Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Wadsworth, Henry A.

English

Research Papers in Economics

OPPORTUNITIES  FOR  EFFECTIVE
EXTENSION  POLICY  EDUCATION
Henry A.  Wadsworth
Director, Cooperative Extension Service
Oregon State University
There are a number of reasons  why policy education  specialists
should  scrutinize  their  work  and  determine  whether  they  are  de-
veloping  new  audiences  and  increasing  their contact  with  existing
audiences.
First, we must be sensitive to allegations by our critics that we
serve  a limited clientele.  Legislative  members  decide  the  level  of
resources that will be  provided to support Extension work.  The de-
cisions are  based  on perceptions  of  how  well we serve  the needs  of
people.  Critics say that Extension now serves only limited clientele.
Substantial  population  shifts  away  from  rural  areas has  produced
states  with actual or potential political control  in metropolitan  cen-
ters.  Thus,  a  conflict  exists between  reaching  new  audiences  and
continuing to serve old ones in the same way.  Policy education can-
not  avoid  issues  of  interest  to  the  urban  audiences,  nor  can  any
other part of the Extension program.
Second,  federal,  state,  and local  government  budgeting produc-
es an awareness  that decisions about Extension support  are part of
the  political  allocation  process.  Interest  in  zero-based  budgeting
suggests that there  is nothing sacred about any type of government
program, including ours.
Third, there are more regulatory agencies at both the state and
federal  level  who  are  seeking  a  quasi-educational  function  to
strengthen their position.  They  do not believe  that regulation  and
education are two distinct functions.
Within Extension,  we  must carefully examine  each part of our
overall program.  If some of our programs cannot  generate support
within  the political  decision-making  process,  we must ask whether
we can afford to maintain those programs.  We must take a politi-
cal  market approach  to  the  choice  of  educational  programs  as  op-
posed to a strictly educational  one.
We must also re-examine  the role  of an  Extension policy  edu-
cator.  It is education which  provides  the knowledge  base on which
people can make  decisions.
Our major need  is to build a competent staff, people who under-
12stand  the  important  issues  of  today.  The kind  of  staff  assigned
policy  education  responsibility  determines  the  issues  that  can  be
considered.
We  also must examine  the role  of the  specialist staff vis-a-vis
that of the county-based  staff.  If specialists  are primarily trainers
for county agents, then policy issues must largely be county-orient-
ed because  of the location of the  ultimate decision.  Such  a system
works  well  for issues  of land-use  policy,  but not  well  for issues  of
state  tax  policy.  If specialists  are  the  teachers  of  clientele,  then
issues  of state-wide  concern  are a  more  realistic  part  of the  pro-
gram.
The ultimate limitations on policy education are staff expertise
and research  results.  Research which  examines  consequences  of al-
ternative  organizational  approaches  and  cost-benefit  analysis  is
fundamental.  Without it, there  is only conjecture  as to the results
of  particular  choices  and  one person's  judgment  is  as  good  as  an-
other.  We should not conduct work on crop improvement education
without  research  results.  We  should  not  conduct  policy  education
without research results.
Finally,  we must ask why policy education  is  important to our
audiences.  Time  is  valuable  to  most  people,  and  education  must
have a purpose.  Will what they learn as a part of a policy education
experience  make a difference  in how a decision is made?
In the  past, our  audiences  have been  largely  made  up  of agri-
cultural producers,  supply and marketing firms with direct interest
in agricultural  production, and the general farm organizations.  We
have currently added  community and state leaders who have respon-
sibility for making  decisions about  local  and state  issues.  We  can-
not direct  our  attention solely  to  these  clientele  groups  in the  fu-
ture.  If our  educational  program  is  going to  have impact  on  the
political  decision  process,  then  the  educational  program  must also
be directed  toward consumers  as well  as the  varied public  interest
and lobbying  groups who spend  a considerable  amount  of time and
effort  in  legislative  halls  influencing  the  outcome  of  particular
issues.
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OPPORTUNITIES FOR EFFECTIVE EXTENSION POLICY EDUCATION

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Research Papers in Economics