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Marengo, Iowa | Koskid's spouse here ... Interesting paper attempting to lay out the bad news softly ~ many of us believed 25 years ago the basic skills needed to do well in agriculture, home economics and youth development were important enough to carry Extension forever ... then the Internet appeared, private business in ag got into education as way to attract more customers and farmers suddenly had other sources besides the county agent for "how to" information.
At home women were no longer able to make food and clothing "from scratch" because they were no longer at home ~ they were working~ perhaps because of the banker's decree that the bailout loan made in the 80s was contingent upon the wife having a job to provide a stable income. Of her 3 basic resources, time, energy and money, women had far less time to use their own hands to provide food, clothing and shelter ~ instead they put their energy into making money that could be spent on goods available at fast-growing K-Marts, Wal-Marts and fast food stores. Extension struggled for awhile with consumer education programs but those lessons were soon taken over by the retail outlets, like ag education, to attract customers to the point of purchase.
4-H is still hanging on as a youth development tool ~ it is the only link Extension now has to the grass roots ~ it survives because parents who grew up in the old-fashioned 4-H tradition want their kids to have the same experiences. However, it competes mightily with the explosion of other exciting programs and entertainments available to young people.
So, other than 4-H, what is left for Extension to do except the research which provides unbiased information to the ag business sector and retailers? | |
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What will become of land-grant universities?
