Home Ec/ Family and Consumer Sciences in Schools

[LadyStitch]

Like I promised Lady Gryphon I wouldn't hijack the "Your a true rennie if..."  thread instead I would post it here.

::grabs soap box and pulls it screechingly over to the center of the room, and hops up::

Hemm Hemmm Hemm..... Ok here goes.  I went to collage and actually have a degree in Family and Consume Science education AKA a home ec teaching degree.  Why I got it is because, funny enough, I like to teach and I like child development, interior design, food preparation, textile arts, and I believe every child should have the basic skills in life to survive.   Amazingly enough, the people that pay the bills believe that to but they don't want to pay for it.

When I got my degree several years ago they were  desperate for FACS teachers.  There were 14 open positions in our state but only 6 graduates that year.  This meant that school systems had to hire teachers not trained in FACS to teach the different areas, or they quit offering the classes. The drivers Ed teacher was teaching the 'health' classes in certain schools, and the biology teacher taught the child deployment.

There was a push in certain school districts to make a life skills class a requirement for graduating. (Life skills = budgeting, how to buy a car, insurance, taxes, how to buy a home, money management ect.)  The problem was that in order to do that they would be required to hire 2 more teachers per school. The parents want this class but there is no way they would take a huge property tax hike in order to pay for them.  Translation, "Sorry no money for that." The best they can do is encourage students to take it.  Yeah like students are going to WANT to take that class, and if they do, would they take it seriously?  Did you take it seriously at that age?
Another issue is that FACS classes are considered 'soft' classes.  School counselors will put children who have behavioral or are just barely passing academic classes into these classes in order for them to get an "Easy A".  For this reason many of the academically minded students will forgo these classes because they have to deal with the 'bad' students.  Why should an academically minded student take these classes when they could get collage credit in others?
Many times due to the "bad" students being put in these classes the teachers will either become uncaring hard nosed teachers, who honestly could give a darn if little Johnny knows how to actually balance a budget.  OR they will be so stressed and anxiety ridden that they can not take the pressure of dealing with them, and ultimately quit.  Sadly I was the 2nd type.  I had a knife pulled on me in a cooking class by a student. I'm sorry but I could NOT deal with that everyday of life.

Also the national regulations for teaching FACS had not been updated from 1962 when they were finally updated in 1998.  This means there are still A LOT of schools out there that are still teaching "how to make a pie" type FACS classes instead of how to make good healthy food choices. The only area that has had SOME level of development has been the fabric arts area. Due to Project runway's influence since 2004 the fashion classes have been updated to meet the demands of the students. That is not true in all schools.  Some are still teaching the whole "Cooking and sewing" classes.

Lastly, during a financial audit of one of the largest school districts in my state while I was in collage, it was found that the school administrators had been purposefully funneling money away from the FACS area because they felt that they did not need it.  The classes rooms were found not to meet require ADA standards because the administrators felt it wasn't necessary for a "non critical class". In regards to text books they were also funneling money away from them in that regard too.  Most of their text books in 2001 were written in 1976.  The latest innovation in their learning about foods book was the microwave.   They did not even have text books for their textile classes.  Their child development and health books were well over 15 years old.  State law requires that all textbooks be updated every 5 years so that no outdate information was taught.  Yeah, that is what was going on in our schools. 

What can I do about it?  Not a lot at this point except encourage fuzzlet to take the classes she needs to.  I have been out of the teaching profession too long, so I can't teach in regular schools.  What I can do is share my knowledge the best I can with anyone who wants to learn.  There you have it ladies and gentleman.

::jumps off soap box ::   

[raevyncait]

I remember back in 8th grade, ALL of us were required to take something called Career Ed. In it we did our preliminary 4 year plan for high school courses, helping us to try to figure out what would be most beneficial to take in high school and benefit us most on the path to college, although, realistically, most 8th graders have NO IDEA what they want to do in college. That part of it gave us at least a basic idea, and somewhere to start 9th grade, anyway.  We also learned how to set & manage a household budget, balance a checkbook, and partnered with Junior Achievement to form 2 or 3 small businesses per class (in small groups), develop a basic business plan, create and market a product, and learn a bit about running a small business. By the time my younger brother was in 8th grade 2 years later, the class had been eliminated.

When I changed districts, my Junior year of HS, the district I came into had a course called Home & Family Living, that I believe was required of all sophomores (I say this because we only had 10-12 at my school, and I was never required to take it because I had a year in 8th grade and then one in 9th grade of Home Ec, I guess). In H&FL, as I understand it, there was household budgeting, meal planning (and preparation in class), some nutrition, laundry, sex education, child care (there was an egg baby or babies for each pair of students to deal with), and I think some basic sewing. 

I have no idea if they still do it or not. It does seem to me that as a whole, at least in my area, there is such a focus on academics that we are awarding students diplomas who are truly not prepared to take care of themselves successfully at the most basic level. They can't balance their checkbook so they are bouncing checks and ending up paying tons of fees. They live on fast food and ramen noodles because they don't know how to cook anything else. They don't understand what it is to live within their means, driving cars that are too expensive (between payments, upkeep, insurance & gas), wearing the latest designer brands, all bought on credit because they didn't learn to budget. Their underwear is all pink or gray because they didn't learn to separate their laundry.

[Merlin the Elder]

From this man's point of view, most of this is training that everyone should have, but seems to usually be relegated to the female of the species, at least it was in my "day." I apologize of that's not the case now.

I went to an all-male high school of the parochial variety. The nuns and priests in my town weren't going to let the sexes learn together, as it were. There is something to be said for sexually segregated high schools, but I couldn't tell you what it is...

The rector of our school was so anti-female, it was scary. You wouldn't believe some of the things he told us in sex ed. Even the idea of having any sort of home ec course would have sent him into a fury. He's long dead now, which I wouldn't shed a tear over, so maybe they have some sort of training for all those butch guys at the high school.

I learned at a young age to cook, mostly simple things, but I'd never starve. Can't say the same for one of my brothers, but... My son worked in a high-brow restaurant for a while, and he learned how to really cook.

The old gender role divisions are going away. Men need to learn to clean house, and women need to change the oil.

[PollyPoPo]

..  borrowing the soap box from Lady Stitch)...

My non-urban grandparents were considered well-educated at about 4th grade.  By that time they could read, write and do basic arithmetic.  The boys either worked in the mines, farmed either full or part time, and a few lucky ones worked for the railroads, making enough money for monthly trips to the town grocery store.  The girls usually did not work paying jobs outside the home, but eggs, milk, butter, garden veggies, etc. were bartered back and forth.  Nobody went hungry – that's what neighbors and churches were for.

My urban grandparents likewise really needed less than 8th grade.  Grandpa was a traveling salesman (yes, the one all the jokes are about); 4th grade math and a smile was all he needed.  Grandmother died before I was born, but was a beauty in her youth and never had to pay for her own drinks in the Chicago speakeasies even in her 40s and 50s.

About half the teens in my parents' generation were not expected to make it past 9th grade; that was in the decade before WW II.   Dad was in the service; eventually he and Mom both worked in factories.

I come from a time when not all students were expected to get through high school, particularly boys who were not included to pay attention and girls who planned to get married and raise a family, but most of us did graduate.  In grade school I took sewing and cooking (really did the learning at home); the boys took mechanical or wood shop.  High school drop outs became auto mechanics and went to work in factories.  Today, many of those jobs require higher education or college degrees just to get a foot in the door. 

For some reason, somewhere along the way, many parents stopped teaching their children the basics of livings.  There are too many 8 year olds out there who cannot tie their own shoes (Velcro is for old ladies like me) or do not know how much change they should get back from their $5 when they buy an ice cream from the truck. 

The commercial on TV right now with 2 boys (maybe 10 or 11 years old) staring into the freezer telling Mom "we're hungry; there's nothing to eat" and she ends up guiding their heads to the left, up, and "oooh, there it is" strikes me as so wrong.  Perhaps if the kids so ignorant that they cannot see the box in front of them maybe they should be allowed to go hungry.   I certainly wouldn't trust them with a microwave; then again, they probably would just stand there, never push the button, and wonder why it is still cold.

I remember when Project Head Start began. The focus was on preschoolers who did not have the basic skills to enter kindergarten.  For some children it has been effective.  But sorry, folks, many of those parents too lazy or stupid to teach their children basic numbers, colors, and not to stare at the flying pigeons with an open mouth, are not going to get them to preschool either. 

It is a shame that there is a need for life skills training in the public school, but even more of a shame that it is not being offered and funded.  Unfortunately, by high school (or even middle school) for many students it is too late (pulling a knife on a teacher should be taught as a no-no in kindergarten, 1st grade at the latest). 

...here's your soap box back...

[Lady Gryphon]

My Home EC. in School was a waste,  By the time I got to Sewing class I was making my own cloths.  Why did I need to make a Gathered Skirt? (Insert 40 years later Ren Faire Garb  LOL)

I only got the tail end of Cooking class because I entered this school 3 weeks before the end of Semester, so did 't have to take it all.

Jump forward about 30 years. I have my son at home, in a single parent household. When in High School he decided that since mum works close to a 10 hour day, He'll take on the evening meal preparation.  It started with phone calls to work, How do I do this, that and the other thing.  To later, Can you stop by the store on your way home and pick up (insert ingredients here).  Now he's the main cook in the house full of guys he lives with in College.( he has saved the almost $1000 a month in food, because he also knows how to shop and they aren't eating fast food every night.)  I still get the occasional phone call about time and temp for a roast or something.

Next came laundry.  I taught him basics on separating Colors from white, and light from blue jeans, Most of the time he did pretty well.  And if I did managed to get the clothes separated, I usually came home to Baskets of Clean (yet unfolded) Laundry.

When he took up LARP and wanted this garb that consisted of nothing but easy Shirts, and cloaks.  I took him to the fabric store, showed him how to look up patterns and read yardage.  He knew all the girls in the store already, so they helped him find good, inexpensive fabrics.  I taught him how to lay a pattern out, how to read the directions and how to use my 40 year old sewing machine.  We actually had a fight over who was going to get it when He went off to college and me to the south.  I won.
He can fix a seam, sew on a button, and do basic sewing. 

I guess I taught Home Ec at home. But at least he's not going to starve, and he knows how to cloth himself if needed.

[PollyPoPo]

From this man's point of view ..
The old gender role divisions are going away. Men need to learn to clean house, and women need to change the oil.

MY DADDY MADE ME ROTATE TIRES BEFORE HE LET ME DRIVE MY NEW CAR!  And, yes, that was shouting, Merlin.

I had to know how to change a tire, change the oil, and push a little doohickey a certain way in the old Metropolitan when it stalled at a stop light.  It taught me never to have to be in a place where I had to change a tire or change the oil.  I did, however, have to fiddle with the little thingee, in the middle of downtown, wearing a skirt with what we called a can-can slip.  3 different guys stopped to offer help.

I made sure my kids knew the basics of cooking, washing clothes and auto care before they were out of high school (daughter knew theory of auto care, but also that she would never do it herself, other than add gas).  Son learned survival cooking early and now does most of the cooking in his home (his breakfast casserole is better than mine). 

Grandkids are 9th and 4th grade.   They have learned to Google and right click the mouse.  Those two options will get almost any question answered.   One of the big solutions is teach them that they do not have to know everything; they just have to know how to find it.  They also know that if they demonstrate the ability to do something (such as prepare Ramen noodles), I will do it next time for them, and maybe show them how to fancy them up a bit. 

I try to share my basic philosophy of everything changes, do your best, and remember that make-up is constantly improving so do not get stuck in a rut.

[LadyStitch]

When I went to school in NZ we lived above the caretakers.  The stories he told of the poor 18 year old kids that would come to uni and have no clue what to do.  Thankfully over there , there is a greater sense of passing on the way things were but it is fading quickly.  When the RA wasn't around (which was most of the time.)  The caretaker had to teach these poor kids how to use a pay laundry so they wouldn't break the silly things.

My brother only knows how to cook with a microwave because my mum feels as long as she is alive she will cook his meals for him.  Granted he works 5 AM to 10 pm at night, so having some one make him home cooked meals vs eatting fast food all the time does make sense.  As for laundry I 'think' he knows how to do it. 

I tried to take the girls centered shop class when they would teach us the basics, but they stopped it because parents felt it was not fair.  They would toss the boys home ec class in with the girls who had already taken HomEc1, and laughed at their stupidity. Sure that was fair to them.  I on the other hand had to bug my dad and grandpa to know how to do things like check my oil, and change a tire. I don't do it often enough to be great at it but I can. Usually I get pushed out of the way by a guy who just says, "Let me do it. You are a girl."  When it comes to a car sure, when it comes to hammer and nails, unless you want to find out how much damage a hammer can do to certain parts of your anatomy you won't make any wise cracks.  ESPECAILLY in the theater relm.  Those girls know how to use a nail gun 

[DonaCatalina]

I had to take one trimester of Home Ec and one trimester of Shop when I was in middle school. You are right. The problem kids were all dumped in the same home ec class. We made a laundry bag and fried donuts. The clowns took up so much class time that we pretty much did nothing else.

In shop I learned how to use all sorts of tools including power tools. This past new year's holiday I replaced the old baseboards in my bathroom with footed tiles...all by myself.

[raevyncait]

Oh my mother made me pull the car around to the back of the house where the driveway was, change the perfectly good tire to the spare, then repack everything in the wheel well, and then reverse the process before I could take the driving portion of Driver's Ed.  There are a great many things I CAN do, like change my oil and rotate my tires; but I choose to pay someone else to do it for me.  In my almost 30 years of driving, I have had plenty of flat tires, however I've always been fortunate enough that before I finished getting the car jacked up, some kind man stopped and finished the job for me.

When I was about 14, I went on a mission trip with my youth group, and we did a couple of workshops beforehand. Between those workshops, the mission trip, and subsequent ones, as well as my own DIY projects, I *can* hang drywall, tape, mud & sand down said drywall seams, lay sheet vinyl linoleum, hang a door, install a knob and deadbolt on a door (including using the keyhole saw to create the holes), paint, lay basic ceramic tile, calculate how much paint I'm going to need, change out the showerhead so it doesn't leak, and replace the elbow pipe under the sink.

I took a basic metal shop class in about 8th grade. I *wanted* to take wood shop, but there wasn't an open space in that class, so I ended up being one of 3 girls in the metal shop. Don't remember learning much, but I do have a scar from where I tried to unbend something and sliced the back of my knuckle open.

[Captain Teague]

Makes me wonder if it may perhaps be a marketable class to teach privately, provided one had the needed space. Call it "Home Skills 101" or something catchy.

Our school had a one week session where the boys went to home ec and the girls went to shop. Certainly enlightened both ganders by a significant margin.

And whether one chooses to pay someone to do certain things rather than DIY, (which at times I do now myself, my back wont let me crawl under cars, etc much anymore )
it is still a comforting feeling to know you CAN if needed late at night when no one is around on a lonely road.

[LadyStitch]

As funny as this may sound but there has been an odd occurance in sewing.  Several carpenters have found that they are having lung issues due to the years of breaking in the chemicals and saw dust associated with their work.  This being said they can no longer do carpentry.  However many have found that their silks of measuring, cutting, and drafting are very simular to sewing. Instead of using nails & screws to attach your pieces together you use thread.  Some have commented that it is easier to hide your goofed up shirt then it is to hide the goofed up china cabinet. It is also easier on the wallet. $20 bucks on the shirt, $200 for the china cabinet.

Recently when I was in the fabric store there was a gentelman buying fabric.  He was an engineer and math wiz but he had respatory issues that ment he couldn't work long times out in the garage or work shop.  One day he was helping his wife do a baby quilt and found how fun it was to calculate the yardages needed to make the geometric designs. Next thing he knew he was making all kinds of quilt tops.  He has had someone doing the quilting for him, but does the binding himself. I can't say I blame him for that when paying someone is 50-75 cents per INCH! He enters them in competitions, and sells them.

Dragon, you are right just because I pay someone to take care of my car doesn't mean if push came to shove I COULD do it.  Just like the PP can do hand sewing if he has to.  BTW he is getting alot better at it.

[arbcoind]

In middle school (7th thru 9th grade) we got to choose between "home ec" or "shop".  I already knew the basics of sewing and cooking from my grandmother and mom, so I chose shop.  This class consisted of working with wood 1/2 of the year and metal 1/2 of the year.  I learned alot in those classes and can do basic home repairs with my "girl" tool kit.  I learned how to manage a household all on my own starting with buying a house when I was 22 and fresh out of college.

Fast forward to my son's middle school (6th thru 8th grade) all students must take family and consumer sciences.  It consisted mostly of simple sewing and cooking.  My son hated the class.  He has no interest in cooking but he does assist me with grocery shopping.  I see a future of him eating fast food or snacks.  He can do his laundry but will not fold or hang up anything because he choses not to. 

He IS good a hording junk, again I think out of laziness.  It simply takes too much effort to throw anything away.  At this point, it's his choice how he wants to live.  I can only demonstrate and offer so much.  After that, he is on his own. 

Do I think a family and consumer science class offered in school is important? Yes.  Will all students benefit from it?  No.

And I have no experience with "the bad kids".  They simply didn't exist when and where I went to school.

Gina

[Auryn]

Such an interesting topic.
When I was in high school in the late 90s- I really really really wanted to take shop. Home Ec didnt appeal to me as those were things my parents had been teaching me all along.
I just wanted to play with power tools- and still do
I was in an advanced academic program but we were allowed a handful of regular electives.
Of course that was the year that the school cancelled shop because of lack of people choosing it for an elective.
They did however have home ec- and at our school also it was where they dumped all the "problem" kids.

When my brother was a freshman at the same high school- not in the academic program- some dingbat counselor- without asking anyone- put him in the home ec class.
My mom would have been alright with it (if they taught a curriculum like what you would teach LadyStitch) except that by the time he was in that class it had devolved into a class for unwed teenage mothers- im not kidding- where they were taught how to raise their kids.
It took my mom an entire month of fighting with the schools to get him placed into a different class.

It really is so dissapointing and a sign of the times that basic lessons like that aren't taught anymore.
Maybe we wouldn't have such an obisity problem or economic problem if more people were taught the basics that  they obviously dont get at home

[LadyStitch]

In the homes where the things needed to survive in life should be taught, they are not because many times the family doesn't know how themselves. They don't see the classes as important so they don't learn anything in them.
In the homes where the things need to survive in life are taught, they are already capeable of survivng in this world, and don't need the classes but are still forced to take them. /sigh

[raevyncait]

Honestly, I think the rise of 'buying on credit' has led to both a mentality of "the one who dies with the most toys wins", and the inability to effectively learn to live on a realistic budget.  I remember when you didn't get into debt except for your home, a reasonable vehicle, and possibly a college/trade school education.  If you didn't have the money for the big tv, you either bought the smaller one that you COULD afford, saved up for it, or you put the big one on lay-away and made the small payments to the store instead of your savings account.  My grandmother had a gasoline card, and one other credit card.  The gasoline she paid off every month, and the other card was only used for emergencies and paid off within 2 months, maximum. There was a time when my mother did the same.  I remember our first remote control tv that didn't have a dial. She bought it with the proceeds of the life insurance after her father died. That's when she replaced the 20 year old couch and chairs as well. Somewhere along the lines, she lost her discipline (once she was an empty-nester) about her credit, and ended up with significant debt (beyond the house) when she died. I suck at budgeting and managing my own bank accounts, therefore I deal only in cash (or pre-paid debit cards). My credit has been in the crapper for most of my adult life because I've made informed choices (having worked 4 years for a credit reporting agency 20 years ago) that negatively impacted it. I was taught better, I just chose not to make the best choices.

I don't know exactly where the breakdown in teaching young adults what they really NEED to function successfully as independent adults happened, but it has and until people are willing to acknowledge this, AND figure out how best to rectify the situation, it's not going to get fixed, and future generations will be living beyond their means until they are totally over their heads and have to file bankruptcy.
/off rant

[DonaCatalina]

A friend of mine frequently laments the lack of common sense life skills.
Many of the 4th and 5th grade kids are given $5 to go to McDonald's after school to get their dinner. By Thursday the parents no longer have money to give the kids, so they're scrounging off each other and the teachers.
Apparently is it too much for the parents to comprehend that a loaf of bread and a package of lunch meat is cheaper and will feed them all week.
Not that its much healthier, but its better than going hungry for two days until payday.

[Lady Renee Buchanan]

My mother didn't sew, thus nor did I.  In 7th grade, the girls had to take sewing, the boys, shop.  No choices. The sewing teacher was a monster.  If you didn't have a mother that sewed, you were treated worse than dirt.  She embarrassed me so many times, I used to beg my mother to let me stay home in the afternoon, because I hated that class so much.  It got to the point where my mother called the principal and chewed him up one side and down the other side, because the teacher made a nasty remark about my mom, not just about me.  The teacher left me alone for the rest of the year, and gave me A's, but I couldn't sew a thing.  It has taken me all this time to even want to pick up a needle again.  I've recently started sewing with a friend who is teaching me, but I think the bad memories keep cropping up, so I don't enjoy it as much as I should.

And in high school, for my senior year, I wanted to take auto shop.  I just got my license the end of my junior year and loved driving and wanted to know how to fix a car.  But the school wouldn't let me, "because that class is for boys only."  I had my choice of sewing (never, never, never) or art.  I chose art, which was filled with lots of "bad" kids, looking for an easy grade.  One day a few months after the class started, the teacher took me aside and said, "You have absolutely no talent.  But you turn in all your assignments, sit quietly and don't disrupt the class.  So I will give you A's."

And that is how I got A's in sewing and A's in art, and I stink in both!