____________________________________________________________________________________________________    
                                          |         |            School level   |        Sex
                                          |         |___________________________|___________________
                                          |         |   Grades    |   Grades    |         |
                   Item                   |  Total  |   7 and 8   |9 through 12 |  Male   | Female
__________________________________________|_________|_____________|_____________|_________|_________
                    1                     |    2    |      3      |      4      |    5    |    6
__________________________________________|_________|_____________|_____________|_________|_________
Interest in becoming a teacher            |         |             |             |         |
    Very interested ......................|       8 |           8 |           8 |       5 |      11
    Somewhat interested ..................|      24 |          23 |          25 |      22 |      27
    Not very interested ..................|      25 |          23 |          27 |      24 |      27
    Not at all interested ................|      41 |          45 |          39 |      48 |      34
    Don't know ...........................|       1 |           1 |           1 |       2 |       1
                                          |         |             |             |         |
Ever talked to a teacher about becoming a |         |             |             |         |
  teacher                                 |         |             |             |         |
    Yes ..................................|      12 |           9 |          14 |       9 |      15
    No ...................................|      87 |          90 |          85 |      89 |      84
    Don't know ...........................|       1 |           1 |           1 |       2 |       1
                                          |         |             |             |         |
A teacher has told you they thought you   |         |             |             |         |
  would make a good teacher               |         |             |             |         |
    Yes ..................................|      22 |          20 |          24 |      17 |      28
    No ...................................|      73 |          75 |          71 |      77 |      68
    Don't know ...........................|       5 |           5 |           5 |       5 |       4
__________________________________________|_________|_____________|_____________|_________|_________

SOURCE: Metropolitan Life/Louis Harris Associates, Inc., The Metropolitan Life Survey of The American Teacher, 1996, Part II. "Students Voice Their Opinions on: Their Education, Teachers and Schools." (This table was prepared July 1997.)