Philosophy of Agricultural Education

Megan Maenius

        The basic essentials in life are provided by agriculture.  Without agriculture we would not be able to export goods to other countries and that could possibly limit what they would sell to the United States.  Our leaders of the future are not being introduced to agriculture until high school.  Most children learn about math and science in school but not agriculture.  If agriculture is essential to our lives we should be teaching our future about this subject.  It is the agricultural science teacher’s responsibility to imprint the importance of agriculture in their students’ minds and hope that they could influence some of their friends and the cycle would continue.  SAE programs are experienced learning situations that help the students to develop critical think, problem solving skills, make career choices, and gain valuable experience.  FFA is the final component in agriculture that helps students develop many skills and give a helping hand through fundraisers, chapter events and chapter contests teams.  Public speaking, marketing and judging are just few of the areas of skill that can be developed through the FFA contests.  My philosophy of agricultural education is with a dedicated teacher the chapters can produce successful students that have gained skills that will help them in life and continue to educate other about agriculture.