You are right, Linda. School boards only listen to the parents. I taught home ec in public school for nearly 30 years. We fought hard to keep sewing and cooking in the curriculum but the school said no.... too much money for supplies and they needed English, SS, science and math more. I argued that life skills would last for their entire lives and how often do you hear adults talking about Eng, SS, Sci and Math? They talk about the things that are happening in their homes on a daily basis. The new HS built the home ec dept with one kitchen set-up. How do you teach 25 students with one kitchen? I finally switched to teaching physics. Yes, it's possible to have brains and still think home skills are important. They used to tell me I was the teacher that knew foods and physics.... it was a joke to them.
I still teach sewing to my grandkids and other relatives when I can. My nephews are mesmorized by my spinning wheel. Yes, I spin, too. I guess I am living in the wrong decade.... because it makes me sad as well that people think the things like cooking, sewing, parenting aren't important. They couldn't be more wrong.