A STUDY OF GRADUATE COLLEGE STUDENT ACTIVISM IN RELATION TO LEADERSHIP PREFERENCES

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1 International Journal of Educational Science and Research (IJESR) ISSN Vol. 3, Issue 2, Jun 2013, TJPRC Pvt. Ltd. A STUDY OF GRADUATE COLLEGE STUDENT ACTIVISM IN RELATION TO LEADERSHIP PREFERENCES RAMESH CHANDRA SINGH 1 & GEETA KHANDURI 2 1 Lecturer, Department of B. Ed., Government P. G. College, Gopeshwar, Chamoli, Uttarakhand, India 2 Assistent Professor, Department of Education, Birla Campus, HNBGU, Srinagar, Uttarakhand, India ABSTRACT The last decade of the twentieth century witnessed dramatic changes that ushered in largely because of the breakdown of political barriers and the unprecedented developments in communication technology. The higher education scenario has been significantly altered. Higher educational institutions are great sources of gain and spread of knowledge for mass. Institutions are providing more opportunity to gain the knowledge and expertness in various dimension and field but the mass or students are not going to near the understanding of that funda, How they have a chance to promote their life and get success. Today Govt. and private institutions get large numbers of enrollment but they have not sufficient facilities to give the required education. So the students deflecting their mind and the results come out with the frustration against the system. These institutions eventually come with the hand of unrest, movements, dissatisfaction, turmoil and transition. These action proned students are normally termed as activities. Beck & Morris (1976), observed student activism as an interference of new knowledge which has kept strong check upon the old conventional values, morals, ethics and relationships. Rollwin & Sini (1973), felt that man has become more inquisitive and needs a quick and immediate satisfaction and solution of their problems. Some researchers felt it as a continuous conflict and contradiction within the social system which may account as the input for student activism. KEYWORDS: Student Activism Scale (SAS), Leadership Preference Scale (LPS) INTRODUCTION In berif student activism in the present context is referred as participation of students in those activities which are considered anti-academic, against the norms of society and as an expression of behaviour beyond the established norms and values. The out burst of these activities may come in form of protests, rallies, strikes, sit-ins, boycotts, walkouts, assault, and procession, destroying public and private properties, organizing and participating in political oriented activities. From these student s activities the leadership behaviour have generated in the students and become an important part of student activism. Mishra (1974) conducted a study on Factors in student leadership Activism and find out that leaders belonging of high and low activists differed significantly in their identification with political parties and in their view regarding to participation in political activities. It means leadership behaviour of students is effected in their activism. The present study has been undertaken with the specific view to identify the relation between high and low activists on their leadership behaviour. OBJECTIVES The objectives of present study were framed as following To investigate the significance of differences between high and low activists on their Leadership preferences in respect of Rural-Urban variance and compositely.

2 64 Ramesh Chandra Singh & Geeta Khanduri To identify the significance of difference between two groups of activists as Rural Vs Urban high activists, Rural Vs Urban low activists, Rural high activists Vs Urban low activists and Rural low activists Vs Urban low activists on their leadership preferences. HYPOTHESIS The hypotheses have been developed in order to achieved the objectives of the study There exists no significant difference between high and low activists on their Leadership preferences in respect to Rural-Urban variance and in compositely. There exists no significant difference on leadership preferences between two groups of activists as Rural Vs Urban high activists, Rural Vs Urban low activists, Rural high activists Vs Urban low activists and Rural low activists Vs Urban low activists. METHODOLOGY The investigation was carried on the students of graduate colleges functioning under the jurisdiction on HNB Garhwal University. Out of various colleges located in the rural-urban location, a proportionate ratio was decided for the selection of the colleges for each category of location. The random sampling technique was adopted to draw the representative sample from the colleges belonging to both location students from all faculties. Over all 300 students out of which 150 students from rural & 150 students from urban location were subjected for data collection. On the basis of scores obtained on the students activism scale, two groups of high and low activists were created by putting 1SD above the mean and 1SD below the mean (M +1SD). Thus students having mean more than 1SD are termed as high activists (HA) and student below 1SD are low activists (LA). These two groups of students were compared on the each dimension of leadership preference scale within the location and in terms of locational variance. The statistical techniques adopted to analysed for data are Mean (M), Standard Deviation (SD) and t test. Total selected samples of high and low activists in different location as given below in the table. Table (A): Detail of the Selected Students for Study as HA and LA Area Number of Students (Activists) High Activists Low Activists Total No. Rural Urban Compositely Tools The Student Activism Scale (SAS) was developed and standardised by the researcher himself. The reliability of the scale by K.R.formula was found.77 at (N=100) and validity measured by the D.I. value for each itom.this scale is highly reliable and valid to measured the student s an activistic tendencies. For the measurement of the leadership preferences of the activists, the L P-scale (Leadership Preference Scale) developed by L.I. Bhusan (1995) was used. It measures the leadership ability or tendencies in the students individually and in the group.

3 A Study of Graduate College Student Activism in Relation to Leadership Preferences 65 INTERPRETATION & ANALYSIS Table 1: Significance of Difference between High and Low Activists on Leadership Preferences at Rural-Urban Variance & Compositely Location Group N M S.D. ' t ' Value df Rural H.A L.A ** 148 Urban H.A L.A ** 148 Compositely H.A L.A ** 298 Significant at.01** or at.05* The analysis of data presented in the table-1, reflects an insignificant difference between high and low activists of Rural-Urban variance and compositely in respect to their leadership preferences. The t -scores of activists as high & low in every location are sufficiently greater than the table value for each. The mean values are evidently enough high in favour of high activists in every location with compositely as to say certainly that leadership behaviour is closely associated with the high activists than that of low activists. On the basis of above analysis it can be forwarded that the high activists of every location certainly are subjected with the activities related to more democratic pattern of leadership behaviour. The greater mean values are in favour of high activists, so it can be argued safely that high activists supported democratic leadership preference while low activists found intended towards authoritarian leadership style. Thus high activists are observed as the members of the student group which seeks more involvement with the members of group & objectives of the group. They are found intended to determine policies & plan by themselves and dictating them to members. Therefore, on the basis of above finding, the proposed hypothesis that There exists no significant difference between high and low activists on their Leadership preferences in respect to rural-urban variance and compositely can be rejected. Table 2: Significance of Difference between Rural and Urban Activists on their Leadership Preferences Part Location Group N M S.D. ' t ' df A Rural H.A Urban H.A ** 133 B Rural L.A Urban L.A * 163 C Rural H.A Urban L.A * 143 D Rural L.A Urban H.A ** 153 Significant at.01** or at.05* It is evident from the part A of the table-2, that there exists a significant difference between rural and urban high activists on leadership preferences. The calculated t value (7.98) is found larger enough than table value at 0.01 level of significance for 133 degree of freedom. The obtained mean value in greater enough to yield variance between them. So the urban high activists are found significantly more democratic than rural high activists. Hence, it can be said that student activistic tendencies in the cities receive more student co-operation and participation in executing their activities than rural location. The urban high activists devote themselves more frequently with the cause of student groups and observed as more democratic leaders than their rural counterparts.

4 66 Ramesh Chandra Singh & Geeta Khanduri An explanation of Part-B of table-2, evidently reflects an insignificant difference between rural and urban low activists on their leadership preferences. The calculated t value(0.59) is much less than the table value at 0.05 level of significance for 163 degree of freedom. The higher mean value however in favour of urban low activists but not enough to induce a significant variance between them. So the greater mean value scores of low activists belonging to urban location, referred that they are comparatively more democratic than the activists of rural location. However, the scores are intended more authoritarian than democratic. An analysing of part-c of the table-2 reveals that there is a significant difference between rural high activists and urban low activists on their leadership preferences. The calculated t value (3.95) is greater than the table value at.05 level of significance for 143 degree of freedom. The mean value is evidently enough high in favour of rural high activists. On the basis of above analysis it can be forwarded that rural high activists comparatively more democratic than the urban low activists. It is evident from part-d of the table-2 that there exists significant difference between rural low activists and urban high activists on their leadership preferences. The calculated t value (17.93) is much greater than table value at.01 level of significance for 153 degree of freedom. The obtained mean value is evidently enough high in favour of urban high activists as to say certainly that democratic leadership behaviour is closely associated with urban high activists than that of rural low activists. Hence it can be said that on the basis of above findings, the proposed counterpart of hypothesis no-(ii) that There exists no significant difference on leadership preferences between two groups of activists as Rural Vs Urban high activists, Rural high activists Vs Urban low activists and Rural low activists Vs Urban low activists can be rejected but only in case of insignificance difference between Rural and Urban low activists (according to part-b in table-2) in respect to leadership preferences can be accepted. CONCLUSIONS On the basis of this research the conclusions are given below High activists are found significantly higher on their leadership preferences in comparison to low activists on all location. They seek more encouragement &reinforcement from interpersonal relationship of the members of society and are involved more with members for the objectives of the group. The low activists are supported as authoritarian leaders preferring to determine and dictate their policies by themselves only. In the part from A and B of the table-2 to exhibit an interesting phenomenon that in comparison of Urban (HA and LA) with Rural (HA and LA), on their leadership preferences, the Urban HA and LA is recorded more democratic leadership preference as they receive more student support, cooperation and participation in executing the student activities than Rural high and low activists. We can say that all kind of activists from urban location shows more democratic leadership and dominating behaviour. In the part from C and D of table-2, the conclusion that rural high activists are more democratic than urban low activists, rural high activists are observed as the members of students group which seeks more involvement with the members of group and objectives of the group. In another hand in comparison of Rural low activists and Urban high activists on their leadership preferences that the Urban high activists have been observed as favouring more democratic leadership preference than Rural low activists. The Urban high activists are characterised with more involvement with participation with student groups. They seem to have more tolerance while dealing student groups and acceptance of mistakes committed with the group mechanism.

5 A Study of Graduate College Student Activism in Relation to Leadership Preferences 67 REFERENCES 1. Rollwin, K.& Sini, P : Changing Human Psychie : A Study of Knowledge Intervention; Journal of Human Psychology, 8,13, 2. Majumdar, T 1974 : Academic Leadership and Student Unrest : A Pilot Study; ICSSR,. 3. Mishra, Y.N : Factor in Student Leadership Activism : An Empirical Sociological Study ; Doctoral Dissertation, (Sociology), APSU, 4. Beck, G. & Moris, L : Values in Process of Interpretation ; Journal or Moral Education, 8,5, 5. Uniyal, M.P.& Sharma, R.R : A Study of Societal and Institutional Magnitude of Activism; Education Review, NCERT, New Delhi 6. Venkataiah, N : Problems of Unrest in University Campuses : University News, AIU, New Delhi, Vol. XXIX, Dec. 16, 7. Shah, B.C : A Study of Some Non-Cognitive Factors Related to Student Activism ; Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation in Education, Garhwal University, Srinagar Garhwal,

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