K0HTF

Tom (Doc) Gruis

This is Tom "Doc" Gruis,  K0HTF  Extra class, 87 years young. I attended high school at Des Moines Tech and graduated in 1954 and I was first licensed in 1956 and joined ARMS in 2020. My many Main interests in ham radio are, nets, beacons, digital voice modes, rag chewing, experimenting, repeater and radio in general  and have calls of KØHTF, WQNU766 - KYGCH. I was a High school teacher for 41 years,  doctorate in education,  broadcast engineer, had first class 'phone with radar endorsement, disk jockey for several. I am a member of UMC and certified lay speaker since 1985,  Gideon since 1966 and life member and approved speaker, BA in religion and philosophy, chaplain for several Masonic bodies,  have conducted some several funerals,  taught world religions in a public school,  etc..... and  I was a volunteer hospital chaplain for almost 20 years.  I have been married to Donna for over 43 years and counting, 38 year old twins, all of my children have accepted Jesus. My favorite Bible verse is Colossians 1:17 - In Him all things cohere.

The following is my Dissertation abstract 12-27-2020

AN INQUIRY INTO SOME RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN

CHURCH ATTENDANCE AND SCHOOL PARTICIPATION

BEYOND REGULAR CLASSROOM ACTIVITY Order No. 8009714

Gruis, Thomas Elwood. Ed.D., Drake University, 1979

153pp. Adviser: Robert L. Evans

The Problem. The purpose of this study was to determine if certain relationships exist between students’

frequency of attendance at church and grades, involvement in school sponsored activities, and certain social characteristics in their school lives.

Procedure. The study was conducted in all ninth-grade social science classes at a junior high school in 

Iowa. This sample provided a good cross section. There were small numbers of black and Jewish students, but a larger group of Latino students. However, the problem was to identify relationships between school participation and church attendance: it was a sample that gave a good indication of churched and non-churched students.

An inventory was designed by the researcher in consultation with Drake faculty members to gather data. The

Instruments were screened for usefulness on each of the questions asked. The Chi-square test of independence was applied to the data generated on each of the questions asked relating to school activities tabled against the frequency of church attendance. A significance of 0.05 was assumed.  

Findings. Each of the three relationships stated above was investigated through the use of null hypotheses. In all cases except one, a significant relationship was found between the frequency of church attendance and the specific item of each null hypothesis. The exception was the frequency which Students reported they felt good about themselves. The study includes results of the Chi-square tests for the entire group and also for the comparison of those who attend church more than once per week to the balance of the sample, and those who never attend church to the balance of the sample, and those who attend church more than once per week to those who never attend church. Results are reported also for the whole group of a test instrument administered before the inventory and to a different group.  

Conclusions. On the basis of this study, it is concluded that church goers do get higher grades, are more involved in school activities both in terms of frequency of attendance and in the number of groups attended, and do have certain different social characteristics than non-church goers which include fewer absences from school, more frequent enjoyment of school, the number of students planning to go on a class trip, and less frequent discipline. The frequency of feeling good about themselves was at the 0.1 confidence level and indicated a positive relationship. The most consistent indications of significance occur in terms of comparison of the whole sample to those who never attend church. Any church attendance does affect the grades, participation and social characteristics of the students.  

Recommendations. Further studies should be conducted to determine which churches show the greatest relationship to the school participation; what practices are seemingly most beneficial in a total church program to school participation: if other non-school institutions also have an effect on school participation: if there is indeed a causal relationship between church attendance and school participation: what input the school may have on the students’ church participation; and what is the nature of the students’ activities at church relative to their school participation.

Updated 11 January 2024