Poll Also Finds They Learn More From Media Than School : 4 Out of 5 Students Fear Nuclear War

Four out of five high school students surveyed in a Stanford University study said they were worried about nuclear war breaking out in their lifetime, researchers reported.

The 3-year study of more than 950 students in seven San Francisco Bay Area schools also found that students learn more about world events from television and newspapers than they do from school.

Asked which they considered the most important source of information about international affairs, 45% said television, 17% said newspapers and 10% said school. The rest cited parents, friends, radio and magazines.

“On the basis of these findings, I would encourage more work by television and newspapers to make international affairs more comprehensible,” education professor Hans Weiler, head of the American Schools and the World project, said in an interview. “We need not just more international news, but more penetrating reporting.”

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Forty-four percent of the students who read newspapers said they read international news, Weiler noted.

More than 80% of the students said world peace is the No. 1 global issue--ahead of hunger in poor countries and natural disasters--and 84% said they were anxious about the nuclear arms race.

“Nuclear war is very much on the students’ minds and they are showing a considerable degree of apprehension about it,” Weiler said.

The students’ concern, though, was not matched by a knowledge of world history.

Only half the students could name the U.S. allies in World War II. Only a fifth knew the purpose of NATO in a multiple choice response that showed almost a random spread.

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However, two-thirds correctly identified the purpose of the nuclear freeze movement and the European response to the placing of Pershing II and cruise missiles in Western Europe, indicating the media’s role in forming opinion.

The classroom role is not negligible, though. The project found that students learn most where the discussion was open-ended, without the teacher leading the students to a “right” answer.

“Classroom experience was most powerful where there was a dialogue, with freedom to express opinions opposite to the teacher’s,” said researcher David Grossman. “Another powerful predictor was whether the teacher cared about the subject.”

Other important factors to student knowledge about these issues included international travel, the father’s education, and the socioeconomic status of the household. The higher the socioeconomic status, the more knowledge the students had.

Scores Compared

The project found that boys tended to score higher on questions involving international knowledge, and girls tended to score higher on their concern about these issues.

Students who are not native speakers of English showed more empathy with global issues than did native English speakers.

An unexpected finding was students’ responses to the questionnaire itself, Grossman said.

“The attention and respect given to their opinions was new to them, and they were flattered,” he said. “They did have opinions, irrespective of their knowledge levels. Kids are interested in these things.”

In a series of questions polling attitudes toward their country, 47% disagreed with keeping the United States stronger than any other nation as the best way to ensure peace, with a third expressing no opinion.

Fifty-nine percent disagree with the idea that keeping America strong and well-armed will deter other nations from attacking the country, and 28% had no opinion.

Weiler said the results accurately represent Bay Area students but may not be representative of the nation.

The students surveyed were a highly diverse population. Only 30% were non-Hispanic whites, with 29% Asian-American, 14% refugees from the Far East and Central America, 13% black and Native American, and 11% Hispanic. More than a third were born outside the United States, and just over half spoke English as a first language.