I remembered the home ec classes that school had the students take. Does anyone recall those classes and did it give you a start in understanding and learn how to cook and bake? I do not think it is offered in middle school anymore.
I remembered the home ec classes that school had the students take. Does anyone recall those classes and did it give you a start in understanding and learn how to cook and bake? I do not think it is offered in middle school anymore.
Nick,
When I was in junior high school, all the young ladies were required to take sewing and cooking classes. And all the young men had to take shop classes (woodworking and metal shop?, I think).
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Good point but businesses small and large want their consumers to be slaves to debt to fuel their industries. It seems to be working in their favor. Home ec in my opinion was not nonsense.My daughters had to do a bit of this nonsense (not gender specific). They got nothing out of it.
However, one daughter's teacher -- when she was in the 5th grade -- took it upon himself to teach the kids a bit about money, debt, credit cards and interest rates. She's 21 now and still remembers what he taught.
I think a personal finance class would be hugely valuable. Perhaps one in late elementary and another in high school.
When I was in junior high school, all the young ladies were required to take sewing and cooking classes. And all the young men had to take shop classes (woodworking and metal shop?, I think
In my early years when a high school teacher I would forfeit my planning period to substitute for the Home Ec teacher when she was sick. I could raid their refrigerator and make lunch for myself as a cooking lesson for the class.My father learned the basics of cooking and sewing in a home ec class during the depression. He said all the boys signed up for it because it often included a meal!
IIRC, I think that the young ladies in our high school were required to take Home Ec.
But I don't remember shop class being required for guys. Maybe it was for freshmen and sophomores. I took shop class 4 years and I remember the counselor trying to talk me out of it when I was a senior because I was on a college prep curriculum that didn't include shop class. So I took it in lieu of a study hall.
Nick,
When I was in junior high school, all the young ladies were required to take sewing and cooking classes. And all the young men had to take shop classes (woodworking and metal shop?, I think).
Cooking class covered random stove-top cooking (apple sauce is one thing I recall making) and baking (we made toast points and filled them with some creamy chicken and peas thing), menu planning, etc. Sewing involved making a skirt and an apron with the poorly-maintained sewing machines.
I can safely say I never made any recipe that we made in class. And the school sewing machine put me off sewing for years.
I'm a decent sewist now but it's no thanks to that class.
I would have much preferred taking the shop classes, but that was not an option back in the 'dark ages'.
omni
My family moved to Missouri between my junior and senior year of high school. When I arrived at my new school, they told me I needed to take shop to graduate. I asked whether everyone had to take shop, and they told me "well girls can take Home Ec". I asked "then can I take Home Ec instead?" So they looked at the rule and saw that I could, although that had never been done. So I took Home Ec and Child Care, because I was the new kid in town and I figured I'd have a better chance of meeting girls that way. As my Uncle Jim once told me "You fish where the fish are."
Nick,
When I was in junior high school, all the young ladies were required to take sewing and cooking classes. And all the young men had to take shop classes (woodworking and metal shop?, I think).
omni
The whole class had to take home economics in 7th or 8th grade. I learned a little bit about cooking, how to sew on a button, use a sewing machine, and a few other things. What they really need is home finances in HS.