At Marcus Oldham College the diversity of careers that my peers and I are wanting to pursue is infinite, ranging from agricultural engineering to agronomy, nutrition, genetics, farm management, all facets of the financial sector, marketing, exporting and more.
With the industry requiring such a spread of expertise’s, why is it that in Australian schools agriculture is touted as a subpar subject with students are being discouraged from going into the industry?
The stereotype of agriculture being all about wearing a big hat and driving a tractor needs to change.
With the complex and somewhat confusing Victorian education system structured in a way that subjects are “scaled up” or “scaled down” according to how academically strong the group of students who are are studying the subject and how difficult it is to achieve a median score.
Based on prior years you can reliably predict that should you choose to study Agricultural & Horticultural Studies you will be scaled down by approximately five points, negatively impacting tertiary education entrance scores.
This makes Agricultural & Horticultural Studies less appealing under the current system.
From my experience in the education system, if I wanted to become an accountant or a doctor the pathways were clear, but I was completely unaware of the opportunities available to me within agriculture.
Completing my secondary education in 2006 with no real direction, I didn’t follow my peers to university, I worked as an office administrator and bookkeeper in an accounting firm for eight years before deciding that studying agriculture was the right path for me.
I have now become passionate about breaking the mould of what an agriculture student is and believe schools need to be better equipped to provide sound careers advice.
Had I seen a career in Agriculture as a viable option when I was at school, it might not have taken me so long to get to where I am today, studying Farm Management at Marcus Oldham College.
why is it that in Australian schools agriculture is touted as a subpar subject with students are being discouraged from going into the industry?