Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Hyatt, George, Jr.

English

Research Papers in Economics

PUBLIC  POLICY EDUCATION AND THE LAND-GRANT SYSTEM:
AN ADMINISTRATOR'S  VIEW
George Hyatt, Jr.
Extension Director,  Retired
North Carolina State University
You  have  all  heard  Dr.  Bishop's  fine  paper.  I  don't think any  of
us  interested  in  policy  education  would  say  anymore  than  a  loud
amen  to his  comments.  Perhaps  as  a former director  of Extension  I
can emphasize  a few points as viewed through my eyes.
Today the demands of the Extension audience for policy education
have  changed.  The  audience  wants  more  sophisticated  information
on  a  much  wider  range  of  issues.  Most  Extension  administrators
are  cognizant  of this need  and  are  trying to meet the need  one way
or another.  The  administrators  also know that the discussion climate
often  is  tense,  emotional  and  controversy-laden.  This  means  that  in
order  to  carry  on this type  of work  only  Extension  educators  with
considerable  skill  in  concealing  their  personal  views  are  able  to
survive  this  type  of  climate.  There  are  insufficient  funds  to hire
these kinds of personnel.
It  is  next  to  impossible  to  go  to  the  state  legislature  to  secure
funds  for  adding  staff  to  do  policy  Extension  work.  It  may  be
quite  easy  to  acquire  new  funds  for  a  horticulture  or  livestock
specialist,  but  as the  saying  goes,  "It's  a horse of a different  color"
if  you  are  asking  for more  resources  to do public  policy  education.
Conflicting  views of the importance  of this work and the fact there is
no  clientele  or  commodity  group  to  go  to  for  support  make  the
securing of new funds very difficult.
Perhaps  some  of  the  solution  to  securing  additional  manpower
may  be  in  the  selective  training  of some  of our present  specialists.
Specialists  in  other  fields  can  be  trained  and  can  very satisfactorily
carry  out  some  of the public  policy  educational  work in their  own
specialized  fields with the first hand aid and support of those trained
in public policy education methodology.
Our experience  in North Carolina has shown us that both men and
women  agents  can  be trained in  economics,  through  organized  well
planned  in-service  training  courses.  Certainly  some  of  our  most
competent  agents  interested  in  public  policy  education  can  be
115trained to carry out some of  the  responsibilities  in  this  important
field.  Some  are  already  involved  but  many  more  could  be  with
specialized  training.  Many,  many  times  we  leave  our  agents hanging.
I  firmly  believe  in and  have  always  aggressively  supported  public
policy  education.  I  believe in it and  am proud to have been involved
in some of the work.  In a speech  made in 1975, former administrator
of the Extension  Service  in  Washington,  Ed  Kirby said,  "Our future
as  a  democracy  rests  upon both  the  quality and  quantity  of citizen
participation.  Extension  Education  using  accurate  information  is
democracy's  greatest  ally, just as  it is  the enemy  of anti-democratic
forms  of government."  I agree  100% and  can  support  the view that
public  policy  educational  work  through  our  Extension  Service  is
certainly  democracy in action.
Our  challenge  now  is  to  become  more  involved,  broaden  and
deepen  our  programs,  and  do  the best  job we  can  to help  our clien-
tele  make  better  decisions.  The  key  to  becoming  really  effective
public  policy  educators  is  our ability  to  anticipate  well  in advance
what the issues are going to be and then going to work on them.
116

PUBLIC POLICY EDUCATION AND THE LAND-GRANT SYSTEM: AN ADMINISTRATOR'S VIEW

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Research Papers in Economics