We need home economics now more than ever

[marmar]

We need home economics now more than ever
“Cooking is an essential life skill that children need to learn to be self-sufficient adults"

By ASHLIE D. STEVENS
Food Editor
PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 4, 2024 12:00PM (EST)


(Salon) In 1955, Young America Films, an educational and instructional video production company, released a nine-minute short simply titled, “Why Study Home Economics?” It opens on two high school-aged sisters, Janice and Carol, deciding which courses they will take the next term. Janice says, “Well, I have to fill one science requirement and English, and I want to take home economics…”

“Home economics?!” Carol replies, aghast, “Why in the world do you want to take home ec.?”

While the video is definitely seeped in some mid-century misogyny in terms of Janice’s primary motivation for taking the course (“Anyone who's going to be married and a homemaker would be foolish not to take home economics!" she eventually declares), the school’s home economics instructor, Miss Jenkins, takes a broader view of its benefits. “To tell you the truth, Janice,” she tells her. “You need to know more than how to run a house or an apartment. You need to know why, as well as how.”

....(snip)....

By the early 2000s, however, enrollment began to slow. According to the Craft Industry Alliance, by 2012 only 3.5 million students were enrolled in home economics classes nationwide, a decrease of 38% over the prior decade. There are a few reasons for this: Some experts point to the complicated (and often inherently sexist) relationship Americans have with domestic labor as a motivation for the courses’ nationwide decline, while others say that simply any classes that don’t contribute to test scores and grades aren’t prioritized.

Now, there are only about 6,000 schools left in the United States that still offer home economics — or family and consumer sciences — though I’d argue that there’s never been a better time to bring it back. ...................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/02/04/we-need-home-economics-now-more-than-ever/

[Skittles]

1. nonsense

I've never cooked and I get by just fine.

[sinkingfeeling]

7. Do you eat at home? Do you eat just pre-packaged stuff or have meals delivered?

[bucolic_frolic]

2. TPTB want to teach Door Dash and credit scores

more than home ec and personal finance because the latter two would actually help people and diminish corporate exploitation. This society teaches you to consume and spend against your own best financial interests.

[AllaN01Bear]

3. in hs , i couldnt even sew a tube shirt. i failed homeed. now i am cooking for my self

doing checks , updating my check book and so on. i still hate chores but i am the only one . me myself and i.
at my late moms hs they wouldnt let her take the class on howto screw in light bulbs and do home repairs . etc. shunted her to home ec instead.

[mobeau69]

4. We need history and social studies (government) at every grade level.

That is obviously critical today if we are to continue this great experiment in democracy!

[fierywoman]

5. I took home ec and did well but I REALLY wish I could have taken

the shop class (woodworking.)

[Freethinker65]

6. Rename the class as Personal Economics

Last edited Sun Feb 4, 2024, 10:20 PM - Edit history (1)

Get rid of the sewing and setting the table stuff. Explain the details and consequences of interest rates, 401k programs (amazing how many leave employer money on the table), health insurance and HSAs, IRAs. Explain how packing a lunch from home and forgoing that coffeehouse coffee can really add up. Explain how to meal plan by shopping the sales; cooking can be easy and fun. Teach how some tasks might save money if done by yourself (painting a room, snaking a drain, replacing a washer in a faucet, mowing your own lawn, washing your car, doing a simple car oil change) while others might be better left to professionals (major auto repair, gutting and remodeling a kitchen, etc.).

Many young adults today I encounter have no concept of money management. My 26 year old retail worker son (still not making enough money to live on his own) was seriously considering buying a 5 year old Lexus! Yeah, he could afford the payments to start, but not the maintenance of an older high mileage vehicle and higher insurance for a luxury car. My younger coworkers had no idea how 401k s work and that they had been missing out.

My son has a friend and non-working fiancé with child looking to buy a house that somehow doesn't have enough for a down payment. Their "starter" home must have a minimum of three bedroom and two and a half bath, a two car garage, newer everything, and be on a quiet street in an excellent school district. They think nothing of dropping a few hundred on a designer car seat, nor a $200 meal out. Baby Gucci, yep. Nothing is too good for their baby. They have no concept of saving money while living at a parents house, nor lowering their expectations for their first home.

One of the most valuable lessons on home economics I learned not from a class, but from my Dad. He always said to save money if buying something trendy that would likely go out of fashion or only be used for a short period of time, but to splurge on higher quality if you could afford to if you intended to keep and use the item for years.

[DinahMoeHum]

8. We also need "Shop" classes. . .

. . .open to both boys and girls.

In Shop, one can learn how to fix things, including basic car repairs. Basic carpentry and other mechanical skills as well.

Both Shop and HomeEc teach kids to be more self-sufficient in the big bad old world out there.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

9. Cooking isn't even remotely hard.

Doesn't anybody have a parent who already cooks? And can teach the child at least some basics?

I will say here that my mother was not at all a good cook. I actually took over certain things from her at a VERY young age. Around the time I was 5, I could make bacon and eggs by myself. Over time, I did more and more, until I was the main person cooking for our family of 6 -- Mom plus five kids.

Looking back, I wasn't all that good a cook, based on what I've learned over the years since. But I managed, and managed to feed the family. Since then I've learned a lot more. One of the many wonderful things about our modern age is that a person can go online and find videos for cooking all sorts of things. Which I do all the time. If I want to try something new, I find a video of it. Hooray!

I did take Home Economics in 7th and 8th grades, back when only girls took those classes. I did learn a number of practical things, for which I am grateful.