Audiometric threshold testing of 872 vocational agriculture students carried out over a three-year period indicates an increased prevalence of hearing loss among students actively involved in farm work. Use of hearing protection may reduce the risk of hearing loss, although few students report using such devices. (Author/BJV)

Focus groups conducted with urban and rural middle school students showed that they had typical stereotypes about agriculture and farmers and found farm careers unattractive. Results suggested that agriculture be tied to youth interests and addressed before middle school. The project also elicited information about using focus groups with youth.…

Malvern County (New Zealand) farmers (110 of a sample of 118) were interviewed in 1988 to investigate their farming techniques and methods. Questions were asked about educational background, current management practices, and training for younger farmers. The 93 percent response achieved reduced the possibility of sampling error within the survey…

Rural youth have been active in the development of the German Democratic Republic's agricultural production program. Although those who reside in rural areas and commute to work in urban areas are also classified as "rural youth," the core of rural youth are those who work in agricultural primary production. Of the 778,639 permanent…

Describing dominant patterns of social mobility and analyzing factors determining educational and occupational attainment in farm and nonfarm sectors, this article investigates whether farm background is a handicap to status attainment in nonfarm sectors and examines the determinants of occupational status of farmers' sons in the nonfarm sector.…

This study described the nature of the students enrolled in vocational agriculture in Clark County, Ohio. The study determined the relationship between the family farm situation of the students and their occupational goals, reasons for their decisions to enroll, after-graduation plans, and whether they are male or female. (CT)

This book includes studies of globalization-related social changes in rural areas of the United States and other countries and implications of these studies for sociological theory. Although no chapter focuses exclusively on education, education-related themes include rural school dropouts and intergenerational poverty, the migration of rural…

Based upon empirical data derived from a "Mikrozensus-Zusatzbefragung 71" in the Federal Republic of Germany (456,310 people), general patterns and determinations were analyzed relative to the sectoral, occupational, and vertical social mobility of the agricultural population both inside and outside the rural sector. Employing…

Because stability in career choice for agricultural occupations is desirable, vocational guidance and orientations which make children and adolescents theoretically and practically familiar with agricultural production must be increased and improved. Data from East Germany indicate that the influence of parents and friends is of major importance…