Spring Break
Credits for cookies
Our youth is growing up without the basic skills for daily life
Lara Oliver
Issue date: 11/18/08 Section: Opinion
I have absolutely no idea what "darning a sock" means. I've read it in old books, seen women talking about it in movies, usually from before the 1980s, and I have a pretty good idea that it has something to do with sewing. Beyond that, I'm completely lost. Before I came to college, I had no idea how to sauté anything. I had eaten food that had been sautéed, but if you asked me how it was done I'd just tell you how the waiter brought it to me. I still can't figure out the proper way to do laundry without accidentally bleaching some of my clothes, and I can't even run a dishwasher without ending up with a crusty mess of dishes that could be clean, if boiled in vinegar.
I'm a product of never having taken home economics in school.
Sure, it's an option, but how many students take "home ec" as an elective? At my school, it was all about drama, dance and other fun stage pursuits. I think the home economics classes had their own classroom, but I couldn't have pointed it out to you if I had been standing right next to it.
My mom told me that back when she was in school, home economics was a mandatory class for all female students. Of course, now we've all realized that just because you're a woman doesn't necessarily mean you want to sit at home darning socks and sautéing dinner. But why did it shrink to the corners of forgotten electives in schools along with archery and the debate team?
Just reading the Pirate Rants tells me that most students on campus don't know much about cooking, and many feel like they're doomed to a diet of either Ramen or fast food because they don't know the difference between rosemary and rose water. The amount of ruined clothes I've seen pushed into corners at the shared laundromats around Greenville tells me that I'm not alone in my laundry adventures, either. So, why don't we bring back home economics from it's forgotten status so we can all figure out what the heck we're doing?
Anybody on campus can tell you how disgusting it is to live on a steady diet of Arby's and Wendy's. But those same students will tell you that between that and going hungry, they'll gladly choose the fast food. We already include a variety of classes in our schedules under the pretense of a well-rounded education, so shouldn't learning the basics of taking care of a home be part of that also?
Sure, we could learn from our moms and dads, but I know I'm not the only student on campus who wasn't blessed with Martha Stewart for a mom and Mr. Clean for a dad. If mom and dad had time to cook, it usually ended up being a frozen dinner or hot dogs. And I can't tell you how often I found out my dad had over-dried my wool sweater down to a size so small it fit our dog.
Our generation of "latchkey" kids was raised on a diet of fast food and delivery, and our waistbands work as a testament. If the current obesity epidemic tells us anything, it's that we've definitely reached the point where learning to cook and taking care of ourselves needs to be part of curricula in school-for our own sakes.
This writer can be contacted at opinion@theeastcarolinian.com.
I'm a product of never having taken home economics in school.
Sure, it's an option, but how many students take "home ec" as an elective? At my school, it was all about drama, dance and other fun stage pursuits. I think the home economics classes had their own classroom, but I couldn't have pointed it out to you if I had been standing right next to it.
My mom told me that back when she was in school, home economics was a mandatory class for all female students. Of course, now we've all realized that just because you're a woman doesn't necessarily mean you want to sit at home darning socks and sautéing dinner. But why did it shrink to the corners of forgotten electives in schools along with archery and the debate team?
Just reading the Pirate Rants tells me that most students on campus don't know much about cooking, and many feel like they're doomed to a diet of either Ramen or fast food because they don't know the difference between rosemary and rose water. The amount of ruined clothes I've seen pushed into corners at the shared laundromats around Greenville tells me that I'm not alone in my laundry adventures, either. So, why don't we bring back home economics from it's forgotten status so we can all figure out what the heck we're doing?
Anybody on campus can tell you how disgusting it is to live on a steady diet of Arby's and Wendy's. But those same students will tell you that between that and going hungry, they'll gladly choose the fast food. We already include a variety of classes in our schedules under the pretense of a well-rounded education, so shouldn't learning the basics of taking care of a home be part of that also?
Sure, we could learn from our moms and dads, but I know I'm not the only student on campus who wasn't blessed with Martha Stewart for a mom and Mr. Clean for a dad. If mom and dad had time to cook, it usually ended up being a frozen dinner or hot dogs. And I can't tell you how often I found out my dad had over-dried my wool sweater down to a size so small it fit our dog.
Our generation of "latchkey" kids was raised on a diet of fast food and delivery, and our waistbands work as a testament. If the current obesity epidemic tells us anything, it's that we've definitely reached the point where learning to cook and taking care of ourselves needs to be part of curricula in school-for our own sakes.
This writer can be contacted at opinion@theeastcarolinian.com.
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