Abstract:
The purposes of this thesis were : to study the student characteristics and the socio- economic status of their family; and to determine the relationships of student characteristics, socio- economic status, psychological and other factors to their educational aspirations. The questionnaires were constructed to obtain information concerning students characteristics, socio- economic status, psychological variables and other factors. They were mailed to 681 M.S. 5 students of 5 comprehensive high schools. The data were analyzed by x²- test, coefficient of contingency and z-test. The study revealed that students' educational aspirations were not related to schools, sex or students' academic abilities; however they were related to students' program and age. The educational aspirations of Science students and General students were not different, but Art students differed significantly from the others. The majority of students with high aspirations come from Art while the majority of students with low aspirations were from General programs. Also the majority of students with low aspirations came from the elder groups. The aspirations were significantly related to socio- economic status of the family such as patents' education, and parents' income, but they were not related to the number of children, parents' residences, parents' occupations, and marital status of the parents. The relationship between the psychological factors and students' educational aspirations was also found. The majority of high aspiration students tended to come from parents with continuing encouragement and guidance. The opposite was true for students with low aspirations. There was no relationship between educational aspirations and other factors such as method of preparation and choice of the disciplines.