Home economics, domestic science or home science is a field of study that says it deals with the relationship between individuals, families, communities, and the environment in which they live.
How did it get that name with economics as though there would be a substantial component of the 'production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services'? Is there an economic study of how individuals make choices on allocating resources to satisfy their wants and needs, and maximize output?
I don't remember anything like that in our home economics courses. They focused on outputs - cooking (potatoes), and sewing (aprons). As a course of study, it theoretically included child development, education and community awareness, home management and design, budgeting and economics, and health and hygiene. I only remember cooking potatoes and sewing aprons. I can't image that they still teach home economics, and that's the case:
"Today, while home economics courses occasionally pop up in high schools, the language has changed. Instead of home ec, it's usually called something like "Family And Consumer Sciences." Even Richards' American Home Economics Association has been renamed the American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences."
That quote comes from an article in the Huffingtonpost.ca about the origins and rise and fall of home economics university courses in American Universities. It started as a science applied to domestic topics for women in university. It was created by Ellen Swallows Richards, a chemist and instructor at MIT in the late 1800s. It was about running a home/farm efficiently. It had its fall after WWII, where universities started to defund programs in favour of science, eliminating female professors in the area. High school courses fell away with no academic stream to move on to. And my 1960s experience proved to be its concluding days.
I found some home economics in action last Saturday on Honsberger Road in Jordan - this is the Blossom Bakery, known for its fruit pies, desserts and flat bread pizzas. It is located at a farm behind the house in this pretty building. Maybe that's how I got to pondering Grade 8 home economics.
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