Hurray for Social Studies!! Huzzah for Civics! And Home Economics and Shop and Auto Mechanics and Bookkeeping and many other hands-on, critical thinking, vitally important classes that are no longer widely taught in high schools today. In those classes I learned checkbook balancing and cooking/sewing and how our government works. Back …
Hurray for Social Studies!! Huzzah for Civics! And Home Economics and Shop and Auto Mechanics and Bookkeeping and many other hands-on, critical thinking, vitally important classes that are no longer widely taught in high schools today. In those classes I learned checkbook balancing and cooking/sewing and how our government works. Back then a girl could not take Shop and a boy could not take Home Ec, but that would be so great to do now. What is old is made new again, eh? Thank you, all you teachers, past - present - and future.
It infuriated me that I wasn’t allowed to take shop or drafting in middle school or high school, but was required to take home economics. I was the oldest girl in a family of 8 children, with 4 older brothers, so my cooking and sewing skills were well-developed by middle school. I didn’t need or want more home ec.
With three brothers, I never had or is envy (except when hiking in the woods) but frequently had great envy of their freedom to do SO much more than I. At an all-girls school, shop wasn’t even a thing. How I would have lived to learn auto mechanics. On the other hand, Home Econ was also not offered. It was all about liberal arts... to become “educated wives.” Ack!
Typing class, which every 7th grader in my school district was required to take, is something for which I remain extremely grateful. I can’t imagine how much more difficult every class and job, not to mention our reliance on keyboarding today, would have been without having touch typing ingrained in me.
Hurray for Social Studies!! Huzzah for Civics! And Home Economics and Shop and Auto Mechanics and Bookkeeping and many other hands-on, critical thinking, vitally important classes that are no longer widely taught in high schools today. In those classes I learned checkbook balancing and cooking/sewing and how our government works. Back then a girl could not take Shop and a boy could not take Home Ec, but that would be so great to do now. What is old is made new again, eh? Thank you, all you teachers, past - present - and future.
Socialization into gender roles and norms begins early, even before Home Ec or Shop, which drive the message home.
It infuriated me that I wasn’t allowed to take shop or drafting in middle school or high school, but was required to take home economics. I was the oldest girl in a family of 8 children, with 4 older brothers, so my cooking and sewing skills were well-developed by middle school. I didn’t need or want more home ec.
With three brothers, I never had or is envy (except when hiking in the woods) but frequently had great envy of their freedom to do SO much more than I. At an all-girls school, shop wasn’t even a thing. How I would have lived to learn auto mechanics. On the other hand, Home Econ was also not offered. It was all about liberal arts... to become “educated wives.” Ack!
I wanted to take shop. Soooo bad. Home ec instead, where I flunked and was sent to typing class instead, because, you know, of the piano.
Typing class, which every 7th grader in my school district was required to take, is something for which I remain extremely grateful. I can’t imagine how much more difficult every class and job, not to mention our reliance on keyboarding today, would have been without having touch typing ingrained in me.