Olivia Parvu

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Mr. Micheal Murphy

Reading & Writing for the College Bound

13 March 2023

Home Economics:

The Idea to Bring Back Home Economics to the Standardized Curriculum

For many generations, Home Economics has been a part of the standardized curriculum

in the United States until the early 2000s. Home Economics is a class that helps teach teens

critical everyday tasks one will need for the future and prepares for an easier transition into

adulthood. But what happened to Home Economics? Home Economic classes started to

disappear when women were socially accepted to join the workforce. Without Home Ec classes,

teens and young adults lack everyday skills that they will need in the future. Adults in younger

generations lack skills like basic nutrition, how to cook, or even how to balance a checkbook.

Although some may argue that it is the parents' job to teach their kids simple tasks like how to

cook, do laundry, and do other everyday tasks like taxes, that's not the case. Having a Home

Economic class that is mandatory in high school can help teens learn critical skills before

adulthood.

The number of Home Ec classes has drastically dropped since the 1990s to now, may be

a scare to many because of that certain stereotypes have been formed about the different gender

roles in the United States. According to a source written by Tom Meltzer he states:
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In the United States, the percentage of schools that teach home ec has been on the decline

for many years. In the early 1990s, about 80 percent of public high schools offered some

form of home economics education. By 2003, that number had dropped to just over 50

percent. And, according to a survey by the National Center for Education Statistics, only

38 percent of public high schools offered home economics courses in 2009. (Meltzer 1)

The number of schools that offer Home Ec classes in the United States has dropped by 42% in a

short amount of time. Home Ec classes started to disappear when women started to be accepted

to join the workforce: “When it became socially acceptable for women to join the workforce and

make a living for themselves, teaching girls to be “housewives” became less desirable” (Sigal 6).

According to Katie Sigal Home Economic classes became scarce when the class was labeled for

girls to take the class. The class may be outdated but the life skills that are taught in the class are

not outdated and need to be taught now — to both boys and girls. Not only will the class teach

young adults everyday skills, it will also help dissolve the stereotype that women should be the

ones to cook dinner and do the laundry: “If boys and girls were both required to take Home Ec.,

the stereotype would dissipate, along with the prejudice toward the class”(Sigal 5). Although the

class was never meant to be sexist, that was how it turned out to be, due to the stereotypes that

have been formed: girls belong in the kitchen and boys do the outside jobs. If Home Ec classes

became a mandatory course for all high school students, the formed stereotypes could start to be

dissolved and both genders could have equal roles in households.

Furthermore, students who have not had the opportunity to take a Home Economics class

may lack basic life skills when entering adulthood. A college professor who teaches Liberal Arts

at the University of Texas Arlington states that students who graduate high school without basic

skills like cooking, budgeting, or even taught how to balance a checkbook are the reasons that
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our education system is failing. The Liberal Art class at the University of Texas Arlington covers

skills like what property tax change means, and how interest rates affect their cars. But the

professor is always shocked when the students are unaware of those things: “That's why we need

to bring back the old home economics class. Call it "Skills for Life'' and make it mandatory in

high schools. Teach basic economics, budgeting, comparison-shopping, basic cooking skills and

time management. Give students a better start in real life than they get now” (Harvey 6).

According to a lecturer at the University of Texas at Arlington, having a mandatory Home Ec

class in highschool can allow for an easier transition from high school to college.

On the other hand many argue that schools should not be responsible to teach kids how to

cook, do laundry, and do taxes. But some parents simply do not have enough time or were never

taught how to do the simple skills themselves.

Parents have traditionally relied on the school system to teach the basics of nutrition,

consumerism and financial responsibility to their children. And today these parents are

stretched as never before: the parents in four out of five families work full time and an

increasing number of families are headed by a single parent. (Creighton 7)

From an article written by Judy Creighton she states that most parents rely on schools to teach

their kids basic life skills. The students that don’t get the opportunity to take a Home Ec class

can then struggle in adulthood because their parents never taught them those skills: “Home

economics classes can empower students across the globe by teaching fundamental life skills

that, at times, can’t be learned from textbooks or parents. Most importantly, skills learned in the

home economics class provide for positive stimulants and confidence that every student needs!”

(Magnus health 4). Life skills can not be taught in a text book. Kids need teachers to step up and

teach them how to do simple life skills. Kids are in school for 14 years of their life before they
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go off to college or into a trade and they aren't taught once how to cook, fold laundry, balance a

checkbook, and many other things like taxes or how to buy a house. According to the college

professor he states that there is only a limited amount of information one can learn through

reading a book.

In the United States a lot of adults are either overweight or obese and that could result

from not learning basic nutrition or basic cooking skills, so many adults often rely on fast food as

their main food source. From an article published by Harvard it states that 69% of adults are

obese. That adds up to every 2 out of 3 adults are obese or overweight. Adults who were never

taught proper nutrition when they were younger or how to cook can end up resulting in being

overweight when they are older. This will continue to move on to younger generations if there is

not a change being made: “According to a survey from Porch, a home improvement site, only 24

percent of baby boomers consider themselves bad cooks. But, this statistic has risen through

generations with 39.8 percent of millennials considering themselves bad cooks” (Sigal 2).

According to a survey from the porch many people from the younger generations consider

themselves as bad cooks. Some parents are so busy that they do not have time to teach their kids

how to cook so they rely on fast food or going to restaurants. Kids that do not learn about basic

nutrition and how to cook when they are younger can be affected in their future.

Having to take a mandatory Home Economics class in high school can benefit teenagers'

futures and allow for an easier transition to adulthood. Teens can have a new confidence when

they are faced by everydays tasks like how to budget for your family or even cook for your

family. Without knowing these critical skills our society is going to fail. It is time that Home

Economic classes are brought back to the modern school curriculum. Solving a math problem is

not going to help young adults fold laundry and start to raise a family.
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Works Cited

“Adult Obesity | Obesity Prevention Source | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.”

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard School Of Public Health,

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-trends-original/obesity-r

ates-worldwide/. Accessed 2 March 2023.

Creighton, Judy. “What Happened to Home Ec Class?; Students Short-Changed by Cutbacks in

School Home Economics Classes.” Guelph Mercury (ON), Apr. 2003. EBSCOhost,

discovery.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=10007d32-32cc-3a6f-86b7-91da0167081e.

Harvey, Marti. Commentary: Bring Back Home Economics Class Because Our Kids Lack Basic

Life Skills. 4 Aug. 2018. EBSCOhost,

discovery.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=563ccd5c-275d-377b-bdac-f2b9c05c0aee.

Melzer, Tom. “The Decline Of Home Economics In Schools – GoGreenva.org.” GoGreenva.org,

3 January 2023, https://www.gogreenva.org/the-decline-of-home-economics-in-schools/.

Accessed 2 March 2023.

Sigal, Katie. “Modern curriculum needs home economics – the Southerner Online.” the

Southerner Online, 2 March 2021,

https://thesoutherneronline.com/80735/comment/home-economics-is-needed-in-modern-

curriculum/. Accessed 27 February 2023.

“31 Oct Should Home Economic Class Be Required at School?” Magnus Health, 31 October

2022,

https://magnushealth.com/insights-should-home-economic-class-be-required-at-school/.

Accessed 16 February 2023.