I am an Extension professional
When work gets crazy (crazy hard, crazy sad, crazy busy, crazy mad), and I am digging deep to find a reason to smile, I pull up the Extension Workers Creed to remind myself why I chose this work.
It is a choice, and you make it every day you show up, stand up, speak up, and lift up.
The whats of our job change. So do the whos. But, our why remains — thru the crazy hard, crazy sad, crazy busy, crazy mad.
Amazing, isn’t it: The Creed was written only eight years after the creation of Cooperative Extension in 1914; still, its words ring as true today, 103 years later, as it did then. Every piece of it survives — thru wars, upheavals, and disasters, regardless of political parties, in spite of tough times and because of tough times.
Dissecting The Extension Workers Creed
“I Believe in people and their hopes, their aspirations, and their faith; in their right to make their own plans and arrive at their own decisions; in their ability and power to enlarge their lives and plan for the happiness of those they love.”
Their right to make their own plans
That’s big for me. We never tell people what they should do; we share the options and trust them — TRUST THEM — to take the next step that’s right for their journey. Only they can decide what path leads to their happiness and the happiness of those they love.
There are many ways to the end. I learned that the summer I supervised four different county 4-H shows (32 days at a county fair). Not one group approached the task the same; yet, at the end of summer, all were done well. Kids were happy. Parents were sorta happy. Volunteers were tired.
It’s your belief that life should be better that led you to this career.
“I Believe that education, of which Extension is an essential part, is basic in stimulating individual initiative, self-determination, and leadership; that these are the keys to democracy and that people, when given facts they understand, will act not only in their self-interest, but also in the interest of society.”
The keys to democracy
Our programs are bigger than the content we teach; it’s the opportunities we provide for “stimulating individual initiative (becoming a self starter), self-determination (acting on the choices before us), and leadership” (shining a light on their path for others to follow).
If these are the keys to democracy, then we are helping them unlock the doors — today and tomorrow — to what is standing between them and happiness. And in that democracy, we trust that not only will they choose to help themselves, but they become aware of their role in creating a society where everyone benefits.
“I Believe that education is a lifelong process and the greatest university is the home; that my success as a teacher is proportional to those qualities of mind and spirit that give me welcome entrance to the homes of the families I serve.”
Welcomed entrance to the homes
Extension is welcomed into the homes and schools and businesses and communities we serve. Think of the magnitude of that statement. How many people do you just invite into your home? How many people do you trust to offer advice with your relationships? How many people do you trust with your paycheck, with your pasture, with your garden, with your employees, with your children?
We measure our success in proportion to number of places where we have a welcomed seat at the dinner table, in the board room, at the barn, and at town hall.
“I Believe in intellectual freedom to search for and present the truth without bias and with courteous tolerance toward the views of others.”
With courteous tolerance
After leaving Extension, a former colleague wrote that she was glad she no longer “worked for an organization that forced her to compromise her beliefs.” And I shook my head. She never really understood her job, our job.
She was never asked to compromise her beliefs; she was simply expected not to force her beliefs on others as the only path forward.
Our unbiased approach to knowledge is truly what makes us different, unique, dare I say it, “better” than businesses. We have nothing to sell, so all you get from us is the truth, simmered in the heat of scientific rigor.
Our job is to inform, not condemn people for the choices they make toward their own happiness. In the end, we’re all just walking each other home at night.
“I Believe that Extension is a link between the people and the ever-changing discoveries in the laboratories. I Believe in the public institutions of which I am a part.”
Filling the gap
We stand in the gap that is too wide for some to cross alone. Our mission is to extend new research in practical, applicable ways to people where they lived in ways they best understand.
Extension is the development of people — from where they were to whom they could become.
“I Believe in my own work and in the opportunity I have to make my life useful to humanity.”
Serving humanity
We don’t get rich working for Extension. We work long hours, nights, holidays, and weekends, too. We miss our kids’ events helping other people’s kids. Our gardens lie unkept while we help others’ gardens bloom.
It’s never been just a job; it’s our obligation to humanity.
“Because I Believe these things, I am an Extension professional.”