Students Should Be Taught Home Economics

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“I will be honest, there are some kids, I take them into the (kitchen) lab, and they can’t even measure…we are talking basic, basic skills. I think that has a lot to do with the family structure, how the family has changed” (Wischmeyer). Home Economics was a mandatory and popular class in the 1980’s and 1990’s. This class taught more than how to frost a cake, it taught basic and detailed skills such as sewing a button, measuring and sanitizing skills. In this class learning to manage a budget and preparing a meal were strong components as well as learning to use basic tools. Some saw it as a Woman’s’ class, but it had important skills that all people must know. As years pass, more schools are dropping the Home Economics programs, but they must be included in all High School Curriculum because it helps teach necessary basic skills, explore different job opportunities, and it is a much needed, dying traditional class.
Learning basic skills such as, hem a skirt, or create a budget, are practical life skills that are to be taught in Home Economics classes. “The basics of cooking, shopping, and ‘Balancing a Checkbook,’ once seen as knowledge that any young woman… should have are now often not learned by young people of either gender, even as we have come to understand their major societal implications” (Graham). Basic skills listed above are not being taught in the schools, and are not guaranteed to be taught at home. Knowing these skills can help many teenagers grow and succeed after high school, and have the skills to survive once they move out. “Working people have become dependant on the service industry. We can no longer hem our skirts; we pay a seamstress or tailor to do it. Instead of creating a budget ourselves, we pay a f...

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...ers before they leave high school and prepare to start their own life.

Works Cited
Colombo, Maria. “Home Ec. Should Be Put Back on the Curriculum.” eLibrary. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 May 2013.
Graham, Ruth. “Bring Back Home EC.” Boston Globe 13 Oct. 2013: n. pag. eLibrary. Web. 5 Dec. 2013.
Gross-Loh, Christine. “Who Says Home-EC Isnt a Core Subject?” Wall Street Journal 1 Oct. 2013: n. pag. eLibrary. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.
Hinkley, Justin A. Speech. eLibrary. N.p., 4 Aug. 2013. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
“When We Can’t Fry an Egg or Swing a Hammer, Something Is Lost.” Boston Globe 20 Oct. 2013: n. pag. eLibrary. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.
Wischmeyer, Beth. “Budgets Balance in Today’s Home EC.” Sioux Falls. 21 Oct. 2013. eLibrary. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
Yi, Karen. “Teachers Try to Preserve Woodshop, Home EC Skills.” Sun Sentinel 27 Sept. 2013: n. pag. eLibrary. Web. 27 Sept. 2013.

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