When a farmer visits a Grade 4 classroom no one really knows if it makes a difference in young children’s attitudes about agriculture.
There are agriculture-in-the-classroom programs across North America with budgets ranging from zero to $1 million, but the only evidence of effectiveness is purely anecdotal, say program co-ordinators.
Unless a market study is done, no one knows the impact of these programs, said Al Withers, of the Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom program, at a recent national agricultural awareness conference in Calgary.
They do know the best audience is children in Grade 4 and under because they absorb material easily. Beyond that the children are harder to get to, said Withers.
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“A kid doesn’t jump out of bed in Grade 10 and say ‘I’m going into agriculture’,” he said.
The co-ordinators share common concerns. The most important is how to present material in an objective, useful way that fits well with school courses.
“Ag-in-the-classroom is educational programs that happen to have agriculture as a subject,” said Withers.
“It’s not about a bunch of little old ladies going into the classroom and talking about farming.
“One of the worst things that agriculture did years ago was put agriculture down the hall in high school and call it vocational agriculture and then have science in another room,” said Withers.
For many groups it is an uphill climb to bring this subject back into the classroom. Students and teachers are becoming increasingly removed from the farm and sometimes look at the program as just another field trip.
There are other problems as well.
In many American states the program is run by agricultural commodity groups that provide money and educational resources. The problem is that the commodities tend to be self-serving and see this as a way to further promote their products, said Andrew Fagan, co-ordinator for the New York state program.
“How do we present it in an objective way to change attitudes about agriculture?”
In about half the states, the farm bureaus are committed to helping the programs, which may be government-supported or non-profit organizations. In Canada, provincial government and commodity group money is available to support classroom programs.
Those attending the conference suggested several ways to improve their impact.
They want to share common resources across the country rather than rewriting teachers’ guides, games, puzzles and workbooks for the students.
They want to deliver the same basic messages. Each province has diversity but some facts and terminologies are the same across the country.
They also need to recognize the difference between promotion and agricultural education as well as how it can be effectively integrated into a school subject.
