With all due respect to Home Ec courses and teachers, I think it would be good if they were still required but, not having had them myself, I learned most of it on my own. I'm in my late 50's (arrgggh, just realized it's my LATE 50's) and, for different reasons, I wasn't offerred Home Ec in school.
But, my fake Barbie doll needed clothes, my clothes mending, and I did what I had to do. Now-a-days, I don't believe most youngsters have such needs because they're usually handed everything and, they're tied up all day playing video games. We've become such an affluent, spend-spend-spend community, the need to "make do" or be creative isn't there anymore for most. That's both a good thing and a bad thing, in my opinion.