Oh my, have you revved me up. I have a degree in Home Ec Education/Foods and Nutrition; in other words a cooking teacher. I never did teach in the schools, but I did volunteer at the Agricultural Extension Office for several years. Why don't we have home ec any more? It's not an academic subject and with all these ridiculous standardized tests the teachers must teach to, no one wants to spend any money on home ec. Yes, I had some crummy home ec teachers, especially in junior high. My cooking teacher was my mentor in high school. Our kids need more than academics. All kids need to be able to prepare nutritious meals, do some basic mending, balance a check book, be able to plan a week of meals and shop wisely, understand a basic contract and other life skills. That's what home ec is supposed to teach. We had boys in our classes in the sixties and seventies and they loved the cooking and were quite good at it. I think there was a problem with classroom management in the sewing class that was mentioned.
Now you may think I'm a conspiracy theorist, but big business doesn't want our upcoming generations to be able to do for themselves. Fast food depends on people not being able to make a quick, simple, and nutritious meal. Just get a burger on the way home. Why mend clothes - if they rip or lose a button, just toss them and buy new (made in China or who knows where) or for that matter, why sew your own clothes? These trends have contributed so much to our obesity epidemic - eat junk, get fat and unhealthy. Buy lots of cheap clothes from overseas and our clothing manufacturers here can't or don't want to compete.
Both of my sons (24 and 28) are both good cooks and the eldest teaches his friends simple recipes. Both can sew on a button and the youngest one has a quilt in progress from his teens. They've been laundering their own clothes since age 10 and the youngest had to teach his girlfriend how to iron a shirt (he still does a better job.) They didn't have home ec in school, but they had it at home with me. They are very frugal shoppers. Both started helping me cook as soon as they could stand on a kitchen chair. Our kids need these skills and I mean both sexes. Try explaining this to our politicians; heck we can barely get funding for the academic courses. So many complain about their property taxes being high and want them reduced a whole bunch and we're really messing up our future generations with this attitude. Thanks for letting me rant.