the United States and Puerto Rico, that differences between relational value orientations of mainlander and islander Puerto Ricans may be viewed as indicators of the modality in which their achievement potential is actualized. The further result that Puerto Rican students might exhibit behaviors characteristic of intellectual potential directed to different goals that are acceptable in the Hispanic culture but not in the Anglo-Saxon culture is also plausible.

According to Steiner (1975), Puerto Ricans born and reared in New York consider themselves to be Puerto Rican. To the island-born Puerto Ricans, the New York Puerto Ricans are just other American mainlanders. Yet to a non-Puerto Rican, both the islanders and mainlanders are Puerto Ricans. Despite the degrees of acculturation among the generations of Puerto Ricans, Americans still characterize mainland Puerto Ricans as Hispanics while Puerto Ricans are considered Americans by their Hispanic American cousins. Among the migrations with strong return flows has been that from Puerto Rico. In 1978, the New York Times stated that for the first time in American history, a major immigrant group is giving up on the American dream and returning to the homeland (Stockton1978).

It appears that differences in environmental factors and sociocultural orientations might result in two distinct ethnic groups with similar cultural heritage, one emerging from the migrant parent group and the other from native islanders. In relation to the groups sampled in this study, composed of Puerto Rican college students, the role of schooling takes on vital importance. The socialization processes inherent in the United States institutions, which mainland Puerto Ricans undergo, foster the dominant value orientations of the American society. Public education in the United States, historically, has served the dual function of transmitting knowledge and culture deemed necessary for adult participation with U.S. society. An important role of schooling during this century, consequently, has been that of fostering the acculturation of the diverse immigrant groups whose descendants are being instructed in American values through the school system (Greer 1974, Tyack 1974). As Greer (1974) pointed out, by the beginning of the twentieth century, urban public schools were already part of the "fixed order of things." They were believed to provide a common experience for the diverse children they were to equip with the wherewithal for responsible USA citizenship. Yet the island Puerto Ricans undergo the socialization processes inherent in the Puerto Rican school system. The school systems of New York City and Puerto Rico differ in curriculum goals and content, methodology, course of study, physical plants, equipment, and environment. Brameld (1958) compared mainland schools and Puerto Ricans schools and wrote that a noteworthy difference among others was in the greater centralization of the islandwide system of Puerto Rico as well as in curricula and teaching methods. Gomez Tejera and Lpez Cruz (1970), as well as Seda-Bonilla (1973), pointed out similar differences in island and mainland school systems as indicated by Brameld. Epstein (1970) noted the additional difference between mainland and island school systems of language of instruction . Spanish is seen as the symbol of Puerto Rican nationalism and culture. The impact of this issue on the island's public school system is fully discussed by Epstein. In addition, Christensen (1975) pointed out several differences between island and mainland schools, which showed that the public educational environments were dissimilar in language instruction, curriculum, methodology, and centralization of the school system. Mainland and island schools reinforce a modality to achieve which stresses contrasting values. For example, the value placed on competitive achievement in the United States schools seems to contradict the value placed on cooperative achievement in Puerto Rico schools. In order to bridge the gap between the school policies and practices of these two different educational systems, in the sense that the school reflects an understanding and acceptance of differences in the values underlying achievement potential, it was imperative to undertake empirical exploration of the relational value orientations and achievement modes of islander and mainlander Puerto Rican college students.

In view of the varying cultural ethos within each society and the different educational systems to which mainland and island Puerto Ricans are exposed to, it was expected that these two groups would differ from each other in their relational value-orientation preferences as well as in their mode of achievement potential. Although there is extensive literature on the subject of cross-cultural difference in value orientations as well as achievement motivation, no study of value orientations had examined the relational value orientation and achievement potential modality of mainlander and islander Puerto Ricans. This study attempted to do so by examining both the modality of relating to others (relational value orientations) and the mode of achievement potential (achievement for the benefit of self or achievement for the benefit of others) in these two groups.

(Continues...)

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