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Overview
Harry 0. Junket
Undergraduate professional education, like education in the United
States in general, has come under close scrutiny in recent years, at
a time when the U.S. agricultural, food, and natural resource sys-
tem faces an era of global competitiveness, inequities in worldwide
food distribution, environmental and health concerns, and promis-
ing new science and technologies. These issues have also trans-
formed colleges of agriculture from their former preoccupation with
production agriculture, to a strong business approach, to greater
attention to the underlying sciences. The emphasis is now on the
educated person. The U.S. agricultural system, however, faces shortages
of qualified scientists, engineers, managers, and specialists. Greater
attention must now be given to rethinking the mission of agricul-
tural education. This overview examines these and other issues
related to undergraduate agricultural education that were stated and
reiterated throughout the conference and in these proceedings.
Rethinking the Purpose of
Professional Education in Agriculture
Undergraduate professional education in agriculture can offer content,
context, and practice for undergraduate liberal study. It may func-
tion best by laying a foundation for understanding professional life.
it may also be a model for higher education in its specified expecta-
tions of students and curriculum, its interest in improved teaching
and advising, its efforts to construct an intellectual content for learning
and for the application of theory and methodology, and its integra-
tion of undergraduates into a professional and disciplinary environ-
ment. Undergraduate professional education, however, is being
squeezed by inadequate preparation in elementary and secondary
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AGRICULTURE AND THE UNDERGRADUATE
schools, by the proliferation of masters degree studies, and by the
perceived needs for general and liberal education.
The world economy is becoming ever more closely linked, and
U.S. agriculture, which already is a significant player in world mar-
kets, will continue to feed and educate a developing, expanding,
and needy world population. in addition to maintaining global food
sufficiency, U.S. agriculture will maintain the economic competitive-
ness of the country and will help to move it toward energy indepen-
dence. Undergraduate education in agriculture is essential to any
strategy of meeting the new forces in world competition and is key
to harnessing inventive genius in the marketplace. The principal
international thrusts in undergraduate education today are foreign
language studies, the inclusion of international content in courses,
study abroad opportunities, and the implementation of area studies
programs. However, progress in these areas is inconsistent. Most
institutions have not determined what the optimum level of interna-
tional competence should be. The typical undergraduate in col-
leges of agriculture is given little to aid his or her understanding of
the impact of trade, global environmental impacts, and the nature
of international. agricultural research.
The purposes and functions of agriculture driving the changes in
educational requirements will change at revolutionary speed. Agri-
culture will be more intensive biologically and managerially. The
inputs into agriculture will follow prescriptive, rather than prophy-
lactic, practice; biological management will replace chemical man-
agement. Agriculture will increasingly produce industrial materials
and feedstocks and, as an industry, will increasingly become di-
rected toward value-added products instead of raw commodities.
Food safety and new perceptions in nutrition will result in linking
production, plant and animal genetics, food processing, and trans-
port and marketing. it is not that past undergraduate education was
not good enough, but that it may not be an appropriate model to
meet these changes.
The purpose, then, of the curriculum is to provide for the needs
of industry in a changing world: flexibility, diversity, perspective,
and values. The students needed most are those most likely to
think globally, to act creatively, to value diversity, to behave re-
sponsibly, to respond flexibly, and to interact cooperatively. Open,
observant, and inquisitive minds should be the goal. The graduate
should have learned to visualize the whole and, in so doing, visual-
ize what makes the whole work, which is not simply a perception
of the superficial landscape but an understanding of the intricate
interrelationships of all the parts. Therefore, there is a need for
rededication to the undergraduate curriculum and a recommitment
of the best faculty to the challenge of undergraduate instruction.
The agricultural system is much larger than it used to be and is
increasingly interwoven with the natural landscape and into the full
2
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OVERVIEW
fabric of society. Definition of the domain of agriculture is impor-
tant for determining what is taught, what is researched, and what
the future of agriculture will be. Agriculture is a system of land
custodian-farmers and agribusinesses that supply production inputs
and process and distribute agricultural products. Consumers, com-
munity services, food safety, water quality, climate change, eco-
nomics, energy, biotechnology, and the environment are all part of
the system. Even vocal environmentalists and animal rights activ-
ists are part of the system.
However, a number of colleges of agriculture have expanded
their curricula even further and have moved beyond the scope of
subject matter delineated by the traditional domains of agriculture,
food, and natural resources. They have come to serve the aspira-
tions and needs of society as a whole, needs of paramount impor-
tance because they deal with the fundamental resources food,
energy, environment, and economies on which civilization is based.
in defining their priority programs, colleges of agriculture distin-
guish themselves from other colleges at a university. Education of
undergraduates is but one of the roles of the colleges; research
and extension join education as justification for agricultural facul-
ties. These colleges should draw on the wealth of their sciences to
address the general issues facing society, contribute special exper-
tise to other curricula in the university, and provide a general edu-
cation to students in colleges other than colleges of agriculture.
Understanding of education in agriculture as a new science-based
program that focuses on issues of biotechnology, environment, en-
ergy, conservation, information technologies, rural communities, new
materials, and economics will attract the best students to colleges
of agriculture.
These are the challenges for colleges of agriculture, whose graduates
must be prepared to address change, constructive conflict, and
communication and cooperation among the players: industry, regu-
lators, scientists, extension personnel, farmers, legislators, and the
general public. The new model is an integrated system that em-
bodies the basic sciences, their applications, and the markets and
consumers of knowledge. In this model, colleges of agriculture are
the critical elements in the transformation of knowledge for the
benefit of society.
Constraints to Innovation
Changes in curricula and movement in new directions face con-
straints, some of which are shared by other colleges in the univer-
sity. A fundamental enigma faces undergraduate education in agri-
culture, however: People cling to notions of rural pastoralism and
simplicity about what is in fact a highly sophisticated system for
food production and distribution. This leads to questions concern
3
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AGRICULTURE AND THE UNDERGRADUATE
ing colleges of agriculture. Will it be appropriate to track under-
graduates in agriculture separately from other professional students?
Should professional education in agricultural fields be at the master's
instead of the bachelor's level? Should there be a separate curricu-
lum in agricultures Are faculty in colleges of agriculture prepared
for the challenge of teaching students with divergent backgrounds?
Another constraint is that graduate students and young faculty
are instilled with the view that the path to gaining preeminence is
research, not teaching. This is partly the result of the ready acces-
sibility of tools of measurement of and standards for creative and
effective research. in contrast, there is an ambiguity of expecta-
tions in teaching. Added to these constraints is the fact that faculty
feel pressure to obtain extramural grants as a result of the serious
erosion of the traditional base of funding for research.
Changes in Curricula
A radical rethinking of the mission, need, and approach to the
undergraduate curriculum in agriculture is needed. There is an even
greater need to find innovative ways to attract students throughout
the university to courses in agriculture, food, and natural resources
and for colleges of agriculture to be involved in educating an urban-
ized society about these areas. The keys to curriculum revitaliza-
tion are not changes in the courses but changes in course content,
goals, and purposes.
Attention to the connections is needed:
· The faculty reward system must be reconnected to teaching.
· interest in the environment, food, and agriculture must be con-
nected to the teaching of science and technology and social and
humanitarian insights.
· Teaching of certain fundamental skills that everyone must mas-
ter to be able to handle whatever issue with which they are con-
fronted must be connected to the subject being taught.
Industry and Acatlemia
Curriculum development is a process of integration. JuSt as there
is a sense of isolation among colleges and departments, for some
years there was also a distance between industry and academia.
Substantial changes in industry have transformed agriculture: con-
solidation of production units, replacement of small communities
by regional markets, greater market orientation in government policy,
computerization and larger, more efficient production and process-
ing equipment, biotechnology, changes in production systems, the
dominance of a limited number of large food system companies,
coordinated supply and marketing, and the economic dominance of
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OVERVIEW
the transportation-processing-distribution sector. The changes have
been so substantial that corollary changes must occur in the aca-
demic process, because graduates must be able to manage change,
solve problems, make decisions, analyze data, and create new
products. However, businesses are finding it increasingly difficult
to employ, retain, and reward people to compete in a technology-
driven world economy. Recruitment of students and continuing edu-
cation are needed, and industry has a role and responsibility in
both areas. Industry-academic linkages should be fostered and seen
on campus. Colleges of agriculture should give attention to the
executive potential in students and graduates and should help them
to obtain "combat" experience in business, such as through intern-
ships.
Needs in Education
The needs in education can be stated in relatively simple terms:
Because no one can predict what the issues will be in the next
century, no one can determine exactly what courses students should
be taking today. Fundamental skills can be mastered, however.
These will likely be confidence, motivation, responsibility, effort,
initiative, perseverance, caring, teamwork, common sense, and problem-
solving and persuasion abilities.
The overriding need for the integrative point of view will require
a total transformation of academic thinking and, in the process, the
remaking of both higher and lower education. The land-grant uni-
versity was founded on a sense of place, an integrated landscape
with people that needed help. The environment, which is not a
subject or discipline or a commodity or resource, can be used as
an integrative theme-no discipline need be excluded. Faculty should
turn outward from the department, the profession, and the institu-
tion. John Gordon suggests that the elements of productivity, sus-
tainable development, environmental ethics, and the application of
science and technology can be integrated in a problem-solving course
in the first term of college. This can be followed with the require-
ment that students acquire skills in science, history, and mathemat-
ics and knowledge of a foreign language. Then there can be some
specialization.
Liberal and General Education
Core curricula, distribution systems, liberal education, and gen-
eral education are themes that penetrate any discussion of curricu-
lum revision in the 1990S, often as hegemonic aspects. The defini-
tion and application of these domains, however, are less certain
than the expectations that they ought to be there. The thoughts of
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AGRICULTURE AND THE UNDERGRADUATE
Lynne Cheney and Gary Miller provide useful points and counter-
points.
Both Cheney and Miller suggest that confusion exists. The terms
core curriculum and distribution system are used interchangeably.
So are liberal education and general education. Miller argues that
core curriculum, distribution, and interdisciplinary are terms that re-
flect the way education is organized, not its content. A distribution
system suggests that students should gain broad knowledge and
should not be concerned with the specific knowledge they obtain.
A core curriculum holds that certain specific areas of knowledge
are important, enough so that all students should share them. lnter-
disciplinary refers to the way in which knowledge is compartmen-
talized.
Cheney assumes that part of the knowledge gained from the
central curriculum should be in the major areas of human thought.
This core should ensure opportunities to explore the major fields of
human inquiry in broad-ranging, ordered, and coherent ways. She
noted that liberal education (traditionally concerned with ideas in
the abstract, preservation of universal truths, and intellectual devel-
opment) assumes that knowledge is important in its own right.
Some institutions, however, do not present a core curriculum but
have a rather loosely stated distribution requirement that students
take a variety of courses that offer highly fragmented bites of knowl-
edge, without connection. Designing a coherent and rigorous plan
of study is difficult, however.
Some institutions have found ways to thwart the need for a core
curriculum, arguing that rather than a core body of knowledge,
methods of inquiry, approaches to knowledge, ways of knowing,
and ways of thinking are more important. Cheney asks what value
is learning the ways to know if certain fundamental pieces of knowledge
are not known?
Miller argues that a distinction should also be made between
general and liberal education. General education is comprehen-
sive; it deals with basic contexts, methods, attitudes, values, and
skills that apply in all areas of students' lives. it is not limited to the
first 2 years of study at a university but is integrated with the whole
curriculum, including professional programs; it centers on the indi-
vidual student and is concerned with the development of the learner.
Paul Thompson also called for what he termed "targeted social
sciences and humanities education" in the curriculum. He distin-
guished between liberal and general education requirements in the
social sciences and humanities (knowledge needed in all university
curricula) and targeted education (knowledge and skills needed by
agricultural professionals). Discussing the content of targeted edu-
cation, he noted that both agricultural leaders and citizens need a
more sophisticated understanding of the food system, including the
social, ethical, and cultural values that relate to the system. Tradi
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OVERVIEW
tional targeted social science education has stressed farm manage-
ment, agribusiness, and community development. Future educa-
tion should be provided in a framework that acknowledges that
future consumer and political decisions will be made by a society
that has little formal or life experience in agriculture. Thompson
calls for a nationwide movement that would target social sciences
and humanities through faculty positions and initiatives by colleges
of agriculture.
New Curriculum Principles
The committee that developed the conference recognized that
new principles should guide the construction of curricula in col-
leges of agriculture. Aspects of these principles developed throughout
the conference.
Some participants expressed concern that although recent enroll-
ments in colleges of agriculture have rebounded, many students
have shifted to biochemistry and genetics, agricultural business
and management, nutrition, and natural resources. Some partici-
pants suggested, however, that these are the directions that mod-
ern colleges of agriculture should take.
The discussions that focused on cultural diversity were mindful
that the major net increases in the work force in the next decade
will be predominantly women, members of minority groups, and
immigrants. The requirement is for broadened, more inclusive, and
relevant curricula. Role models, sensitive awareness of cognitive
diversity, mentoring, and financial assistance are key elements in
fostering multicultural diversity in colleges of agriculture.
The vision of agriculture has included the vision of good stew-
ardship. This image was fostered in part by the Jeffersonian agrar-
ian ideal, the attention that many farmers of the country have given
to the farm landscape, and, perhaps, the cessation of the Dust
Bowl. This traditional social and ethical context of agriculture the
special relations with the natural world and the values of labor, the
community, and rural life once regarded as unique can no longer
form the basis of its operation or existence. With this assertion,
Otto Doering argued that the industrial sector has overtaken agricul-
ture and has permanently altered the context of agriculture for many
Americans. Students come now without a sense of context and
only a limited set of strong social and ethical norms. On the other
hand, scientists have had little interest in such norms. What is
needed is a reevaluation of the way agriculture and colleges of
agriculture approach the rest of society.
Some participants concluded that faculty members often attempt
to separate scientific evidence from values rather than bringing all in-
formation to bear on the whole. Debated was the question of whether
courses in colleges of agriculture could be used to teach the values
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AGRICULTURE AND THE UNDERG~UATE
and ethics of agriculture. However, some participants concluded
that if colleges of agriculture fail to deal with the social and ethical
contexts, agriculture would become paralyzed as an industry.
Robert Matthews argued that an environmentally sensitive curricu-
lum should provide both relevant understanding and appropriate
analytical skills. To do that, students will need to understand the
historical, social, political, and economic contexts within which envi-
ronmental problems have emerged. The analytical skills needed are
problem recognition skills (ability to recognize a problem when they
see one) and policy evaluation skills (ability to evaluate proposed
environmental policies). These skills presume knowledge of envi-
ronmental risk and risk management, the policy process, and ethical
theory.
Eugene Allen argued that the content of curricula should be based
on the needs of the undergraduate as a college graduate who will
pursue multiple careers in a lifetime, not as a future professor whose
career flows within the confines of a single discipline. Change in
curricula can no longer be achieved through employment of new
faculty and is more dependent on leadership than on the allocation
of resources.
Jo Handeleman suggested that the curricula and ambience of
colleges of agriculture are ensnared by visions of the past, even
though their science is modern. The field of agriculture takes on
the image of being old-fashioned and traditional. These aspects
can make courses in colleges of agriculture less attractive to stu-
dents in other colleges in the university.
it follows that faculty members can contribute individually to a
wider use of agriscience and agribusiness courses in other univer-
sity curricula by presenting the concept that current and future agri-
culture is rich with the potential for change and improvement, pro-
jecting the strengths of the sciences redated to agriculture, food,
and natural resources. The belief that agriculture can best be mar-
keted as basic sciences was expressed. This may reach for the
view that traditional courses in agriculture present only a superfi-
cial, mundane look at the whole and choose the basic science
route as a means of developing depth and interest rather than
transforming the mission of colleges of agriculture.
Precollege Education
The importance of the precollege years in setting an interest in
study in colleges of agriculture; the desirability that some under-
standing of agriculture, food, and natural resources be inculcated in
the young; and the special obligations colleges of agriculture may
have in facilitating improvement in these factors as weld as increas-
ing student interest in science were the focus of several parts of the
program.
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OVERVIEW
William P. Hytche sets a high priority on the development of
minority human expertise to play a vital role in maintaining a stable
professional work force. He is concerned, as many are, of the
crises in the education of minorities. He believes that colleges of
agriculture can and should lead the way, even in the face of
the fact that many minorities still regard the agricultural, food, and
natural resource system as the basis for prior enslavement.
However, recruitment should begin years before secondary school.
Hytche argues for special efforts and nontraditional approaches,
first, to encourage minority students to seek higher education
and, second, to enhance their interest in and perception of agri-
culture.
One of the arguments was that colleges of agriculture have spe-
cial opportunities and responsibilities for intervening in the entire
precollege education. The traditional relationships of colleges of
agriculture with vocational agriculture and OH Club and related youth
programs generally remain in place. Colleges of agriculture can
and should assist in making the necessary changes to update these
programs in the image of the changing views and thrusts that were
the subject of the conference. A large problem exists, however, in
that students in many school systems have no access to courses in
vocational agriculture or agricultural sciences in secondary schools,
to knowledge about careers in agriculture, or to projects in primary
schools that relate to agriculture and forestry. In fact, many such
students have so little knowledge of agriculture that the negative
image of agriculture of the past is no longer a factor. Exposure of
primary school students to agriculture through such notable move-
ments as Agriculture in the Classroom (a program of the U.S. De-
partment of Agriculture [USDA]); Project Food, Land, and People (a
nonprofit, interdisciplinary supplementary education program of USDA
emphasizing agriculture and conservation); Project Learning Tree
(for students from kindergarten through grade 6 sponsored by the
Western Regional Environmental Education Council and the Ameri-
can Forestry institute); and Project Wild (for students from kinder-
garten through grade 12 sponsored by the Western Association of
Fish and Wildlife Agencies and the Western Regional Environmental
Education council) and linkages to high school teachers of science,
particularly biology, are clearly in the self-interests of agriculture
and colleges of agriculture.
Scientific Literacy
Scientific literacy, or rather the lack of it, is an issue that colleges
of agriculture share with the rest of the scientific community. The
general conclusion was that science education at both the precollege
and college levels is inadequate, uninteresting, and irrelevant to
students' lives. Colleges and universities are graduating students
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AGRICULTURE AND THE UNDERG~UATE
who have little knowledge of their physical world, and working
scientists are often scientifically ignorant outside of their own
narrow specialties.
The mayor error that educators make, Robert Hazen argues,
is that they try to make the students "miniature scientists." Some
work their way through, of course, going on to professional special-
ized science. The others are left to feel excluded. Hazen suggests
a straightforward solution: a course of study for Conscience stu-
dents that integrates the scientific views of physics, chemistry,
biology, and earth science and then explores one subject in greater
depth.
Paul Williams also believes that scientists have preempted sci-
ence from the public by the way in which it is presented. It has
been a substitution of knowledge produced by science rather than
the process of scientific inquiry. Science courses should find a
balance between scientific knowledge and inquiry and should be
participatory.
Systems
Answers to the issues of agriculture might be found by the sys-
tems approach (a discrete course component or a method of orga-
nizing knowledge)' in addition to social science or ethical analysis.
This approach concentrates on interactions among parts and on
properties of systems that are relevant in problem solving. it is a
way of doing. Conceptually, it integrates knowledge from reduc-
tionist science into a model of the whole.
The quantitative model and simulation, the "hard systems ap-
proach," have been widely integrated as a process into agricultural
research and education. It was suggested that there be greater use
of the ideas and methodology of the "soft systems approach," which
can be modeled as a conceptual rather than a mathematical ap-
proach.
innovation will be necessary, as will special training and oppor-
tunities for faculty to gain experience. The student body is chang-
ing; the intuitive ability to integrate unconnected courses in a cur-
riculum may be decreasing, thus making a systems component
important in the new curriculum.
Systems studies can complement studies of social, historical,
and ethical contexts. Values studies, however, may have an ad-
vantage because there is an identifiable body of research, albeit
largely outside of colleges of agriculture, and the support of spe-
cific journals in the field. The soft systems approach is new-
faculty members are only now beginning to learn of it and it has
little or no published research base.
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Positioning Professional Education
in Agriculture
How do we educate students to meet the demands of the world?
Changes should come out of the faculty; the methods and the ma-
terials are already there. Changes will not come easily, how-
ever; nor can any past vision of what was great and what was
achieved be the standard of tomorrow. The research and teaching
amalgam is the pride and heritage of colleges of agriculture, but
important adjustments should be made. Redressing the balance
between teaching and research should benefit both. Funding and
rewards for both is a requirement for progress. There must also be
a change in national.attitude. All of those people who are involved-
faculty, deans, students, chief executive officers, and presidents-
must become active to produce educated individuals prepared for
sensible planning.
Undergraduate education is in a new era that is post-labor inten-
sive, post-mechanically intensive, and post-chemically intensive. The
era ahead, variously described as environmental, biological, infor-
mation and management intensive, global, and culturally diverse,
will be complex. Challenging colleges of agriculture are faculties
less knowledgeable of the breadth of agriculture; student bodies
with no connection to the food, agricultural, and natural resource
sciences; increasingly sophisticated clienteles; serious human re-
source deficits; and a pervasive international complexity.
Peter sports posed the final enigma: People do not always un-
derstand science and technology, even though they affect human
lives. Although people sense that science is one of the significant
trends shaping the future of agriculture, they do not know and are
not concerned about the future shape of that science. Academic
institutions should cooperate with the public as it tries to make
sense of where science will take them and should be sure that their
students even those in specialized disciplines emerge from their
universities well-rounded, able to function in a society that looks on
Experts" with a mix of admiration and suspicion, and with a level of
scientific literacy that helps them respond intelligently when public
policy issues affecting science arise. It is important to train the
coming generation of scientists to consider the ethical, economic,
environmental, and social impacts of their work. The reason is the
continuity of public support for research. That calls for building the
case for spending funds, for integrity in the way that funds are
spent, and for integrity in the way that science is done. The role of
faculty as educators goes beyond the classroom, so that they can
teach others the language of science and so that others, too, can
understand.
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AGRICULTURE AND THE UNDERG~UATE
Ideas for Change
The discussions in the conference suggested three essential but
not mutually exclusive components of undergraduate education in
colleges of agriculture:
· the part that builds a core knowledge base: both liberal educa-
tion and the education providing the knowledge characterizing the
agricultural mayor;
· that part which is problem-based learning (McManus' 1991; Walton
and Matthews, 1989), including both the general education that builds
contexts, methods, attitudes, values, and skills applicable to all
majors and the wide-ranging optional courses and modules that
present not merely facts but that integrate and present ideas, logic,
and approaches enabling the graduate to manage change; and
· that part which is experiential-based learning and develops the
individual: experiential and hands-on education, language skills,
interpersonal skills, and specific problem-solving abilities.
Participants offered ideas on how these goals can be accom-
plished.
Professional education in agriculture should be defined to lead to
graduates who have a strong substantive base that underpins agri-
culture and that is as rigorous and delivered with as much excite-
ment as any other professional course.
As technical content is consolidated and integrated, so should
the human elements, such as ethics, literature, philosophy, foreign
languages, geography, history, and political science. Courses should
provide instruction in concepts, synthesis, and process to make
students better problem solvers.
Integrative thinking will be among the requirements of graduates
in the future. In the past, colleges of agriculture depended upon
the student to take discrete and separate courses and set about
constructing their own universe and finding coherence in it. Such
students, often with backgrounds in farming and related activities,
were able to do so and present themselves as successful, flexible,
and adaptable graduates. The abilities for integrative thinking must
now come as much or more out of the college ambience.
The construction of a core curriculum should concentrate on
both the knowledge content, that is, what should be taught and
learned, as well as ways of teaching, learning, and knowing. it
follows that prc)blem-based (general) education should concentrate
on the problems to be solved as well as the process of problem
solving.
Faculty members should openly address the relationships among
general education, professional education, and disciplinary special-
ization. Curriculum and pedagogical approaches should effectively
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OVERVIEW
move more disciplines together so that multidisciplinary approaches
can be adopted by faculty with a sense of familiarity.
Colleges of agriculture should turn their teaching capacity to the
entire food system and to the broader benefits to society, noting that
it is in the definition of their priority programs that colleges of agricul-
ture distinguish themselves from other colleges at the university.
Colleges of agriculture should open their range of courses, espe-
cially in those disciplines that are a part of the agricultural system
but that are pertinent to other elements of society, such as busi-
ness management, personal enterprise, communication, engineer-
ing, biological and biomedical sciences, and environmental sciences.
New dimensions are required in the curriculum, many of which
are alien to the experience and knowledge base of the facul ty.
Emergent is an imperative for colleges of agriculture: a greater
investment in faculty development. Faculty members need oppor-
tunities to learn and develop concepts, techniques, and skills and
to think about and plan teaching approaches.
There should be an administrative advocacy and commitment
for excellence in teaching, as well as research and service and
quality of students. The reward system should be based on a
developed philosophy clearly delineated by the university adminis-
tration. Both teaching and research should be seen as essential
and complementary activities. The system should provide incen-
tives for curriculum innovation. Objective evaluations, not only stu-
dent evaluations, should be ongoing. Complementary peer evalua-
tions should be included. Implementation of a balance between
teaching and research should avoid any premise that deficiencies
in undergraduate education occur because faculty members are
too busy doing research.
Faculty should be evaluated for their scholarly integration as well
as research capabilities at the time they are employed. There is a
need to improve the ways in which graduate students and young
faculty are prepared for their role in teaching, such as the develop-
ment of well-defined skills in communication, contact with master
teachers, short courses in methods of instruction, and supervised
guidance.
To improve the efficiency of faculty contributions to teaching,
innovative approaches should be explored:
· reducing skill training or how-to courses;
· panel teaching of courses by instructors with different special-
ties or from different fields to facilitate the integration of multiple
inputs of information and merged perspectives;
· ensuring that each adjunct faculty member has a specified teach-
ing role;
· teaching with flexibility with regard to the times and course
credits offered;
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AGRICULTURE AND THE UNDERGRADUATE
· encouraging student participation in teaching, with the instruc-
tor as guide or mentor;
· revising or expanding the concept of scholarship to include
more than scientific research, such as the integration and applica-
tion of knowledge; and
· emulating the small, successful liberal arts colleges.
The public perception of what teaching is should be broadened.
The public should know that a rich diversity of teaching situations
exists beyond the classroom. Teaching can be by example, by
sharing mistakes and findings of research in the classroom, and by
writing.
Colleges of agriculture should be concerned about the issues
facing students who are members of minority groups. They should
be encouraged to study science. Colleges of agriculture should be
active and innovative in recruiting minority students to meet the
needs of the future professional work force in agriculture, food, and
natural resources. They can lead higher education in this endeavor.
Cognitive diversity is a curriculum dimension of importance.
Special attention is needed to accommodate and encourage cul-
tural diversity. Students and faculty also need to be aware of the
history, culture, and cognitive styles of members of all ethnic
groups.
Colleges of agriculture have the opportunity and a responsibility
to extend knowledge about agriculture, food, and natural resources
to precollege students at all levels and to their teachers. The mecha-
nisms available to colleges of agriculture may be national projects
that provide teaching materials, direct provision of information con-
cerning careers in agriculture to the secondary school system, and
direct and indirect linkages with science teachers and their organi-
zations. Colleges of agriculture should be involved in the prepara-
tion and distribution of instructional materials to maintain the tradi-
tional student pipelines and to improve the substance, content, and
format of available materials.
Faculty and administrative support is needed for curriculum change.
The key to faculty support is opportunity for research, scholarship,
and writing. Courses will develop only as textbooks, anthologies,
and research monographs are produced. The process of revising
the curriculum should be a group process led by a diversity of
respected faculty leaders.
Colleges of agriculture should teach the basic sciences appropri-
ate to agriculture and natural resources, develop courses that ex-
plore the interface of society and agriculture, develop teaching that
results in the active involvement of diverse perspectives, and at-
tract a more diverse student body to dispel the image of insularity.
Science should be taught by colleges of agriculture and other-
wise as inquiry, not simply as a body of knowledge or given an
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OVERVIEW
swers, and should be a participatory activity
ers and students.
Constructive change should be forged in a partnership among
industry, academia, and government. Preparation for careers in
business and industry requires a commitment by industry as well
as academia.
Colleges of agriculture should attend to the specific social and
ethical contexts of agriculture, food, and natural resources. How-
ever, colleges of agriculture should include a component of educa-
tion in the social sciences and humanities, over and above univer-
sity-wide core requirements, that is specifically targeted to provide
appreciation for the historical roots of agriculture and for the social,
ethical, cultural, and critical issues related to agriculture, food, and
natural resources.
Support mechanisms, including systems research, should be creat-
ed for experimentation and implementation of systems studies, in-
cluding the soft systems approach.
Colleges of agriculture should join their universities in their global
efforts. These colleges should turn to educating a larger number of
students to deal internationally.
involving both teach
References
McManus, 1. C. 1991. How will medical education change? Lancet 337:151
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Walton, H. J., and M. B. Matthews. 1989. Essentials of problem-based
learning. Medical Education 23:542-558.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
undergraduate education
