ABSTRACT
The classroom in order to be understood, needs to be viewed as a place in which each individual is attempting to make sense of the situation in which he finds himself and the meanings thus made need to be thought of as differing from individual to individual, according to each one's perception of the situation. During childhood and adolescence the individual, through intense socialization, is building up a repertoire of expectations and responses, and, most important of all, a self-concept through his perception of others' perception of him. The American sample were more concerned with civil liberties and public welfare than were the British who seemed to see the relationship between the individual and the state as a business one. Adolescence does mark a fundamental change of orientation in that it is at this stage that the individual becomes concerned in a conscious way with himself as unique.
