High School Students’ Perceptions of Agriculture and Agricultural Careers as Delineated by Presence of an Agriculture Program and RuralUrban Categorization

Eleventh grade students n = 1,953 in 17 public schools across New York State were surveyed regarding their agricultural perceptions and stereotypes.. The agricultural perception scores o

Running Head: Agricultural Perceptions

High School Students’ Perceptions of Agriculture and Agricultural Careers as Delineated by

Presence of an Agriculture Program and Rural/Urban Categorization

Erin Smith, Undergraduate Research Honors, Cornell University

Travis Park, Professor, Cornell University

Eleventh grade students (n = 1,953) in 17 public schools across New York State were surveyed regarding their agricultural perceptions and stereotypes Four types of schools were targeted for this study: rural and urban schools with agriculture programs, and rural and urban schools without agriculture programs The purpose of this study was to determine perceptions among high school students about agriculture and careers in agriculture Results indicated a lack of understanding regarding the importance of a college education for agricultural careers The agricultural perception scores of students attending a school with an agriculture program but not enrolled in an agriculture course were similar to the scores of students attending schools without agriculture programs; only the students enrolled in agricultural education courses had significantly higher perception scores The demographics from the rural schools without

agriculture programs indicated an opportunity may exist to expand agriculture programs within these areas The majority of the population believed no specific individual, media, and/or

environment influenced their perception; however those who indicated an influence held more positive perceptions of the field of agriculture.

Introduction

In 2000, the field of agriculture employed 22 million Americans, making it the largest employer within the United States Twenty-two million Americans were involved in processing food from the farm to the table (Farm Facts Book, 2000) It was predicted that each year between

2005 and 2010, 52,000 agriculture jobs would be available, but only 49,300 qualified college graduates would be present to fill them (Goecker, Gilmore, Smith & Smith, 2005) With the agricultural job demand remaining unmet, attention has shifted towards collegiate and high school agriculture programming and coursework

Unfortunately, collegiate agriculture programs are shrinking and colleges are

encountering increased difficulty in recruiting agriculture majors From 1998 to 2005, the

number of agriculture and natural resources students awarded bachelor’s degrees decreased by 1.2%; however the total number of degrees awarded increased by 22.7% (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2007) This decrease in agriculture program size at a time of increased college attendance may be a result of less exposure to the field of agriculture in the formative years Agricultural work and labor has disappeared from the average American’s daily routine as

a result of technological advances in productivity As children mature, they rarely encounter agriculture directly; instead they learn through peers and media outlets (Swortzel & Taylor, 2006)

One potential remedy for the decline in the number of agriculture students is to provide students with more exposure to agricultural programs These programs have been shown to increase agricultural understanding and stimulate positive agricultural perceptions (Wagler, Rusk, Blomeke, Talbert, Richert, & Latour, 2007; Pense, Leising, Portillo & Igo, 2005)

Unfortunately, opportunities to enroll in agricultural science classes are decreasing In 2001, more than 35 high school agriculture programs closed because no qualified teachers could be found (National FFA Organization, 2007) In 2008, only 174 out of the more than 7,000 high schools in New York State had agricultural education programs (NYSED, 2008) In order to maximize the efficacy of the existing programs, reach a broader range of students, and increase recruitment into agricultural majors and careers, an increased understanding of the origin of agricultural perceptions is needed Two elements integral to these developing agricultural

perceptions are the school curriculum and community environment

Theoretical Framework

The school and community environments are two specific domains in which perceptions are created and fostered Urie Brofenbrenner’s ecological systems theory (1962) supports the in-fluence of the environment and the interacting ecosystems on a child’s cognitive development Brofenbrenner proposed the existence of five different systems that influence a child’s learning; from the microsystem (what directly influences the child, i.e school), to the macrosystem (the larger social-cultural context) According to Bronfenbrenner’s theory, the teacher’s tone, body language, and curriculum leave an impact on the impressionable youth, as do the community’s economy and population size (ex a small town primarily employed in agriculture vs a large one employed by IBM) It only requires one unusual encounter with an uncommon group member to create a stereotype (Risen, Gilovich, & Dunning, 2007) A school’s setting and curriculum fur-ther define what is common and who the students come into contact with

The social learning theories of Albert Bandura (1964) and Lev Vygotsky (1979) support the role of social interactions in shaping learning and thought After 5 years of age, children spend the majority of their day in the classroom setting The activities encouraged, the tone used,and even the body language displayed by the teacher leave an impact on the impressionable youth The agricultural stereotypes held by the teacher can influence his or her students The community environment also provides numerous opportunities for social interaction A

community that is centered on its local farming and agricultural industry could promote very different agricultural perceptions than a community thriving on a computer manufacturing industry The theories proposed by these scholars suggest the school and community

environments are important ingredients in the formation of perceptions in a child’s mind

The school and community environments and social interactions can influence a youth’s budding interest in future career fields According to status attainment theory, bias, discrimina-tion, cultural expectations, societal attitudes, and stereotypes work to shape career aspira-

tions (Hotchkiss & Borow, 1996) Such societal and cultural values vary from one teacher, room, and community to another Super’s developmental self-concept theory (1990) further sup-ports the influential role of a child’s environment on their developing career interests Super posits that career development occurs in a succession of exploratory stages—beginning with fan-tasies and ending with the development of a self-concept Super proposes that this process can beguided through school intervention Status attainment theory and developmental self-concept theory provide the theoretical underpinnings to this studies assumption that the school and com-munity environments directly influence later career outcomes

class-Previous Research Education and Perceptions

Previous studies have concluded that agricultural literacy influences a student’s tural perceptions A study evaluating the effectiveness of a swine education program found that the curriculum positively increased the students’ attitudes towards the pork industry This effect was seen less dramatically among the students in the class who had an agricultural background;

agricul-as would be expected from a population who had a higher beginning knowledge bagricul-ase (Wagler, Rusk, Blomeke, Talbert, Richert, & Latour, 2007) A study conducted in rural Missouri found a weak positive correlation between agricultural literacy and a positive perception towards agricul-ture (Wright, Stewart, & Birkenholz, 1994) The more educated an individual, the fewer negativestereotypes the individual developed about agriculture

A teacher’s agricultural literacy and agricultural perceptions can influence their room environment A study conducted among primary school teachers in Chicago found that their perception of nature influenced whether or not their students were given the chance to expe-rience natural areas (Simmons, 1998) Another study conducted in Iowa found that when teach-ers held relatively high perception scores of sustainable agriculture, their students did as well (Williams & Wise, 1997) Thus, a teacher’s agricultural knowledge base, stereotypes, and back-ground can influence what their students learn as well as contribute/hinder agricultural stereotypedevelopment.

class-Differing levels of agricultural knowledge and stereotypes have been found within schools with agricultural education courses and those without A pilot study conducted by Smithand Park (2009) compared the differences in agricultural literacy and stereotypes among studentsbased on location (rural versus urban) and education (whether or not the school had an

agriculture program) Contrary to what one would expect, the pilot study found the presence of

an agriculture program to be associated with more traditional stereotypes about agriculture (which are often perceived as negative) as well as a derogatory opinion of individual farmers (Smith, Park & Sutton, 2009) In another study, students in schools with agriculture programs were compared to those without programs The results from this study were what one would expect; students in schools with agricultural programs had a higher knowledge score than

students in schools without an agricultural science program (Wright, Stewart, & Birkenholz, 1994.)

School Setting and Perceptions

Varying levels of agricultural stereotypes and knowledge have been found among dents from different school settings A study comprising Illinois twelfth grade students found

more agricultural knowledge among students living in rural areas (versus urban) and among dents enrolled in agriculture programs (versus those who were not enrolled in these programs) Nonetheless, the researchers found the general population to be agriculturally illiterate (Pense, Beebe, Leising, Wakefield, & Steffen, 2006) A pilot study conducted in rural and urban high schools in Indiana and Michigan found all the students had positive perceptions of agriculture However, the rural students did score significantly higher in two of the seven concept areas (Frick, Birkenholz, Gardner, & Machtmes, 1995) A study in Iowa utilized focus groups to assessthe middle-school students’ agricultural perceptions The researchers concluded that both rural and urban students held the perception that farmers are old men, wearing bib overalls and chew-ing on straw (Holz-Clause & Jost, 1995) These negative perceptions discourage people from considering agriculture as a valid career option

stu-Overall, there is a lack of consensus among the literature over the influence of school setting (whether or not a school is rural or urban) and education (whether or not a school offers agricultural education) on students’ agricultural perceptions Much of the existing work is also outdated No studies were found analyzing the influence of agriculture programs on the

perception of agriculture among the entire school population and community This study

attempts to fill the gap in the literature and address the influence of both the school environment (rural vs urban) and the education offered (agriculture program vs non) on the students’

agricultural perceptions

Purpose / Objectives

The purpose of this survey was to analyze the agricultural perceptions and stereotypes

present in eleventh grade populations at four representative schools The schools are: (a) rural schools with agricultural education programs [Rural-Ag], (b) urban schools with agricultural

education programs [Urban-Ag], (c) rural schools without agricultural education programs [Rural-NonAg], and, (d) urban schools without agricultural education programs [Urban-

NonAg]) The specific objectives were:

1 To compare the perceptions of agriculture held by New York State eleventh grade

students from four different school environments,

2 To ascertain the proportional influence garnered by the school setting and agricultural education courses on students’ perceptions, and

3 To identify which factors contribute most to students’ perceptions of agriculture

Methods / Procedures Participants

A stratified sample of eleventh1 grade students from seventeen schools across New York State was surveyed The schools selected fit into four categories: four rural schools with an agriculture program, four rural schools without, four urban schools with an agriculture program, and five urban schools without The definition of urbanized area and urbanized cluster proposed

by the U.S Census Bureau2 was used in locating ‘urban areas’ for this study (US Census Bureau,2002) The schools with agriculture programs were selected from a New York State Agricultural education listing (CALS, 2007) and the majority were contacted through their agriculture

teachers Within each category, the schools selected represented different regions of the state The urban schools without agriculture programs were the only schools that were located in close proximity to one another; two of the four schools in this category were located in New York City In total, 1953 students were surveyed (757 Urban-NonAg, 576 Urban-Ag, 338 Rural-

1 Eleventh grade students were targeted to control for years in school and knowledge base They were also an easier population to gain school permission to survey due to their less rigorous state exam schedule

2 The Census Bureau classifies as “urban” all territory, population, and housing units located with an urbanized area (UA) or an urban cluster (UC) It delineates UA and UC boundaries to encompass densely settled territory which consists of : 1.) core census block groups or blocks that have a population density of at least 1,000 people per square mile and 2.) surrounding census blocks that have an overall density of at least 500 people per square mile.

NonAg, 282 Rural-Ag) All students attending the specified eleventh grade class on the day of the questionnaires administration were asked to participate by completing a questionnaire No teachers indicated that any students failed to complete the questionnaire In total, 68.2% of the overall population expected to be in school3 were captured (Rural-Ag 75.9%, Rural-NonAg 85.7%, Urban-Ag 70.4%, Urban-NonAg 59.2%).

Materials & Design

The researcher-developed questionnaire consisted of questions to capture the students’ perceptions of agriculture and the origin of those perceptions The survey contained a total of 30 questions and utilized closed-ended, multiple choice questions.4 The content of the questionnaire was developed utilizing the results of a pilot study conducted by the researchers (Smith & Park, 2009) The pilot study included an open-ended question designed to capture the students’

perceptions of agriculture Frequent responses were tabulated (i.e man, redneck, cow, poor) and used in creating the stereotypical, negative perceptions for this survey instrument The questions were structured as scales with anchors/mid-points (i.e.: Question: Do you believe that individuals interested in agriculture need to attend college to be successful? Answers: Yes, Don’tKnow, No.) and scales without (i.e Question: Agriculture is… Answers: 1 A broad career field;

2 Only farming) To establish face and content validity, the survey was reviewed by a panel of experts consisting of a professional evaluator, the Executive Director of the New York State Rural Schools Association, an agricultural education Professor, and a high school agricultural education teacher Inter-item reliability was assessed for the concepts of agricultural perceptions

3 The expected population was found using the New York State Testing and Accountability Reporting Tool (New York State Department of Education, 2008) The number of eleventh grade students attending each school was found and multiplied by the each school’s attendance rate to produce an average daily population.

4 The students’ responses were limited in order to utilize scantrons, eliminate entry error, and permit a larger study population.

through a post-hoc reliability test (α=.69) The data was analyzed using SPSS version 13.0 Descriptive statistics, correlations, t-tests, and one-way ANOVAs were used in the analysis.

Procedure

Data was collected over a three month period The study was administered by way of a modified survey design of teacher-administered questionnaires as outlined by Dillman (2002) The school administrators were contacted, permission to conduct the study was secured, and packets containing questionnaires, bubble sheets, and teacher instructions were distributed The study was conducted anonymously and approval was received from the Cornell University Institutional Review Board The surveys were primarily distributed through the eleventh grade history department Two schools distributed the survey during the eleventh grade homerooms and two others distributed the surveys through the eleventh grade English department In total, 89.2% of the respondents were in the targeted eleventh grade Each teacher distributing the survey received a letter of instruction explaining the questionnaire and providing distribution instructions

Results / Findings Demographics

Fifty-two percent of the participants were female and 48% were male (Table 1) The highest percentage of students that lived on a farm (13.0%) attended Rural-NonAg schools Rural-Ag schools also contained the largest percentage of students with a family that has lived

on a farm (58.5%), a family that has worked on a farm (28.7%), and a family that has worked in

an agricultural industry (21.4%) Urban-Ag schools had the highest participation in agriculturallyrelated clubs involving nearly 14% of the student population Over a quarter of the students within Rural-Ag and Urban-Ag schools had enrolled in agricultural courses

Objective 1: Differences in Agricultural Perception Based on School-Type

Slightly greater than 20% of students attending Rural-Ag schools believed farmers in New York State work only on their farm (Table 2) Forty-four percent of the students within Urban-Ag schools did not know whether or not farmers tend to have other jobs In reality, 39.2%

of the principal operators on New York State farms have other jobs (USDA, 2002) Almost half

of all school populations believed that the majority of a farmer’s income comes from their farm; Rural-Ag students had the highest agreement with this concept (59.6%) and Urban-Ag students had the lowest (40.8%) A third of Urban-Ag students judged college to be important for a successful agricultural career Overall however, about half of each school population found a college education to be unimportant for a successful agricultural career

Table 2

Comparison by School Types of Beliefs about Agriculture on Items with Scale Anchor

Beliefs about agriculture Agreement Urban- Urban- Rural- Rural-Ag

NonAg

(n = 757) (n = 576)Ag (n = 338)NonAg (n = 282)

Most farmers in New York

State work only on their farm

Most farmers in New York

State get the majority of their

income from the farm

of students (43.1%) to agree with the concept that the field of agriculture requires a college education attended Urban-Ag schools About 60% of all the students believed no education was necessary Eighty-five percent of the student populations believed agriculture supplies safe, abundant food

Rural-Ag schools had the highest portion of students (30.9%) in agreement with the idea that agriculture is scary (vs safe) Rural-Ag schools contained the largest population (41.1%) in agreement that agriculture involves computers and global positioning (vs pitchforks and animal labor) Around 60% of each school population agreed with the opposite; that agriculture involvespitchforks and animal labor The highest portion (34%) of a school population in accordance with the idea that agriculture is for hicks attended Rural-Ag schools Urban-Ag students held the

lowest portion of students (15.1%) in agreement with this idea Thirty percent of students

attending Rural-Ag schools and Rural Non-Ag schools believed agriculture to be a dead-end career; however, about 67% of the overall student population believed agriculture to be a viable career option Nearly a third of the Urban and the Rural Non-Ag schools believed agriculture to

be only farming A quarter of the Rural-Ag students were in agreement with this statement

A significant positive correlation of 38 was found between participation in an

agriculturally related club and enrollment in an agriculture class (Table 4) Significant

correlations were also found between agricultural perception scores and participation in an agriculturally-related club, as well as enrollment in an agriculture course; however the

correlations were fairly weak The agricultural perceptions scores of the students were calculated

by analyzing the responses to 12 questions regarding the students’ agricultural beliefs (questions shown in table 3) Each of the 12 questions forced the participants to choose between a positive and negative perception of agriculture The negative perception was given a value of 1 and the positive perception was given a value of 2 If the individuals failed to answer a question they were assigned a neutral score of 1.5 The highest agricultural perception score possible is 24 Thepost-hoc reliability of the students agricultural perceptions was found to be α=.69

Table 4

Correlations between Beliefs about Agriculture and Participation in Agriculture Activities

Participated in anAgriculture Club

Enrolled in anAgriculture Class

AgriculturalperceptionsParticipated in an agriculture

Urban-Ag schools had the highest mean perception score (20.21) with the lowest

standard deviation (Table 5) Rural Non-Ag schools had the lowest overall mean perception score of 19.77 The schools with agriculture programs were found to have higher mean

perception scores than the schools without agriculture programs As expected, the students attending Ag Schools and enrolled in Agricultural education classes had the highest overall perception score (20.21) Those attending Ag Schools but not enrolled in Agricultural education

5 The definition of an agriculture club was not provided on the survey The researchers desired the students to use their own definition of an agriculture club as this would contribute to their perception of their agriculture knowledge and involvement.