Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Do Junior highs schools and High schools offer home econonics classes as part of their cirriculum anymore?
This question stems from the wal-mart thread as well as others and people talking about HFC and preservatives ect.. in our everyday diets.
I remember in school (80's) there was one year I forget if it was 8th or 9th grade where we all had to take at least a semester of this class..
While it was not as intensive as my Mothers home ec class (they taught her how to sew even) it seems the very basics of cooking meals from scratch has been lost..
Now with the availability of prepackaged meals, entire supermarket isles for frozen dinners and breakfasts and just add water dry goods..
Is it time restraints, laziness or just a common lack of knowledge on how to put some basic ingredients together to make a simple cake or roast a chicken?
It would seem to me with a nation that seems so focused on obesity
Childhood obesity and cholesterol, would it not be important to at least have some education on the very basics of cooking and eating healthy?
It seems so frowned upon by some, that people eat all these highly processed foods..
yet most people may just lack the knowledge to actually cook a meal from it's raw state..
My kids' school does. It's called FACS (Food and Consumer Science) and is a requirement in junior high. The kids learn about cooking, sewing, and laundry. They take it all three years (junior high is grade 6 through 8 here), but the projects get more difficult.
The high school offers several courses on sewing, cooking, meal planning, and other domestic duties, but they are electives.
I was one of the few guys in my high school to take the class in 1987. Basic cooking and sewing were what I remember most. We learned how to make our own decorative pillows using a pattern, fabric, and pieces of felt. My pillow looked like a hamburger and it lasted several years until we sold it at a garage sale. We learned to use a sewing machine, make hand stitching, and sew a button back on. Part of the test of the button was the teacher pulled the button to see if it came loose. I put enough thread on that button that she had trouble cutting the thread to remove the button. Forgot how to use a sewing machine but I do remember how to sew a button or make hand stitching. Came in handy while in the Navy. No sewing machines or tailors or seamstress in the ocean. I charged the guys $20 a patch or pants leg. We were less than thirty minutes before inspection and I knew how to make wide stitches tight without bunching up the uniform patch or pants legs and I could do it quick. Not as quick as someone who does this daily, but no one on the ship at the time could even sew or sew as fast as I could.
Do Junior highs schools and High schools offer home econonics classes as part of their cirriculum anymore?
This question stems from the wal-mart thread as well as others and people talking about HFC and preservatives ect.. in our everyday diets.
I remember in school (80's) there was one year I forget if it was 8th or 9th grade where we all had to take at least a semester of this class..
While it was not as intensive as my Mothers home ec class (they taught her how to sew even) it seems the very basics of cooking meals from scratch has been lost..
Now with the availability of prepackaged meals, entire supermarket isles for frozen dinners and breakfasts and just add water dry goods..
Is it time restraints, laziness or just a common lack of knowledge on how to put some basic ingredients together to make a simple cake or roast a chicken?
It would seem to me with a nation that seems so focused on obesity
Childhood obesity and cholesterol, would it not be important to at least have some education on the very basics of cooking and eating healthy?
It seems so frowned upon by some, that people eat all these highly processed foods..
yet most people may just lack the knowledge to actually cook a meal from it's raw state..
I guess there are still a few districts that do offer the classes, but not like they did up until the 80s. Like PE, music and ART, these classes have been cut way back. It is too bad, but it is the sign of the times
Depends. As far as public schools, most districts I've been affiliated with have cut them in the past decade due to overall school funding issues and an increasing trend of trimming out non-core curriculum if it won't be tested by the state.
When I myself was a student in middle and high school (late 1980s through mid 1990s), a home arts course was required for a semester each year in 7th and 8th grade, and on the "off" semester, you were enrolled in industrial arts. Over the years, the names of the courses were changed various times to reflect current trends, but the home arts class covered cooking basics, nutrition, simple budgeting, simple mending, and the like. Industrial arts was a shop class...covered safe use of standard household tools, and how to make basic home repairs, a little bit of recreational woodworking to practice the skills.
Neither are required anymore, and in fact, were completely removed from the curriculum around a decade ago.
The high school level always had such classes as electives, but not requirements. A consumer economics class was and is a state requirement, however, by senior year.
Where I currently work, I work with students with IEPs who have very specific life skills-related goals, and they do a LOT of cooking, shopping, budgeting, chore completion...things they will need to know to live as independently as possible. My kids with special needs know how to do more cooking, etc. than my live-in SO did when I met him.
If school does not teach, parents should. But many parents gave up cooking, for whatever reason...
I don't want to go there, but I personally "know" adult people that have no idea how to cook an egg or potatoes. Their whole family "thrives" on fast food and frozen dinners. They don't have pots, pans or real dishes at home. They will praise paper plates and TV dinners, because frankly they just do not know any better...
And when you start talking about healthy choices, home cooking, HFC and preservatives, high salt and cholesterol, bad taste, "plastic" food etc, they will act hostile - like, how you dare to criticize food I love, and try to convince others that all that horrible food they eat is equally great as the home made, whole food you try to cook - and so much cheaper!
In many houses a big and modern kitchen is just for a show
Now with the availability of prepackaged meals, entire supermarket isles for frozen dinners and breakfasts and just add water dry goods..
Is it time restraints, laziness or just a common lack of knowledge on how to put some basic ingredients together to make a simple cake or roast a chicken?
It would seem to me with a nation that seems so focused on obesity
Childhood obesity and cholesterol, would it not be important to at least have some education on the very basics of cooking and eating healthy?.
A few points:
With as many kids getting out of high school unable to read or perform basic arithmetic, do we really need a lot of other subjects distracting them?
Home Economics classes do not equal classes on nutrition. When my wife received her BA in the subject, nutrition was a very small portion of the degree. They were more into the techniques of proper food preparation.
Also, why would these nutrition classes cover? Semi-truths based on the latest cause du jour? I was talking with several Registered Dietitians this weekend who base their opinions on PUBLISHED scientific data and they were blowing away some of the sacred cows of this forum (HFCS is worse than sugar, butter vs. margarine, etc.) I can only imagine the curriculum on these mandatory classes.
Personally, I would like to see a few classes on personal finance.
7th grade students at my school take a semester of Home Ec. currently called FCCLA, Family. Community, and Consumer Learning Arts. They learn basic cooking, sewing, and physical health. They make things like orange julius, rice crispy treats, spaghetti, taco salad. The learn to sew on a button and to cross stitch and make a pillow. Most of their time is spent doing little more than sitting around talking to each other. I guess this is to improve their social skills.
7th grade students at my school take a semester of Home Ec. currently called FCCLA, Family. Community, and Consumer Learning Arts. They learn basic cooking, sewing, and physical health. They make things like orange julius, rice crispy treats, spaghetti, taco salad. The learn to sew on a button and to cross stitch and make a pillow. Most of their time is spent doing little more than sitting around talking to each other. I guess this is to improve their social skills.
That's a good thing to know that kids seem to have lost in their techno world. No face to face contact. And even when they're with their "buds" they're still texting who knows who.
With as many kids getting out of high school unable to read or perform basic arithmetic, do we really need a lot of other subjects distracting them?
Home Economics classes do not equal classes on nutrition. When my wife received her BA in the subject, nutrition was a very small portion of the degree. They were more into the techniques of proper food preparation.
Also, why would these nutrition classes cover? Semi-truths based on the latest cause du jour? I was talking with several Registered Dietitians this weekend who base their opinions on PUBLISHED scientific data and they were blowing away some of the sacred cows of this forum (HFCS is worse than sugar, butter vs. margarine, etc.) I can only imagine the curriculum on these mandatory classes.
Personally, I would like to see a few classes on personal finance.
I would somewhat disagree with you. I don't know where or when you wife went to college, but I started out with a major in Home Ec, ended up in foods and nutrition. It was my classes in nutrition that led me to change my major.
I also think it is important to teach a certain amount of Home Ec type classes in Jr and/or Sr high. We were able to take a couple of electives and still take core classes. Not everyone is going to continue their education.
No one on this forum is trying to scare anyone. What is posted here is just the views of some, others will have other ideas. The secret to good nutritian is to continue reading and keeping informed. Just because "sceintific data" shows something doesn't mean it is the final word. Think about all the data from decades ago that have proven untrue. I am sure your diatician friends would agree.
Nita
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
