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Vocational Image of a Dairy Science Graduate as Viewed by High School Students^{1, 2,}

Nebraska Human Resources Research Foundation, Inc., University of Nebraska, Lincoln

ABSTRACT

This paper presents findings that could significantly increase the number of students choosing dairy science as a profession. If these can be communicated, a difference can be made.

In Rupert, Idaho, a researcher found an unusually high interest in astronomy (1). At first the investigator suspected some bizarre interest to be operative. On further investigation he discovered that several months before the testing a science fair was presented in which astronomy played a major role. This is one illustration that events can make a difference in the interests of youth.

Where there is an area of endeavor essential to man's well-being the practitioners must concern themselves with focusing on the interests and awarenesses that will attract young talent to their ranks, because need in and of itself will not necessarily become known and attractive to youth. In the present study, 64% of the 714 high school students who said they had chosen a vocation or area of study stated that their liking for the work was their major reason for choosing it. In contrast, only 2% mentioned money as an element in their decision-making. Because youth make their choice of vocations based upon what they know and how well they like to do what they know about a profession, it behooves members of a profession to know what the students' image of their profession is, what the misconceptions are, and what the sudents like about the profession. This study has many implications for recruiting young men and women into the dairy science profession.

For any profession the image high school juniors and seniors have is very important, since many choose a career at that age. Many of these students have interest in or aversion to courses based on what fellow-students have told them. Later, their interests may change and their misconceptions be corrected, but by that time their life's work will have been chosen.

Data for the following conclusions were gathered using questionnaires from 998 juniors and seniors in high schools in Nebraska and 234 dairy science graduates across the country. For the reader who wishes to examine the procedures, analyses of the data will be presented following the conclusions.

1. High school students were not interested in dairy science as a profession. Only one student of the 998 surveyed indicated that he wanted to become a dairy science graduate. Increased interest in dairy science is necessary, if the demands of our present dairy industry are to be met; and greatly increased interest is essential if the vast nutritional needs for milk in our world are to be fulfilled.
   
2. More students would choose dairy science as a profession if they had a more accurate image of the profession. The students liked what the dairy scientist does better than what they think he does. The implication is that the professional dairy scientist needs to communicate to youth the many-faceted opportunities within dairy science. Both the high school students and the professionals agreed that dairy scientists specialized in one of many fields of work. However, from the professionals' listing of the ten most characteristic activities of the dairy scientist, it appeared they were thinking of specialization within an area that included marketing, management, quality control, and research. The students, especially the boys, on the other hand, seemed to be thinking more about specialization in the laboratory sciences. Perhaps the professional in the dairy field has responded to the widespread emphasis on science to the point that he has made most visible the scientific aspects of his work, so that most people, and students in particular, do not become aware of the many other opportunities for specialization within the dairy sciences.
   Students have many misconceptions of dairy science. For example, "Test cows for milk fat production" was thought to be a typical activity by the students but not by the professionals. To have control of the quality of products sold belonged to dairy science, according to the professional, but the students were not aware of this. The Nebraska students did not consider making cheese a dairy science activity, but the professionals did.
   Lack of communication between the dairy scientist and students was also revealed in many objections to dairy science that are now obsolete, such as the smell, dirty work, hard work, long hours, too confining, and boring. Although such conditions may exist in some places, these are conditions that challenge dairy science graduates, because they can be changed.
   
3. Caring for livestock is an attractive feature of dairy science for many students. It is also one of the most objectionable. One-third of the total 998 students sampled either objected to cows or saw working with animals as an attraction. However, twice as many (22%) were attracted as repelled. The students need to know there is room for both within this field. This dimension of attraction to animals may be related to the professionals' strong desire to identify as either production or manufacturing.
   Other attractive features of dairy science for high school students were: research in foods and diseases, production of food, the variety of work, salaries, and contributing to other people.
   
4. Girls seem to be as aware of dairy science activities as boys and displayed considerable interest. Boys and girls did not differ in their images of the dairy science graduate—the extent that the various activities belonged to the dairy scientist. The boys liked the activities better than the girls did, but the girls' ranking of the activities according to their liking for them was more similar to the professionals' ranking than the boys' ranking was. Activities that the professionals said were most typical were the best-liked activities for the girls. This was not nearly as true for the boys. An appeal for girls to enter dairy science should refer to personnel, public relations, nutrition, public service, research, and teaching.
   
5. Although dairy science graduates have a strong tendency to classify themselves as either production or manufacturing, an analysis of activities they perform did not substantiate the division of the activities into these two classifications. There are undoubtedly differences, but from the activities the professionals marked as representing their major work as dairy science graduates one could not tell whether they were manufacturing or production. This would seem to have important implications for the undergraduate curricula.
   
6. From metropolitan area to village, the general rule was the smaller the population the more favorable are the students toward dairy science. In Nebraska, the most fruitful area for recruitment would be in small towns in rural areas.
   
7. The dairy science graduate does not seem to have a service orientation within his professional activities. Items in this survey came from dairy science graduates across the country. Notable in their absence are statements about the responsibility that the dairy science graduate has for providing one of nature's most nutritious food to all of the people all over the world. There was no evidence that students perceived dairy science as a service profession. It would be of interest to know whether students would be more interested in this profession if they knew they could be helping to provide milk for the world's millions.
   
8. Dairy science graduates have common interests that differentiate them from the general population. Two hundred and thirty-four graduates marked the Kuder Preference Record (3), the most widely used interest inventory in the United States. A key was developed for this interest inventory that may be used by any high school student in cooperation with his school counselor, to determine how his interests compare with those of the professional dairy science graduate. When a student discovers that his interests are similar, he may then want to explore the vocational opportunities. No keys for dairy science have been available previously.
   
9. High school students rate the dairy scientist to be equivalent in value to the businessman and the professor. The students rated 16 vocations on the Semantic Differential (5). On the evaluative scale the dairy scientist was rated lower than physician, chemist, and bank president, but higher than veterinarian, manager of a dairy plant, dietitian, salesman, and mortician.
   

¹ Presented at the Sixty-first Annual Meeting of the American Dairy Science Association, Oregon State University, Corvallis, June, 1966.

² Published with the approval of the Director as paper no. 2042, Journal Series, Nebraska Agricultural Experiment station, Lincoln.