SIU's Curriculum in Agricultural Economics

Abstract

N building curricula a number of factors provide limits as to what can be done. A program must be built to meet the needs of the students within the capabilities of the staff. The university prescribes certain requirements such as general education and grade point. The school prescribes certain other parameters. The goal of our teaching is to provide the student with (1) the background information so he knows what questions need to be answered to solve the problem, (2) what information is needed to answer the questions, (3) where to find the information, and (4) how to interpret the information. It might be well if everyone in teaching were to evaluate critically how their courses measure up to these criteria. The primary goal of examinations is to determine if the teacher is meeting the above criteria and if he is making the points he thinks he is. Secondarily, the examination permits the teacher to determine if the student understands the important topics covered, thus providing a basis for a grade. One of the first considerations is a look at the source of students. Over half of our students are transfers from community colleges, so we have only two years to complete their programs. This implies developing a working relationship with the community colleges to encourage attendance at these institutions and to minimize time lost in the process. There is also a need to know where our graduates (B.S. and M.S.) find employment (industry, government, education, graduate school, or farming). Shifts in employment should be analyzed frequently to obtain a first approximation as to what courses the curriculum should contain. Course content needs regular systematic review to be assured that the essentials are included. There is also a need to follow up graduates systematically and to talk with employers and prospective employers to determine strengths and weaknesses of students and how these might be corrected. When there is limited staff and the university is very cost conscious, as most universities now are, much more attention is paid to credit hours generated which becomes a function of class size. This has further implications because in many courses non-majors may outnumber majors. This may be true in a large number of undergraduate courses. Increasingly, we may be happy to have these non-majors in our classes. In addition, if we teach only for our majors, we may find other departments taking over these service functions, and their knowledge and background may shortchange their students. We recognize this service function as a major departmental responsibility. Probably every teacher needs to look at his material to determine how much and what is needed to understand the subject and to permit the student to use this information to achieve his