Dental students' class attitudes: a four year study

Students in a professional school develop class attitudes that may differ from their individual attitudes and from the educational ideals of faculty. They may be affected positively through the cooperation engendered by the shared attitudes. However, the shared attitudes may be detrimental to student learning. Peer pressure may encourage average performance and unacceptable methods of acquiring information. A survey of class attitudes was designed and administered to the Class of 1988 at Louisiana State University School of Dentistry during each of their four years of training. Percentages of agreement were calculated for each item and chi square analysis was used to compare differences over the four years. Fifty-six students completed the initial administration and 30 of the 50 seniors completed the last administration. The results suggest that although many class attitudes remained stable over the four years, there were some significant changes. The students indicated that as a class they became more likely to take short cuts, to cheat on exams, and to get by with as little effort as possible. As seniors the students showed more positive class attitudes than they had as juniors, but there was a steady deterioration of class attitudes toward the school and faculty over the four years.