No longer a standard precursor to majoring in FCS

I must admit to being somewhat shocked and amazed when I heard from several administrators in higher education of the high percentage of FCS majors at the collegiate level that had never taken an FCS course while in middle and/or high school.  Assuming this is reflective of programs nationwide (and if someone has such statistics, I’d love for you to share them with me), what are the implications for FCS post-secondary coursework?

Do we assume students have acquired FCS-content knowledge taught in the secondary level through other venues?  Are we spending too much time in entry-level FCS college courses teaching content which could have been learned on the secondary level?  Could we do more to recognize FCS knowledge gained by students on the secondary level with greater numbers of articulation agreements and/or “quiz out” options?  Will the pre-professional assessments and credentials that AAFCS is developing, be useful in determining the knowledge of incoming college freshmen to align coursework with their competency level?  

The trend toward the initial exposure to FCS in college also impacts our assumptions of FCS professionals in the future.  We cannot assume that professionals were involved in and exposed to the traditional core FCS settings (secondary schools, FCCLA, 4-H or Extension Service) from when they were “knee high to a grasshopper” like I was.  While we hope to instill an understanding of the value of traditional program settings in these professionals, we can also benefit from their diverse perspective to improve what’s been a traditional place of gaining FCS knowledge in the future.