Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program Dramatically Increases Knowledge Retention And Student Skills

In academia, faculty have the challenge of developing programs that will instill in the students the core competencies and skills defined by the accounting profession as the benchmark for successful entry into the accounting profession by college graduates. By integrating participation in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program with the teaching of concepts in the classroom at Utah Valley State College, faculty have been able to increase the retention of knowledge and the development of practical skills that benefit students, potential employers, and the community.

Teaching Horticultural Marketing to Undergraduate Students

Most horticultural students at Fort Valley State College (1890 land grant college) have little or no background in aspects of horticultural marketing. We offer a course in Marketing Technology to address this lack of background in horticultural marketing. In this course, students learn how to obtain a business license and a tax number. The significance of financial planning is stressed through practice. Students learn the strategies involved in merchandising and pricing, the proper display techniques, and the importance of advertising. Field-trips to local horticultural businesses allow for students to interact with professionals in horticulture. Students are required to do reports on each field-trip taken in the course.

STUDIES ON PAPAYA PRODUCTION IN MIDDLE GEORGIA

Three exotic lines (Dwarf, L-45, and L-50) of precocious papaya (Carica papaya L.) from India, were grown in nursery rows at the Fort Valley State College Agricultural Research Farm during 1986-1990. Performance of these lines was evaluated for their adaptation and production feasibility under the growing conditions of Middle Georgia. Two lines (L-50 and Dwarf papaya) showed a less satisfactory overall performance than did L-45, which had the highest female to male ratio (7:3) and abundantly produced tree-ripened fruits under cold protection frames during 1989 and 1990. Tree growth and survival for L-45 were greater than those for L-50 and Dwarf papaya lines. Two-month-old greenhouse-grown seedlings when established in the field in April, flowered in 60 to 65 days following transplanting. Under Georgia conditions, fruits ripened on trees in approximately 150 days after fruit set. During 1989-90, the fruit size on L-45 trees varied from 574 g to 2,286 g (mean 1,530 g) with an average of 22.5 fruits per tree. Four years data suggest that papaya can be a successful annual crop if shelter is provided during late fall to protect ripening fruits and trees from frost/cold.

New Products

The unit or minicours in logic so frequently favored in high schools has the laudable objective of familiarizing the student with the format of rigorous thinking. This, however, is but the bare though necessary skeleton of daily thought. Pushing the metaphor a bit, the nerve ends of the thinking person must analyze the emotional aura surrounding the ideas expressed by others. In a word, the thinking person must be able to distinguish between the form of thought (logic) and the dressing of thought (propaganda). This game, Propaganda, addresses itself to clear thinking, so that the student becomes familiar with the six major techniques of swaying the thinking of people. Each technique has at least, eight and at most ten varieties. The players (there must be two, but. better if there are more) first, learn how they fool themselves; then, they proceed to techniques of influencing others. Given concrete situations. the players seek to identify the precise variety of technique used in the propaganda statement. Twenty plays constitute a game. The winner is classified as a “clear thinker” for that, round; the loser may be anything from a “ding-a-ling” to a “Gullible Gus.” The explanation book is quite clear. The authors, Robert W. Allen of Nova School and Lorne Greene of “Bonanza” (!), have created a most useful tool for thinking one's way through the porridge of propaganda.— Barnabas B. Hughes, San Fernando Valley State College, Northridge, Calif.