hiaie agriculture conference sets example
The Nebraska Agricultural Youth Institute, which
brought together 180 young Nebraskans in a week
long conference ending today, has become a model
for other states.
Randy Klein, an NAYI counselor and UNL stu
dent, said Illinois, South Dakota and Minnesota
have followed Nebraska's example.
The goal of NAYI h to keep Nebraska youth in the
state and on the farm," Klein said.
Kathy Karnopp, another NAYI counselor and
UNL student,said the participants learn about agri
culture and the opportunities it has for them.
Young people are selected based on their ideas
and concern for agriculture as well as their invol
vement in it and other activities, Karnopp said.
The program first started in 1967 as a two-week
national program. Young men from across the
nation came to Nebraska, where they spent a week
at Halsey National Forest and a week in Lincoln
learning about agriculture.
Karnopp said NAYI has changed since it became a
strictly state-wide program in 1972. But, she said,
the conference has kept its basic structure.
This year's NAYI, Karnopp said, works with more
UNL colleges than it has in the past. More farm
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people are participating this year also, she said.
The 1 984 NAYI also was designed to get its partic
ipants thinking about politics. The conference fea
tured speakers such as Gov. Dob Kerrey, Robert
Raun, the director of the state Department of Agri
culture; and State Supreme Court Justice Norman
Krivosha.
Jana Deckman, a member of the Nebraska Agri
culture Youth Council, said this accent on govern
ment and politics gets people interested in their
state and local governments.
"I enjoyed listening to (motivational speaker)
Charlie Plumb," Gary Jagels said. Jagels, an 1 8-year-
old NAYI delegate from Davenport, said NAYI taught
him that "through marketing and persistence the
small farm can work."
Delegate Diane Karnopp, an 18-year-old from
McCool Junction, said she learned how to promote
agriculture as a youth and share my new knowledge
of ag with the people in my community."
Nancy Trumble, a 17-year-old delegate from
PapUlion, said the conference was more than learn
ing about agriculture.
"I've found meeting people from a variety of back
grounds very interesting and that UNL has more to
offer than just a degree," Trumble said.
New Mexico researchers say funny
professors are nothing to laugh at
By Hark Davis
According to a study at the University of New
Mexico, teachers who joke around in their classes
aren't doing their students any favors.-
The study found that teachers who use humor are
"likely to be perceived with suspicion and hostility"
damaging the climate for communication.
But Jack Kay, UNL assistant professor of speech
communication, finds the study's conclusions very
hard to believe.
Some forms of humor, especially demeaning
humor or sexual innuendo, can damage communi
cation in the classroom, Kay said. But appropriate
humor is a very effective way of gaining a class'
attention, he said.
The study, done by Jean Civikly and Ann Darling,
"assistant professor and teaching assistant repec
tively at New Mexico, said that humor in the class
room was damaging, "regardless of the type of
humor involved and regardless of the teachers' sex."
The study cited humor that was contradictory to
society's sexual norms as a major contributor to
communication breakdown in the classroom.
The study said, "If a male teacher who is expected
to behave in a domineering and aggressive fashion
uses playful or silly humor, he is, ineffect, delivering
cues which are contradictory to role expectations.
Likewise, if the female teacher who is expected to be
nurturing uses aggressive or hostile humor, she too
is breaking social norms for expected communica
tion behavior."
The study which was based on the evaluations of
180 undergraduates, concluded that humor in the
classroom made the climate, "significantly more
defensive than supportive."
However, an informal survey of 20 UNL under
graduates found that about 90 percent of students
polled thought that humor in the classroom, regard
less of the type of humor or the sex of the teacher,
was helpful to classroom communication.
Mike Malone, UNL senior civil engineering major,
said, "Humor is humor, I get a kick out of anything
that livens up the class." He also said he thought it
was okay for teachers to transcend society's roles
for men and women.
John Berman, UNL professor of psychology, said
he was surprised by the New Mexico study's results
that the sex of the teacher could make a difference
in communication. Although he said he hadn't seen
any research on the subject, he said his own expe
rience was that humor greatly aids communication.
When humor is used, Berman said, sleeping stu
dents wake up and there is a more relaxed atmos
phere. Humor makes students more willing to par
ticipate in the classroom discussions, Berman said.
The study was reported as one of 80 papers pre
pared for the Tenth International Conference On
Improving University Teaching.
III!
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TODAY 10-6
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SUN. FINALE
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lankcaraaLweiCQmey
SWV I . i
Dcwntsvvn Lincoln st 144 N. 14th
..
Friday, July 27. 1984
Daily Nohraskcn
Page 3