REPORT ON DIFFERENCES IN ETHNIC LEARNING STYLES.

TO TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT CULTURALLY-BASED WAYS OF LEARNING AND COMMUNICATING MIGHT HAVE IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING, AN ANTHROPOLOGIST AND A BEHAVIORIST CONDUCTED BOTH FORMAL AND INFORMAL OBSERVATIONS AND INTERVIEWS IN FOUR JOB CORPS CENTERS AND TWO VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOLS, ONE WITH A STUDENT POPULATION OF 86 PERCENT WHITE AND 14 PERCENT NEGRO, AND THE OTHER ALL NEGRO. THE STUDY POPULATIONS WERE INVESTIGATED IN TERMS OF FORMAL LEARNING, INFORMAL LEARNING, AND TECHNICAL LEARNING TO DETERMINE WHETHER VARIOUS GROUPS OF THE POOR UTILIZE THESE TYPES OF LEARNING DIFFERENTLY AND IN DIFFERENT FORMS AND WHETHER ETHNIC LEARNING STYLE MIGHT BE DEFINED BY THE PATTERN OF UTILIZATION. NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES IN LEARNING STYLE AMONG THE ETHNIC GROUPS WERE DISCERNIBLE. THE LEARNING OUTCOMES WERE RELATED TO FACTORS SUCH AS TEACHING STYLE AND NOT TO ETHNIC BACKGROUND. HOWEVER, THE PROPORTION OF NEGROES IN A GROUP SEEMED TO INTERVENE IN THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHING. WHEN THE PROPORTION WAS LOW THE INTERACTION RATES WITH OTHER MEMBERS WAS LOW, AND STEREOTYPED BEHAVIORS, RHYTHM, SLOWNESS, DOCILITY, AND HIGHLY SLURRED, DIALECT SPEECH WERE EXHIBITED. WHEN THE PROPORTION WAS HIGH, THE INTERACTION WAS GREATLY INCREASED, AND STEREOTYPED BEHAVIORS WERE REPLACED BY HIGHLY POLITICAL, POWER-CONSCIOUS ONES. THE TEACHER WAS ALSO MADE TO FEEL THE POWER OF THE GROUP. IT WAS RECOMMENDED THAT SPECIAL ATTENTION BE GIVEN IN STAFF TRAINING TO PROBLEMS CREATED BY ETHNIC PROPORTIONS, AND DURING THE FIRST 30 DAYS, AN EFFORT BE MADE TO HELP RURAL CORPSMEN ACHIEVE GREATER VERBAL PROFICIENCY. THE APPENDIX CONTAINS EXAMPLES OF STUDENT WRITING AND OUTLINES FOR DISCUSSION MEETINGS. (PS)