About Agricultural Education
In order to completely analyze the full impact of agricultural education on society, it is critical to understand and define agricultural education. Agricultural education is a form of education that emphasizes connections to leadership and production agriculture. Agricultural education courses, along with family and consumer science, industrial technology, and medical training courses, are considered to be vocational education courses. These types of courses share one common goal - to provide practical educational experiences and relate those experiences to a particular career area. Therefore, in agricultural education courses, students learn about the science of agriculture and relate their knowledge to a variety of careers in the field of agriculture. Common agricultural education courses include introductory animal science, plant science, natural resource science, biotechnology, and youth leadership courses. Some agricultural education departments partner with science departments and offer courses such as food chemistry, anatomy, environmental science, and ecology courses that are taught with an emphasis on both the scientific method and agriculture.
Agricultural education courses are designed to teach students more about how the world around them works. Through agricultural education courses, students are introduced to the National FFA Organization by successfully planning and completing a Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) project. This project allows for students to demonstrate their knowledge of the agriculture industry in one of four ways: conducting an agriscience experiment, becoming employed, starting a business, or exploring all facets of agriculture in a research-based endeavor. Once a student develops his or her SAE program, they can develop connections with others in the community while developing leadership skills, technical skills, or more knowledge of the agricultural education.
The impact that agricultural education has had on the people of America is profound, even for those who were not involved in it during their time in school. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan addressed the National FFA Convention in October 2010, and patronized all members for their dedication and efforts in the field of agriculture, even during their years in high school. But at the same time, he also recognized all agricultural educators for their hard work in their profession. “I am not going to kid you. I am a city kid. I grew up on the South Side of Chicago. I played a lot of playground ball. So as a big-city school superintendent, and now as the Secretary of Education, I've had to get schooled myself about agricultural education. I've loved that opportunity, and I'll tell you what I've learned. I've learned that agricultural education is central to the future of American prosperity. I learned that agricultural educators face unique challenges—but that they also can tap into unique strengths within their tight-knit communities. I learned that agricultural education is very much about the jobs of the future—and not a backwards-looking curriculum to preserve the past” (Agricultural Education in the 21st Century: Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the FFA Convention, Paragraphs 11 through 13). Even not being truly involved in agricultural education as a student, Secretary Duncan has noticed the impact of agricultural education by experiencing it first-hand at a high school, and he clearly was fond of the experiences he had at that school.
Agricultural education courses are designed to teach students more about how the world around them works. Through agricultural education courses, students are introduced to the National FFA Organization by successfully planning and completing a Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) project. This project allows for students to demonstrate their knowledge of the agriculture industry in one of four ways: conducting an agriscience experiment, becoming employed, starting a business, or exploring all facets of agriculture in a research-based endeavor. Once a student develops his or her SAE program, they can develop connections with others in the community while developing leadership skills, technical skills, or more knowledge of the agricultural education.
The impact that agricultural education has had on the people of America is profound, even for those who were not involved in it during their time in school. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan addressed the National FFA Convention in October 2010, and patronized all members for their dedication and efforts in the field of agriculture, even during their years in high school. But at the same time, he also recognized all agricultural educators for their hard work in their profession. “I am not going to kid you. I am a city kid. I grew up on the South Side of Chicago. I played a lot of playground ball. So as a big-city school superintendent, and now as the Secretary of Education, I've had to get schooled myself about agricultural education. I've loved that opportunity, and I'll tell you what I've learned. I've learned that agricultural education is central to the future of American prosperity. I learned that agricultural educators face unique challenges—but that they also can tap into unique strengths within their tight-knit communities. I learned that agricultural education is very much about the jobs of the future—and not a backwards-looking curriculum to preserve the past” (Agricultural Education in the 21st Century: Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the FFA Convention, Paragraphs 11 through 13). Even not being truly involved in agricultural education as a student, Secretary Duncan has noticed the impact of agricultural education by experiencing it first-hand at a high school, and he clearly was fond of the experiences he had at that school.