339
The three items receiving the highest ratings were all concerned
with attributes commonly seen as connected with Aboriginal delinquency -
namely
often in trouble with police
drink too much
aggressive, pick fights
(84.1%)l
(82.2%)
(77.3%)
Students were asked to go back and select those items they
ɪ ,
considered most characteristic of Aborigines ..
* ∙ ∙ * '
The items selected, in the main, reflected the ordering of the
stereotypes.
TABLE 7
Characteristics which best describe Aborigines - non-Aboriginal view
rank
ordering Characteristics Corresponding rating
on stereotype
1.’ drink too much 2
2. dirty uncared for 6
3. aggressive, pick fights 3
4. waste money 4
5. often in trouble with police 1
6. don’t keep jobs 8
7. quick tempered 9
*
8. untrustworthy 16
9. poor sense of right and wrong 13
’Often in debt’, and ’don’t take care of possessions’, ranked high in
the stereotyping (5th and 7tħ respectively), were not seen as most
characteristic of Aborigines.
Conclusion
The hypothesis that negative stereotyping of Aborigines would be
found in the educational ’world, of Aboriginesλ and that the negative
stereotypes inherent in legislation^ policy and literature would be part
of the sedimented knowledge of non-Aboriginesi was supported*
ɪln scoring the characteristics which best describe a group, a score of 5
was given to the first characteristic chosen, 4 to the second and so on. The
scores were then aggregated and ranked in order of support.