Editor's Page

Attitudes: Theirs, Yours, and Ours

At first glance, the feature articles in this issue of the Journal couldn't be more different from each other. They cover subject matter ranging from family life and youth to forestry and agriculture, describe Extension work in rural and urban areas, and treat internal and external organizational development issues. But far more intriguing than their differences is a common underlying focus on attitudes found in all but one of these articles.

An attitude can be defined as a mental state, emotion, or disposition. The primary way to discern people's attitudes is by the opinions they express-their judgments, evaluations, impressions, or estimations about something. And while we like to think our business is educating and informing, these articles underscore the fact Extension professionals must also be in the business of creating, influencing, and attending to our own attitudes and those of others.

The issue begins with a dialogue in the To the Point section about the image crisis facing the land grant system. A public that doesn't know or care enough about Extension to even form attitudes or express opinions isn't inclined to support its existence. Dave King, agricultural communications head at Purdue, lays out the parameters of the problem and argues for a national cooperative effort to promote the Extension and Experiment Station Systems and erase the image deficit. Paul Warner, associate director in Kentucky, responds that while Extension and research can work closely together, each must also establish its unique identity. In the second response, David Jenkins, of North Carolina, notes that one of the major impediments to success is a lingering attitude among some faculty and administrators against marketing and image-building efforts. It appears both public attitudes and those internal to Extension must be a concern if the image crisis is to be resolved.

The need to attend to attitudes as part of making organizational changes is implicit in two feature articles. Rockwell and her co-authors report on a series of studies that tracked the reactions of clientele groups and staff to restructuring of Extension county units in Nebraska. In Louisiana, Baker and Verna surveyed Extension lay leaders and agents to find out what they think about issues programming and discovered ways to strengthen the process. As these articles demonstrate, Extension's long-term success in creating new organizational structures and methods of operation will be determined by the attitudes of clientele and Extension faculty alike.

How Extension professionals' attitudes toward clientele groups influence their programming is also examined in the Journal. Astroth cites evidence from a literature review to argue against the popular culture's negative attitudes toward teenagers and the reflection of those attitudes in Extension youth development programs. An article by Extension educators from Illinois shows that attitudes fostered by the "expert" model of helping can be counterproductive in working with limited-resource families and demonstrates an alternative approach. In both cases, the interaction between educators' attitudes and their effectiveness is the concern.

Finally, this issue offers two examples of Extension educational programs explicitly directed toward changing attitudes. In their article on building a forest stewardship ethic, Jones and Findley describe a process of constructing a program to promote positive attitudes toward forest management among forest landowners and the public. Taking the animal rights issue as a starting point, Goodwin's article demonstrates how presentation of contrasting viewpoints in an educational program can moderate attitudes on controversial matters. Both these articles address the need for Extension teaching methods that reflect greater understanding of public attitude formation and change.

Although you'll find a variety of articles in this issue, their underlying theme seems strikingly similar. It's simply that from the survival of the Extension System to individual educational programs, the attitudes of our clientele, publics, and Extension staff are critical. To ignore attitudes will be perilous; to understand them will surely help Extension become a more responsive and effective organization.

EMR