Rural youth in poverty stricken Appalachian communities are the highest at-risk population for tractor rollover accidents (Cole, 2007). The Apprenticeship of Observation theory (Lortie, 1975) concludes that the "apprentice" learns from watching those perceived to be the teacher and their work and so mimic their actions. Thus, farm youth…

Urban FFA members face unique challenges if they want to become active members in the National FFA Organization. FFA leaders have realized that the FFA organization does not represent the evolving demographics of America and have made efforts to cater to urban and diverse high school audiences with some success. This study seeks to explore this…

Stakeholder groups (150 farmers, 36 secondary agriculture teachers, 16 preservice teachers, 85 nonfarm secondary students, 128 farm students) were surveyed. They agreed on farm safety topics to be taught, but differed in levels of belief concerning the need to teach it. Farm and nonfarm students gave the lowest priority to farm safety topics. (SK)

Of 883 Iowa high school seniors, 60% lived in towns, 40% on farms. Both groups had a high level of congruence between educational and occupational aspirations and perceived minimal barriers to goal achievement. Farm and town students had equally diverse aspirations. (Contains 23 references.) (SK)

Comparison of 57 rural adolescents choosing agriculture careers with 474 who did not shows that (1) more males than females chose agriculture; (2) parents of students choosing agriculture were less likely to have high school education; (3) students whose fathers worked in service/labor/farming or who had lower socioeconomic status were more likely…

Data from new first-quarter students from 1982-88 (n=288) showed that (1) numbers of rural, semirural, urban, and suburban youth were relatively equal; (2) American College Test scores, unconditional admission, and class rank increased over the years; and (3) rural/semirural students took more high school vocational agriculture, but number of…