Drawing students by misrepresenting opportunities

[Hibush]

In these fora, we often discuss the magical thinking around career prospects as portrayed by some faculty in the humanities. Today's CHE has an article about a program at West Texas A&M University that seems to be driven by a similar misreading of the job situation and a nostalgia about a past that is not returning.

The reality check is that small farms are disappearing because it is an extremely hard life for very little pay. Large farms, unless you are the owner, also have challenging working conditions and below-market pay. Young people, even those who grew up on farms, wisely want to do something else. 

While it is crucial to have enough farmers, fooling students into bad career choices by grossly misusing statistics is not the way to do it.

[marshwiggle]

The only way to have a chance at successfully operating a family farm is to inherit it. It's just way too capital-intensive with small margins and uncertainty due to weather, etc. to be viable otherwise.

[Durchlässigkeitsbeiwert]

While the statements in the article contain as much wishful thinking (and overstated stats) as many humanities programs' pages, the described incentive itself does not appear to be that bad:
essentially, an industry association (Texas Farm Bureau) is sponsoring industry-related activities for interested students. I haven't noticed any attempts to herd students into dead-end majors or anything demanding much of their time.

Have I missed some red flags?

[marshwiggle]

While the statements in the article contain as much wishful thinking (and overstated stats) as many humanities programs' pages, the described incentive itself does not appear to be that bad:
essentially, an industry association (Texas Farm Bureau) is sponsoring industry-related activities for interested students. I haven't noticed any attempts to herd students into dead-end majors or anything demanding much of their time.

Have I missed some red flags?

That was my reading as well.

[Hibush]

While the statements in the article contain as much wishful thinking (and overstated stats) as many humanities programs' pages, the described incentive itself does not appear to be that bad:
essentially, an industry association (Texas Farm Bureau) is sponsoring industry-related activities for interested students. I haven't noticed any attempts to herd students into dead-end majors or anything demanding much of their time.

Have I missed some red flags?

The statistics are presented as if many people are making a living in the field their program trains people in when that is not true. The Texas Farm Bureau is similar to academic humanities organizations in hoping to have young people join their identity group, if you will, even if the employment situation has changed completely since the leaders were that age.

[dismalist]

While the statements in the article contain as much wishful thinking (and overstated stats) as many humanities programs' pages, the described incentive itself does not appear to be that bad:
essentially, an industry association (Texas Farm Bureau) is sponsoring industry-related activities for interested students. I haven't noticed any attempts to herd students into dead-end majors or anything demanding much of their time.

Have I missed some red flags?

The statistics are presented as if many people are making a living in the field their program trains people in when that is not true. The Texas Farm Bureau is similar to academic humanities organizations in hoping to have young people join their identity group, if you will, even if the employment situation has changed completely since the leaders were that age.

Everybody knows that only two per cent of the population works in agriculture. I was surprised to learn that such a large share of farms are family farms. Thus, there is no misrepresentation.

And, of course, all humanities candidates know the employment situation for humanities graduates, misrepresentation or not.

[Durchlässigkeitsbeiwert]

The statistics are presented as if many people are making a living in the field their program trains people in when that is not true. The Texas Farm Bureau is similar to academic humanities organizations in hoping to have young people join their identity group, if you will, even if the employment situation has changed completely since the leaders were that age.

I don't see anything in article about Texas Farm Bureau initiative being a training program or about Bureau itself being provider of training services. In general, its main function in respect to students appears to be being a representative of future employers. In contrast, members of academic humanities organisations are training providers first and foremost.
There is quite big difference between sponsoring few pizzas to attract interested students in order to increase pool of workers few years down the road vs trying to get those students enrolled in 50% dropout rate graduate program.