ABSTRACT
Many studies of change and stability in the attributes of college students undertake to discover to what degree and in what directions students change their values and attitudes, orientations, skills, and motivations, as measured by general attitudinal inventories and psychological tests. In a number of studies, students have been asked to judge the importance of various goals of a college education. The educational goal most extensively endorsed by freshmen is either the goal of a basic general education and appreciation of ideas or the goal of vocational training and development of skills and techniques. Another general indicator of students’ values is the attributes they consider important to a job or career. Increased importance of aesthetic values and decreases in religious ones are almost universally reported in longitudinal studies of college students, in their responses to the most commonly used instrument.
