How much is going to school changing?

My friend and I got into talking about things we did in school. When I went to middle school (grades 6-8) we had Home Economics and Shop. For 1/2 the yr we would cook, bake,

do projects on the sewing machine. The second term we would have Shop. It was split into woodworking, plastic and metal.

In Shop I remember making a spice rack, food tray, molded wavy plastic bowls, metal candle holders, plant stand and metal storage cans.

In Home Ec I remember baking a lot of different stuff, sewing Christmas stockings, making an apron and oven mitts on the sewing machine.

Well I am just wondering if any of the schools do that anymore. My son is in grade 6 and they have nothing like that in middle school here.

I think they are missing out. I think it was good to have those hands on classes. You got to learn stuff around the kitchen and learn to use tools and machines in the wood shop.

I think it is due to $$$$$ why they don't have this kind of thing anymore. The schools charge money for every little field trip they take, or any "extra" supplies they might need for a special project at school.

When I went to school we went to the Zoo, Museums, Science Center etc. and my parents didn't have to pay anything. My son went to the zoo at the end of this school yr and it cost $15.00

Considering the % of the house taxes the school board is getting I wonder where all this money is going, since the parents have to pay all this extra money on top of it.

Anyway.... Is this just how it is where I live? Do they still have classes like Home Economics or Shop in the schools where you live?

Or did you not have these classes growing up either?

 

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they still have it at the college i went to, years 7-10 have it split up so that they do one each term of metal work, wood work, cooking, sewing. years 11-12 classes become optional and students can choose a whole year of one, or split the year between 2. year 13 they basically get a free pass to any classes they want for university prep.

 

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13 years in school ... isn't that some kind of child abuse?

 

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yep. thats why most of us drop and get jobs the day we turn 15.

 

we did wood working, plastics (cant rember if we did metal), cooking, sewing and IT over 7-8. At year 9 we got to chose our electives from quite a wide range of topics for 9-10 and then year 11-12 we chose the topics to get into uni or where ever else we wanted to go. Also the tech subjects (including home ecco, cooking) became elective vet topics which were partually done through tafe and with buiness if people wanted to get into say commertial cookiery

 

I personally belive that they have droped classes where you learn to make your own food, clothing and furniture because it would have a huge impact on the economi if everyone really started cooking their own meals instead of buying fastfood.

 

thats a little cynical especially concidering that the australian goverment at least wants to slow the ecconomie and get MORE people into area's like hospitality which means fostering a love of cooking

 

I wish that they would put it back in schools now. I think my kids are missing out. The guys loved it too. They got to fool around in the kitchen with all the girls.

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actually from my experiance guys like to cook MORE than women do.

Im not 100% sure on the why (though i do have a theory) but that is one of the reason you see ALOT more male chefs than female ones (though the female chefs i did know were the worst people to be around)

 

Well the 2 guys I ended up with over the yrs DON"T!! Did I get ripped off?

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The problem today is that more and more parents do not prepair their children for the day to day living. Learning how to cook is not the responsibility of the schools, it is your own adn your parents.

 

shorty this is going to sound sexist but as it was the explanation given by my mother i feel pritty safe

In general most women see cooking as "work" because of the steoro type of the little women in the kitchen.

Men on the other hand see it as fun (or in my case ART) because of the stero type of the man with thongs, stubby and a singlet, beer in one hand and barby tongs in the other cooking the snags on the barby, watching the footy with his mates

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Personally i hate cooking if its only for myself, i find its a waste of time, but i LOVE to cook extravicant meals for guests or even just for PB

Which reminds me, SAM if you see this can you give me a recipy for beef vindloo, i want to make it for PB and I on friday

 

I think its sad that a lot of programs at schools are disappearing. While teaching children the basic necessities of life is mostly the parents responsibility, but I see school as a way for kids to learn things that their parents may not know. Like I took Home Ec in 7th grade and they taught us how to use a sewing machine. My parents did not own a sewing machine and neither knew how to use one nor ever thought about sewing so that's something kids in 7th grade now like my younger brother will not be exposed to. And if I was a parent I would want my children to be exposed to a vast variety of things. Especially things that I don't or can't do.

 

Thongs ? Tell me that doesn't mean what I don't need in my head.

My folks took the position that a grown man needed to be able to do for himself - the rugged pioneer and sailor to far places needs to know how to cook and sew and keep his gear shipshape.

The notion that a dependent, unskilled male is less masculine - that reliance on service is some kind of macho ideal - would have made my father laugh out loud. Not being able to sew at need, like not being able to change a flat tire, would have struck him as genuinely embarrassing - and nothing to be tolerated in his sons.

But this position was not supported by the schools at my time, and now even less - it's almost as if actual skill were not expected from students, merely booklearning, and skilled work is developing the image of a failure track. This even carries over into intellectual pursuits - such as competence at basic arithmetic.

They don't get shop. They barely get recess.

No wonder sports and video games take over the kids's imaginations.

 

oh sorry, they are called thongs in Australia, in the US they are called "flip flops" i think

they are a shoe sole with a thing that comes up between your big toe and conects to a bar that goes over the foot (i know that explination SUCKS

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)

 

They have removed physical education from some schools where I live.

 

your kidding?
With obesidy as high as it is they are INCREASING it here.

 

Ok that is really going too far.

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No home ec for me during high school. Our shop class was a continuation of our technical drawing class where we created a windmill after we designed it. Still had gym. Still had a lunch period.

Asguard: From how I've always thought of it in the US, flip flop is the name of shoe and thong is the name of the actual thing that goes in between your big toe and your index toe.

 

we just call the whole thing a thong or a pair of thongs

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For lingerie we refer to it as a g-string