The Return Of Home Economics
It’s Back To School For Home Ec
As summer comes to a close, kids are gearing up to head back to school. But it looks like kids may not be the only thing coming back to school after a long absence. Home Economics classes, or “Family and Consumer Sciences,” as they are often called outside of California, are becoming popular again after years of perceived obsolescence. Some educators are even pushing to make these once-forgotten electives part of the mandatory high school curriculum, suggesting that basic cooking skills, which are being taught less and less in the average home, are essential for healthy living.
The above photograph, which has been preserved via photo scanning, shows a home economics lab at the University of Wisconsin in 1948. The second photo, also digitized via photo scanning, shows an Indiana home ec classroom in 1931. Test kitchens like these were once commonplace in high schools across the country, but have become forgotten relics of another time as recent decades have shown a significant decrease in the percentage of American high schools offering home ec. But recent trends suggest that home ec is on the rise once again. According to Patricia Scott, a longtime teacher and home economics expert for the Los Angeles Unified School District, says that the home ec program in her district is one of the most popular electives offered. Scott believes that the image of cooking has changed, and that the advent of the Food Network and popular cooking shows like Bravo’s “Top Chef” has made it seem cool to know how to cook.
According to a recent survey conducted by the National Coalition for Family and Consumer Sciences Education, the number of high school students enrolled in home economics classes is currently close to what it was in the late 1950s, though the classes themselves have changed. In the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, home economics classes were composed almost entirely of female students learning a curriculum of traditional homemaking skills. But home ec is no longer about teaching girls how to become good housewives; the classes are often very specialized, and focus on topics like catering as a business, international foods, or food service and hospitality careers.
Alice Lichtenstein, a nutrition scientist at Tufts University and the co-author of an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association entitled “Bring Back Home Economics Education,” is one of many educators who believe that home economics, especially basic cooking skills, should be a mandatory part of high school curriculum. According to Lichtenstein, the disturbing rise in child obesity and the generally poor diets of young people in America could be combated by teaching youths how to cook and eat well. She suggests that adolescents rely on packaged and fast food at least in part because they lack the skills to prepare food themselves. Lichtenstein goes on to suggest that “(t)he only way to really ensure that more kids get this type of instruction is to have it mandatory.” She and other educators believe that school should prepare students not only for careers, but also for life, and that important life skills like cooking should not be left out.