Abstract
Eight horticulture educators, from community colleges and 4-year institutions, were interviewed in order to ascertain the nature of their relationship with plants. Five primary relationships appeared from the data: Naturalistic, Professional/Utilitarian, Moralistic, Aesthetic and Symbolic. No participant fell neatly into any one category. Rather, they all related to plants from a number of different viewpoints. By far, the naturalistic and the professional/utilitarian relationships with plants were predominant. At some point in their lives, each participant related to plants from one of these modes. This thesis offers an hypothesis that the horticulture educators' relationship with plants, because it informs teaching, is a model by which similar relationships are fostered in students. As seen in this study, these relationships are not mutually exclusive. What then, are the kinds of relationships with plants our universities and colleges want to foster?
Merton, Prudence (1995). What is the nature of the relationship horticulture educators have with plants?. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /ETD -TAMU -1995 -THESIS -M47.