Home ec sewing classes..do schools offer these anymore?
 

I was thinking about this today. I first learned to sew way back in junior high, and that was back in the early 70s :shock:. Do they still offer sewing in public schools anymore? I made some pretty hideous things in that class, but I caught the bug and have been sewing off and on all these years.

Our small town school cut it out years ago due to budget constraints.

EC was probably one of the first cuts school districts made. I also sat and used a sewing machine in junior high in the early 70s.

Our high schools even have and teach long arming quilting machines. Sewing is required for boys and girls

In our district, yes, there is still a version of 'home ec'. It's called domestic somethingorother if I'm not mistaken. There is a term of sewing; one cooking; not sure what else is involved. I don't think it's quite the same as you and I remember but it is somewhat close. In the sewing portion I know they all make the same string bag. The only creativity involved is your fabric selection. When I had home ec, we could select any garment project we wanted. Still have nightmares about the teacher taking out the bazillion pins I had in the neckline of a garment I wanted to sew differently than the pattern called for. I ended up walking out of that class and blasting the teacher in the hallway. My mother was horrified that I flunked that class that term. At least I waited until the last term of the school year and had aced all the previous terms so overall, it didn't matter.

As an aside and result of that outburst, all of my fellow female (the only gender the class was offered to at the time - late 60's) students refused to take the home ec class the following year. We all demanded to take 'shop'. The school determined they could not deny us, but at that point made it mandatory for the male students to then be required to take home ec. Who knew I was a rebel! And a feminist!

I was wondering the same thing, only for me that junior high class was the mid 60's :eek: My mother started teaching me to sew around 11 years old so for me that meant an easy A. This summer my San Deigo grand daughters will be getting their first sewing lessons from me when they come to visit........I can't wait!

NJ, circa 1970 I thought about being a rebel and demanding that they let me take shop just to prove a point -- but wanted to do the cooking and sewing of Home Ec too much. Truth is, I wish I'd had the option to do both. Would have used those Shop skills through the years just as much as my domestic skills.

I took Home Ec. in the 60's. I still have and use some of the recipes we made. Home made caramels and brownies with fudge frosting, etc. My favorite was the sewing, we made bermuda shorts and a top, one year.

I taught at schools in Oklahoma and Texas, junior high and high school, and home ec. was removed from them. Life Skills was what replaced them, if anything did. (One of my friends who taught home ec. had to get re-certified in a different subject to continue teaching at our school.) I think the only sewing in Life Skills was sewing on a button. I have been retired for five years, so maybe home ec. has come back....but I doubt it.

Dina

It's been a few years, but I think the school ended up making both genders to a half year of each - home ec and shop. And yes, I still use those mechanical drawing skills learned in 9th grade! Actually designed and drew out our home addition only 20 yrs ago as a result of those skills! And trust me when I say, that was a loooong time after 9th grade!

As well, I had been sewing garments at home for a number of years, hence my wanting to do the one particular pattern in a different fashion. Too bad the home ec teacher didn't have my 'vision'. And while my mom wasn't particularly pleased with my grade that term, Nana was very proud of me!

learned as a child, by the time I was 10 was sewing my own cloths, (mom made beltloops to wide, collars not pointy ect.) I took sewing in high school to make my leather winter coat. did it in 2 weeks and was free from then on. I remember the girls having a hard time. I felt it was the worst place to learn sewing. I made a lot of money sewing their outfits and charging $1/button in 1975 for the girls.

Had home ec in the mid-60's. Made a blouse with "pop art" fabric. Sewed it wonderfully, but it didn't fit me when I was finished! I had grown 3 inches and had boobies! Oh well. I haven't had a child in school in over 10 years, so I can't say what is being taught now. When my youngest graduated high school in 2003, the school was still offering cooking and woodworking - open to either gender.

Anita

They don't teach it in my school district so I started teaching it to one or two of the neighborhood kids in my home. Now I'm up to 9 boys and girls. I got the parents to get the kids Janome mini sewing machines for Christmas so the kids could each bring their own machines. For some of the kids the Janomes works fine but for a few of the heavy sewers they ate through the machine in a week. I suggested to their parents to get treadles and 3 of them did, now everyone including parents want treadles. Come to think of it I wouldn't mind having a treadle myself.
Sharon
NH

I was in school in the 60's up in Manitoba and we had home ec. Half the year was sewing and half the year was cooking. I must agree with most of you we made the most hideous things. We had to make an apron and top out of gingham, a dress with long sleeves and zipper, blouse with collar and buttons. But the cooking class I loved, 4 kids to a group and we had our own little kitchen area with stove etc. was great and we put out some good food

The big district I teach in cut home ec and wood shop in middle school/junior high when budget cuts were needed about 13 years ago. They are expense courses to have in school, but boy, they are so important. I believe the students can take these classes in high school, but usually have so many other things to take that they don't take advantage of these classes. It is so sad. Many times, kids that struggle academically, are very successful with their hands.

My kids took sewing in junior high. The high school offered nothing. But I made up for that! All 3 of my kids(2 boys) can sew enough to get by. Each has used my sewing machine to make book bags and such. My oldest son(24) crochet me a scarf for christmas! Now he wants to learn to make fabric bowls. You know the kind made with clothes line. My daughter crochets occassionally. And my youngest son made his own ugly christmas sweater this past christmas. Of course he bought a plain sweater, then sewed the ugly onto it, but I was still proud of his creation.

I remember making the UGLIEST grey jumper in 8th grade and cooking in the other half of the year. None of that offered here anymore, and I agree completely that they are life skills. My youngest spent a summer before her senior year at the University and had to teach so many of the others how to do their laundry. Home Ec or parent responsibility, someone needs to teach these!

Back in the early 60's, we were required to take home ec as girls and shop for boys. We swopped for 6 weeks. I loved it. In high school the classes were electives which didn't fit in with my college prep class schedules. My mom did minor sewing and didn't teach me how except to mend. My oldest son, now 44, took a class in 8th grade that taught home living skills such as cooking, mending, and laundry. He doesn't do hardly any of it now. My 3rd son who is 27 took a similar class still uses the skills he learned which his new wife appreciates. I made a small quilt with my 13 year old GDD but she only liked doing it for about an hour. My only daughter made a small wall hanging then lost interest. My grandmother was a very good seamstress but wasn't interested in me, only my oldest cousiin and left her her sewing machine in her will (she has never sewn).

They still have these classes in Australia , one of my Best friends teaches the sewing classes
her work is always perfect, she can do blanket stitch by hand and you swear it was done on a machine .Cathy

But I bet that sports were not cut. Yea, like everyone will become a pro athlete!

Of course it is not important to learn a constructive skill (sewing, cooking, shop classes) learn how to plan and prepare nutritious meals and understand the economics of meal planning, (think obesity rates today) etc but heaven forbid the schools not have millions of $$ tied up in sports! Sorry for my rant!

Sandy

I took Home Ec in the early 70's. My friends mother had taught me to sew around age 10 or 11 so I seriously knew things the teacher didn't and I never got much out of it. My daughter took some version , I think they called it FACS or something but I have no idea what that stands for. It was a complete and total joke!! She didn't learn a single thing about basic cooking which is a real drawback now that she is on her own. I don't think anybody even finished their sewing project.

I have to agree with Sandy. I am pretty sure that our local school system has cut what used to be known as Home Economics from it's schedule. All of my granddaughters are head over heels into sports like lacrosse etc. I don't understand. Aside from the exercise from all that running around where else in the lives are they going to use those skills? I have been sewing since childhood. Because I do a lot of charity sewing I seem to get a lot of calls from folks looking for someone to do garment repairs for them. More than 15 years ago I worked for about a year for a Bernina dealer who made her rent by doing alterations and custom dressmaking. It is amazing what people will pay. The shop did a lot of hems, replacing of buttons and mending torn seams etc. They also sewed on a lot of patches. I truly believe that my husband fell in love with me because I could mend his jeans. His first wife never even sewed on a button.

AMEN! Sandygirl. We now need to teach all the skills to pass the required to pass standardized tests but not to require learning skills for survival: food preparation and safety, care of clothing whether purchased or made, child development, etc. Don't get me started. ;-) I am a proud graduate of what was called the college of home economics and spent 40 years working in a related field. Now, when it exists, it is usually called family and consumer science (not a bad name because this IS science if we weren't so scared of that term.)In the 60's shop was not an option for girls as it is now. Fortunately my father had all these skills and I learned a lot from him in this area. We need to push for reinstating life skills in the schools as well as the arts if we are truly teaching for a lifetime. OK, stepping off my soapbox

They no longer have Home Ec in our school. I guess you don't have to learn how to put a prepared dinner in the microwave. A bunch of ladies I know wanted to start a quilting group and I thought the place to have it would be in the home ec. room at school since there would be tables, chairs and even some sewing machine available to us. What a surprise to find out the didn't have that now. It is call FACS now. They did have a few machine stored in the room, but most of them did work.
We still meet there because it was offered to us and there are tables and chairs, counters, so it works out great.

In the HS school my youngest attended (she graduated in 2011)
She had a class called "Life 101" in this class they had to cook,
select fabrics for wardrobes, home decor, and other stuff.

I contacted the closest Middle & High Schools to put out "feelers"
to see if any of the students might be interested in learning how
to use a sewing machine (just u=the basic operation of one). None
of the students was interested, I even hung up a flyer near the mail
boxes of our condo complex only not just for young people. Still no
interest.

No Home Ec here either. I was quite accomplished by the time I took home ec in middle school in the 70's. My teacher told me I couldn't make the pattern I had chosen because it was too difficult. It was a long (maxi) jumper with the ruffle from the waist over the shoulder and down to the waist in the back. I told her I could do it and I would show her I could do it. I made it, put yellow wide rickrack on that ruffle and the ruffle on the bottom, the jumper was black cotton. That's all I could afford in middle school, had to buy my own things. Got an A, wore it many times with a red calico peasant top and still have them both.
I currently teach a 12 yr old girl at church and have had others, mostly adults, who say they want to come but never show up. I'm happy with my one student. She's very good.

I don't have kids, so no idea - but, when I was in high school, about a million years ago in the late 60's, we had Clothing 1 and II. I learned so much in those classes and remember the teacher very fondly. Made a coat - bound buttonholes, welt pockets, lining, padding stitches through the shoulders - completely tailored. I don't sew that way any more, and doubt that many home sewers do, but I loved it. Now I think twice before even setting in a sleeve.

I took home ec in the late 80's, but I don't know if it's still offered. It was a strange class...half of the year it was home ec and the other half of the year it was shop. Very interesting mix of people in that class! I learned how to sew, make jam, and run a jigsaw. LOL

I think there's still some form of home ec offered in our district, but I'm not sure. However, considering the number of people these days (particularly girls) who cannot even boil water, let alone cook a simple meal, I think it should be a required course! Let's not even discuss the sewing bit (which was a disaster for me in my own home ec course). What about the basics like cooking rice, peeling potatoes and using an oven and/or stove?

I'm always so shocked to hear people say they don't cook. I'd bet you that more than half the folks I know don't cook a meal three times a week. Since both myself and my husband cook - and cook very well - this whole concept of not knowing how to cook is completely foreign to me. I'd get so sick of eating out all the time!

Nothing here either. My mother insisted that all of us learned to sew so she taught us at home. In the 70s when I was in school sewing was offered at the 8th grade level. In the 90s when my daughter was in school nothing. No shop for the boys either but we had sports!
I plan to teach each of my granddaughters to sew when they are a little older. They both like to watch me now.

I took Home Ec in the 70s, too. I remember hating it! :) I already knew how to cook and sew, and it seemed that the teacher made it so much more complicated than it needed to be! I do agree, however, that a life skills course is needed in school--many students don't have the experience needed in the real world for planning, shopping, and preparing food; for basic sewing; for household budgeting; etc. It would, of course, be best learned at home as a real-world skill, but in many cases, that just doesn't happen.

I agree with Scratchie and Angela. I'm not sure what high school teaches these days but many recent graduates seem to have no life skills whatsoever. I hope they have good jobs because the cost of either eating out or buying all prepared foods is astronomical.

I have worked in a Texas High School for the past 12 years. In our state it wasn't really budget cuts that have eliminated Home Ec classes. In our state, it was the fact that with a state of this size we only have maybe one or two college grads each year who are certified to teach Home Ec. Our state requires all teachers to be highly qualified and certified to teach their classes. Since the odds are not in our favor to actually hire and keep a qualified teacher, we had no choice but to eliminate the classes.

i guess it depends on the school district.

i went to school in the los angeles area. i took "home ec" in the 7th grade... sadly, all we did was read :(

according to my daughter who lives in NE Maryland both boys and girls get terms for sewing at least (they usually make a pair of shorts). She didn't know about shop for my DGD so I "suggested" she might demand shop if she has any interest. In my time back in the mid sixties girls had home-ec, boys had shop no exceptions. I'm glad to see anything in the school that will teach life skills. It's pitiful how many can't make change without a cash register.
Joyce in DE

67 and havn't had a class in cooking or sewing yet!

My kids had a year of something long the lines of domestic technology. one 9 wk. period of wood shop with some stained glass. 9 weeks of sewing. 9 wks of gardening and such. And I think the last 9 weeks was elective. Kid took "hunter safety" as her healt course. That was few years ago (junior high)

WTG. Your momma should be proud of you!

When I talk to folks, it seems those who took the shop and Home Ec classes learned NOTHING, if they didn't already knwo a good bit of it from home.

I think that is wonderful sewing is essential for both

In our district, we have classes called "________ and consumer science". Both boys and girls take it, cook and sew. One grade makes a pillow from a nine-patch pattern and a stuffed animal. I don't know what else. They also have a family section for which they have to carry an egg around for at least a week. They have requirements about what they have to do for the "baby". They all seem to enjoy the various parts of the class and are proud of their products when they sew. Although it is a class offered in the school where I work, I am so busy, I really do not know details about it. I will have to find out more about it.