| Scope and method of study. This study included 369 community leaders from 30 randomly selected communities in Oklahoma which had schools containing vocational agriculture departments. The study was stratified to include six communities from each of the five districts in Oklahoma. There were five communities with single teacher departments and one community with a multi-teacher department represented in each district. The leaders were identified by a combination of the positional and reputational methods. The positional method was used to identify the most widely recognized leader in nine different sectors of each community--agriculture, business, communications, education, government, industry, professional, religion, and social. These leaders were in turn asked to identify additional persons whom they considered to be community leaders. The results of those two methods were used to develop the list of community leaders included in the study.;Findings and conclusions. Vocational Agriculture/FFA was found to have had an impact on the success of many community leaders. Almost half of the leaders surveyed were past participants in Vocational Agriculture/FFA and they felt that their leadership experiences were effective in developing their leadership skills, contributed much to their success, and have been of value in their careers regardless of occupation. In addition, twenty percent of the leaders who were not enrolled in vocational agriculture indicated that it had contributed to their success. Past vocational agriculture students were found to generally be more actively involved in community organizations and activities than nonparticipants. A majority of the leaders were middle-aged white males, had obtained at least a B.S. degree, and rated their college and high school experiences as important factors in their success. |
