Summary: | This study sought to measure children's early receptiveness to political concepts. A structured questionnaire was administered to a sample of white urban public school children in grades 2 through 8 from eight American cities: Boston, Massachusetts, Portland, Maine, Chicago, Illinois, Sioux City, Iowa, Atlanta, Georgia, Jackson, Mississippi, San Francisco, California, and Tacoma, Washington. Information was collected on attitudes toward real people and roles, opinions concerning the origin, relevance, and supremacy of laws, and cognizance of current affairs and issues. All grades were given the same physical questionnaire, but only grades 4 through 8 completed it in its entirety. Grades 2 and 3 stopped after they had reached their respective limits.
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