Class still focuses on life skills as Family and Consumer Sciences
“Mrs. Best nearly threw us all out because we were throwing baby brother around the room,” said Kathi Elder of Penn Township describing some vivid memories of home economics classes at Mars High School in the mid-'70s. “We had dolls. We were practicing changing diapers.”
The Rev. Mary Jo Gould, pastor of Thorn Creek United Methodist Church and a 1978 graduate of Beaver High School, took home economics and family life. She remembers practical lessons on grocery shopping, menu planning, renting an apartment and paying bills.
“I had it in junior high,” said Ruth Stone of Jefferson Township and a 1960 graduate of Moniteau High School. “The thing I enjoyed most was learning to sew. We made an apron.”
“It was making a skirt. I don't think there were boys,” said Liz Studeny of Valencia, a 1980 graduate of Ridgway High School in Elk County.
Home economics sounds quaint, a little old-fashioned. After all, how many people even wear aprons, let alone want to make one? And the days of classes segregated by sex are long gone.
But Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS), which includes much of what used to be in home economics, classes is anything but out of style, even with the focus on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) classes.
Kelly Erdos is the department chairman for FCS for the Butler School District. Her classes are always full.
“They like doing hands-on activities, anything where they are getting up and moving around,” Erdos said. “They want to see it, they want to touch it and they want to do it.”
“We have a waiting list for the classes offered here,” said Erica Flowers who teaches FCS at Mars High School. “Some students go into a lottery.”
“We have a relaxed atmosphere in my class, and I think most of the kids enjoy being here. That's why I have seven classes a day that are packed,” said Melissa Grantz who teaches FCS at Knoch High School and part-time at Indiana (Pa.) University.
Erdos said the course content probably changed in the 1980s as more women were working outside the home.
“It was the understanding that this area of study is not just for women,” she said.“People don't realize. They think home ec, 'Oh, you're sewing,'” Flowers said. “We cover so many more topics than people know.”“We focus on all the independent living skills a person would need,” Flowers said. “It's a more well-rounded program.”Grantz said, “We have culinary, dietetics, child care, elementary education, child development, fashion, interior design. The big push is career readiness.“It's not just homemaking anymore. We're teaching kids how to balance their checkbook and take care of their homes and cook meals, but we're also looking at the career side.”She said the Pennsylvania school code says students should be exposed to FCS.In the South Butler, Butler and Mars school districts, students in sixth, seventh or eighth grade have a required class with a smattering of FCS topics.Grantz said high school FCS classes are electives that vary from school to school.“Our main areas of focus are foods or cooking and with that our main focus are methods, health and meal planning and budget,” Erdos said. “We have an area of child development and we focus on family — prenatal all the way up to adolescence.”Budgeting, checking, credit, renting an apartment, buying and insuring a car and job interviewing are also part of FCS at Butler High School. The focus is on “single survival.”Flowers said, “When (they are) done with food fundamentals, they can prepare a meal for themselves and do it safely.”A creative cuisine class at Mars goes further. For a project, each student investigates a country, researches its food, gives a presentation and prepares food in front of the class.Grantz said when her students at Knoch make food from other nations, they expand their social studies knowledge.When they learn about pasta, sauces and other Italian foods, they make them from scratch.Some students start food classes with many skills and some have no experience.“I get students who have never used an oven,” Flowers said.
“I begin each of my semesters in the cooking classes reviewing basic cooking skills and terminology,” Grantz said.Students taking child development have a very different experience. At Mars High School, they study the intellectual, social and physical development of children. Then they learn about teaching preschool children, dealing with behaviors and using positive reinforcement.Mars students put the knowledge into practice as they plan and implement lessons for the children in Planet Preschool. The preschool is already fully booked for the next two years.Knoch students also gain skills in the high school's preschool, and Butler High School students can gain experience in day-care settings.Erdos said students work independently in FCS classes. “There's not always going to be someone there to answer every question or every step that they should do. That's what we prepare them for.”“My favorite question from students is 'What do I do next?' and I say, “What does your recipe say or what do the directions say?'” Erdos said. “It's all about problem solving.”Erdos, Flowers and Grantz all see a strong link between FCS and STEM.Across the state, Grantz has shared ways to bring science into FCS classes. One example is the discussion of food-borne illness and bacterial growth in her food and family course.Grantz said math comes to the kitchen when students double amounts in recipes or cut amounts in half.“In foods, we are doing math skills, we are doing chemistry skills, we're doing reading skills,” Erdos said. “In my crafting classes, they are doing math skills with measuring, problem-solving and reading skills.”Flowers said discussions of genetics and birth defects in child development classes are biology. The students also write about their class experiences, write notes to preschooler parents and learn to speak to parents in a professional way.Erdos said students also learn other communication skills, personality development and relationship skills — including conflict resolution.
They gain insight in class, for example, while sharing a small kitchen space with four or five students, helping each other in a craft class or working with young children.“Family and consumer sciences right now, just like music and art and other electives, is getting a bad rap,” Erdos said. “People don't see the holistic benefit of taking these classes versus sitting in a math class.”Attention is focused on STEM, but Erdos said consumer education also needs advocates.“That's the community's job to make sure our school board and administration are providing that for our students,” Erdos said.Erdos said Butler's administrators and superintendents value FCS.“I love what I teach. The students love it,” Flowers said. “We're supporting the high school students as well as the Mars community and future Mars students.”Grantz said they do not teach sewing in high school anymore, but she says it is still important.“There are a lot of kids who will throw jeans away instead of sewing a button back on,” Grantz said. “Those basic skills are necessary.”Erdos said, “For our teenagers in today's society it's things that they want to learn. It's things that they need to be successful adults when they leave high school.”
