Everyone associated with agriculture education knows it’s about more than just raising crops and livestock. Today’s ag classrooms also cover everything from accounting and science to communications and marketing.
One traditional class, however, is getting some renewed interest. Ag-mechanics, which has the look and feel of an old shop class, gives students hands-on training and knowledge that extends far beyond showing how to put a tractor together, according to J.R. Zinner, an agriculture teacher at Western Hills High School in Franklin County, Ky.
“The ag-mechanics courses here and across the state teach students application, critical thinking processes, trouble-shooting, and it makes them more aware of a lot the things they can do for themselves,” said Zinner.
“There is also a large portion of our industry that’s still hiring students with a skill set of mechanical knowledge.”
Zinner said the course offers valuable skills students can take to their other more mainstream studies.
“We want to take the content and step it up to a higher level of application, so a student can think through a process and evaluate what’s going on,” he said.
Grace Higgs is a senior and vice president of the Capital City Region FFA. She said being the only female in the ag-mechanics class is a little different but that she enjoys bringing her own talents to the class.
“For the last three years, I’ve spent the majority of my time in the ag hall enrolled in classes based on animal science and leadership,” she said. “However, I did want the opportunity to look at a different part of agriculture, so I decided to try mechanics out.”
Zinner agreed that his students benefit by bringing content from other classes into the ag-mechanics lab and applying it in an area that is specialized.
“We’re looking at everything from ag power and machinery systems, hydraulic, pneumatics, physics, ag construction, calculations, mathematics, science, thermal dynamics and the list could go on and on,” he said.
Zinner’s ag power and machinery class is working on a number of projects, but the biggest is likely the restoration of a 1952 8N Ford tractor, something that also lends itself to a bit of a history lesson, too.
The students are doing all the research as far as vehicle identification numbers, when the piece of equipment was actually released and understanding the applications of the equipment for what it was designed for on a farm, in this case in the 1950s.
Higgs said the class has been fun and that she is learning skills that are and will be valuable to her.
“With learning things like how to change the end of an electrical cord, learning how to change a spare tire and how to change my own oil, I feel like those are things that we as girls shouldn’t have to rely on a man to do,” Higgs said. “We should be able to do it, as well.”
Higgs said she plans to go into veterinarian medicine and feels the mechanics couse will be helpful.
“Not that I fully know, but I really believe that my future is going to be based on agriculture and what I’ve learned and what I’ve had the opportunity to experience through agriculture education has really made me who I am,” she said.
Ben Tinsley, another senior in the ag-mechanics program, grew up on a farm but said he is still learning a lot in the class.
“I’ve learned that every machine is different in a sense with different problems you have to face,” he said. “I’ve always been a hands-on learner and don’t think I could sit behind a desk every day.”
Tinsley plans to attend Western Kentucky University and further his studies in agmechanics.
“I’m going to Western to get a science and agriculture degree, and you can specialize in a variety of subjects like forage or genetics, so I’m going to specialize in ag-mechanics,” he said.
Ultimately, Tinsley wants to own his own farm equipment dealership and repair shop and is getting a head start by being involved in his agriculture program at the high school level.
“Mr. Zinner has given me the fundamentals of the ag-mechanics industry, and I believe I’ll be successful in the future,” he said. “I think the day that machines that can fix themselves will be the day an ag-mechanic can retire.”
Zinner credits the success of his ag program to a strong support network within the school, the school district and with community partners.
“I think we have a really good support system in our school. From our administrators to our colleagues in the core content areas, they get that there has to be application of the things we’re teaching,” he said. “Marrying agriculture and other career and technical education classes with core content classes, there are big benefits that come from that.”