Assessment of agricultural literacy among selected college students in South Korea

The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge of and attitude toward issues related to agriculture, food, and the environment of students in the Colleges of Education and students in the Colleges of Law in South Korea. This study was conducted to determine if selected demographic characteristics were predictive of greater knowledge or a more positive attitude toward agriculture.;The sample for this study consisted of 1,453 junior and senior students who were enrolled in 27 different departments at 11 national universities in South Korea. The students were enrolled in a College of Education or a School of Law during the 1997 spring semester. The Korean language version of the Agricultural Awareness Survey was used to collect data for this study. A pilot test was conducted to clarify the items of the instrument written in Korean language.;Descriptive statistics were computed to compare the knowledge and attitude scores. Null hypotheses were tested using a t-test and a stepwise linear regression with an a priori alpha level of.05.;The following conclusions were drawn from this study. (1) Students in Schools of Law are more knowledgeable about agriculture than students in Colleges of Education in South Korea. (2) Students in Schools of Law have a more positive attitude toward agriculture than students in Colleges of Education in South Korea. (3) The attitude of South Korean students in Schools of Law and Colleges of Education toward agriculture appears to be neutral (neither positive nor negative). (4) South Korean College of Education and Law School students who are male, living on a farm, reading newspapers, older, have not been a member of FFK, or have relatives working in an agricultural business are more knowledgeable about agriculture than other students. (5) South Korean College of Education and Law School students who are male and read news-magazines have a more positive attitude toward agriculture than other students.