The Predisposition of High School Students to Engage in Collective Strategies of Problem Solving

Abstract

Problem-solving approaches reflect a predisposition toward using collective efforts at governance. Using Aristotle's three constitutional categories (the rule of the one, the few, and the many) as approaches (dividing the rule of the many into collective problem solving and individualistic problem solving options), the reported survey study asked which one was favored by high school students and tested which predictors (age, gender, county, grade point average, ethnic status, years in U. S. schools, community service, extracurricular activities, school enrollment, and number of household members) were significantly associated with those choices. Among the findings: The collective option, involving as many stakeholders as possible, was the most popular, and the predictors significantly associated with that option were age, county, GPA, ethnicity, and extracurricular activities. The sample was 346 students.