Opinions of public school administrators concerning agricultural education

The purpose of this study was to assess and compare the perceptions of public school superintendents and area vocational/technical school directors in Missouri regarding present programs and new directions in education in agriculture at non-university levels. Differences in perceptions were examined by position (superintendent vs. vocational school director) and offering or the lack of offering vocational agriculture.;The population was all area school directors and all superintendents of public schools in Missouri. Data were gathered through the use of a 100-statement opinionnaire using a scale ranging from one for strongly agree to five for strongly disagree.;Administrators agreed with 77 of the 100 statements. When opinions of administrators were grouped by position and when grouped by offering, significant differences were found on the mean values of responses to 44 and 65 of the 100 statements respectively. Eleven of the significant differences were judged to have practical significance by the use of the r square statistic. Significant conclusions were: (a) Administrators who are familiar with vocational agriculture have a more positive attitude toward it. (b) Agricultural instruction should be available for those planning a career in any agricultural occupation and for those planning on furthering their education in agriculture. (c) As perceived by administrators, students and parents who are not familiar with vocational agriculture continue to have the opinion that it is only for those preparing to farm. (d) Words like agriculture or vocational, the name Future Farmers of America, or the initials FFA do not directly keep students from enrolling in vocational agriculture but contribute to the image that it is only for farmers. (e) Instructional emphasis should be on problem solving and management and entrepreneurship instruction. (f) There is a need for more public information about and awareness of vocational agriculture and agricultural employment needs in order to offset the negative publicity related to the farm economy and farm crisis. This affects enrollment as well as the establishment of new programs.