Opinion

What Happened to Home Ec?

Aumnibus Staff544 Mins Read

BY: Savanna Pruitt

If you ask the average college student how to file taxes, write a professional cover letter, or open an investment account, you will likely be met with a panicked stare or a nervous laugh. Many young adults have no idea how to do these things on their own, and it’s not necessarily their fault. Teens and young adults today lack many of the skills needed to succeed financially and professionally, and it’s due in part to a simple lack of education. 

In 1909, MIT Sanitary Engineer Mary Richards founded the American Home Economics Association (AHEA), now known as the American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences (AAFCS). According to AAFCS, Richards and other members believed that “students who chose home economics as a field of study would not only be better-prepared homemakers, but would also be better prepared for careers focused on people and their environments.” In 1917, the Smith-Hughes Act was passed in the United States, which strengthened the case for home economics classes. The Texas State Historical Association explains that this act “provided funds that were to be matched by the states to pay the salaries of agriculture, home economics, and industrial education teachers to help states prepare teachers in these subjects.” 

Unfortunately, the Vocation Act of 1963 shifted the focus away from general home economics classes to classes that specifically helped students find employment in occupations that were considered “in-demand.” As a result, home economics classes lost funding and became less popular. The feminist movement of the 1960s further harmed the viability of home economics, as women nationwide felt the classes were sexist. Additionally, the Huffington Post explains, “During the Cold War, universities started to defund programs in favor of increasing budgets for science departments. The explosion of convenience foods made-from-scratch cooking seem irrelevant.”

Where does that leave us now? According to a report by Dr. Carol R. Werhan, “Student enrollment averages during the 2010–2011 and 2011–2012 academic years in FCS (Family and Consumer Sciences) secondary programs were just under 3.5 million, indicating that enrollment has gone down 38% over the last 10 years.” Fewer students are enrolling in home economics and FCS classes, fewer qualified teachers are available to lead these classes, and fewer of these classes are being offered overall. As a result, young adults are often left to build detrimental life skills and figure out adulthood all on their own. 

This downward trend is troubling. Today’s teens and young adults still need to be taught financial literacy and general household management skills. Bank of America surveyed a group of 18- to 26 year olds in 2016 and found that “nearly all of those surveyed said they wish they had learned more about money matters in school – more so than any other subject.” The survey also revealed that “only 41 percent said their college education did a good job of teaching them good financial habits and only 31 percent said their high school education did so.” While a portion of this responsibility does fall on parents, schools should also be playing a large role in preparing students to enter the adult world. 

Though we still have a long way to go in rebuilding FCS programs in the United States, things are looking up. In 2020, the Council for Economic Education reported that “21 states now require high school students to take a course in personal finance, up 4 from 2018,” and, “25 states now require high school students to take a course in economics, up 3 from 2018.” The report explains, “…results show that when students receive financial education, they borrow more sensibly, shifting from high-cost to low-cost financing,” adding, “…financial education decreases the likelihood of holding credit card balances, and the education reduces higher-cost private loan amounts for borrowers.” 

Several high schools across the country are starting to offer FCS-style classes that cover much more than personal finance. For example, Bullitt Central High School in Kentucky held an “Adulting Conference” for their senior class in 2019, according to Today. Students had the chance to take classes to learn more about maintaining healthy relationships, applying for jobs, and more. Andrew Yang’s platform for the 2020 presidential election included adding classes in conflict management, healthy meal preparation, and interview skills to school curriculums nationwide. If we continue to see an upward swing in the popularity of and enrollment in FCS classes, we are sure to see younger generations growing up to become more capable and responsible than ever before. 

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By Aumnibus Staff

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