A Comparison of 1972 and 1980 Secondary Agricultural Education Students

The decade of the 1970s was an important time for agricultural education. The landmark Vocational Education Act of 1963, which focused “its efforts on those minorities in particular who had been left on the fringes of the labor market” (Grubb & Lazerson, 1981, p. 117) had been discussed and carefully evaluated. The emphasis on civil rights continued into the 1970s and sex equity was added as an emphasis (Hillison, 1988). Girls were first admitted to the National FFA Organization in 1969 and became full-fledged participants in agricultural education during the 1970s. Efforts to enhance the performance and quality of agricultural education programs have increased since the mid-1970s (Lee, 1985).