Home Economics

[Annie53]

Originally Posted by Spaten_Drinker

What does "cooking and sewing" have to do with home "economics" anyway? I agree that personal finance should be required. I took an elective class in 1981 called "Consumer Math" that covered things like checking accounts and how to amortize a loan.

I don't know why the "powers that be" labeled cooking and sewing classes "Home Economics".

Basically.....cooking, sewing and shop should be elective classes.....if your parents haven't/can't teach you....you have a chance to obtain some basic life skills that will save you a lot of money in the long run.

Personal Finance should be required because without a basic knowledge of how to budget/manage your money your chances of living a comfortable, stress free life are slim to none.

[Natsku]

In England, 90s/early 2000s. Cookery was taught sporadically in primary school then in years 7-9 we had design&technology which included cookery, sewing, woodwork, metalwork amongst other things. Last two years of high school food technology was an optional class. Didn't get taught anything like Personal Finance which I think was a pity.

[Linda_d]

Originally Posted by Annie53

I had home economics in the mid 60's....sewing and cooking....which my mother had already taught me.

I wish I would have been allowed to take shop class instead.....that would have saved me a LOT of money over the years.

What do I think should be required? PERSONAL FINANCE.

Mid 1960s here, too, but a half year in 7th grade and another half year in 8th instead of science. That angered me because I already knew how to cook and sew, and I really liked science. At least shop would have been interesting.

[katie45]

Originally Posted by tvdxer

How many of you had home economics in high school? Please mention the decade that you had it.

My high school (early 2000's) did not offer home economics. However, I took "Family Consumer Science" - a required class - for a trimester my 7th and 8th grade years.

7th Grade we learned how to cook. 8th grade we learned how to sew.

Should students be required to take this class?

Back in the late 50s I had that class, and what a waste of time that was! Nothing of substance was taught. Our sewing project was a skirt that none of us wore. Cooking class was about making pancakes.

A class that should be required is how to be responsible; how to get a job (how to interview); how to budget your money; how to move out from your parents' home and become an adult.

[hiknapster]

I took home ec in the early 70s when I was in middle school, called junior high at the time.

I learned how to cook. I knew how to boil potatoes - I'm from Mass., dontcha know! - and a few other things but my mom is a terrible cook. In class I learned how to make spaghetti with meat sauce and other assorted items and ended up cooking for my family on a regular basis after that. I found that I was pretty darn good at it and that solid foundation of knowledge has sustained my family - and all the different combinations thereof - throughout the years. I'm 51 now.

We also took the sewing class and I can make a few things; the information was certainly useful.

Oddly enough, I intensely disliked my home ec teachers. They were rude and condescending to me, possibly because I was a little idiot, coming from a home where my mother - a trailblazing yuppie starting in the 60s - had no domestic skills.