Hey Now! (First visit here) Holy Smokes! 40,000 messages??!!

wrote in message
...
badwilson wrote:

I think we ended up with a C-
in the creampuffs, bringing our grades down. To this day we threaten
to
chase each other out of the house with a bad batch of creampuffs :-)

You know, I'm not even sure I know what a creampuff is. Is it a roll with
whipped cream in it? The only thing I can say about creampuffs is that I
know there's someone on this ng with a cat named Creampuff who snores.

It's a little pastry that rises a lot when you bake it and ends up being
hollow. Then you fill it with some kind of custard filling. Really not the
most useful thing to be teaching a bunch of 8th or 9th graders!

When I was in home ec, we learned how to cook bison over an open fire
and sew clothes from their skins. Seriously, I learned a lot about
sewing and still enjoy it as a hobby. But I didn't learn much of anything
about cooking. I think the only food item I ever made in home ec was
some horrible, very sticky hard candy, the kind that removes dental
fillings. It was green and lime-flavored, really awful stuff. When we
were done making it, we (all girls) had to take boxes of it around to
other classrooms to give to boys and favorite male teachers. finger
pointed toward throat, theatrical gagging noises

That is so lame! I guess they probably tried to teach that old adage: "The
way to a man's heart is through his stomach"...sounds very '50's to me.

I certainly did not learn anything remotely "economic" in home
*economics*.
I hope they teach more relevant skills these days!

Well, besides the creampuffs, we made spaghetti "al dente" (I still remember
throwing the noodles at the wall to check if they were done perfectly) and
risotto, so those things were a bit more useful.
--
Britta
Check out pictures of Vino at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album
ROT13 to reply

Welcome Mark, I'm almost a neighbor in Mass. I'm owned by Spicey a uniquely
marked young cat. I've been on aol since 95, started doing newsgroups about
then. My last two computers have been iMacs, I don't do Windoze any more.
Suz
Macmoosette
Thank Heavens There's Only One
=^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^=


I've learned to not sweat the petty things, and not pet the sweaty things.

badwilson wrote:

That is so lame! I guess they probably tried to teach that old
adage: "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach"...sounds
very '50's to me.

Well, believe it or not, that was 1968... a radical time for some, but
apparently not yet for women (or girls).

Well, besides the creampuffs, we made spaghetti "al dente" (I still
remember throwing the noodles at the wall to check if they were done

LOL - I'll bet the janitorial staff loved that one!

Joyce

"badwilson" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
...
badwilson wrote:

I think we ended up with a C-
in the creampuffs, bringing our grades down. To this day we threaten
to
chase each other out of the house with a bad batch of creampuffs :-)

You know, I'm not even sure I know what a creampuff is. Is it a roll
with
whipped cream in it? The only thing I can say about creampuffs is that I
know there's someone on this ng with a cat named Creampuff who snores.


It's a little pastry that rises a lot when you bake it and ends up being
hollow. Then you fill it with some kind of custard filling. Really not
the
most useful thing to be teaching a bunch of 8th or 9th graders!

Otherwise known as profiteroles :-)

When I was in home ec, we learned how to cook bison over an open fire
and sew clothes from their skins. Seriously, I learned a lot about
sewing and still enjoy it as a hobby. But I didn't learn much of
anything
about cooking. I think the only food item I ever made in home ec was
some horrible, very sticky hard candy, the kind that removes dental
fillings. It was green and lime-flavored, really awful stuff. When we
were done making it, we (all girls) had to take boxes of it around to
other classrooms to give to boys and favorite male teachers. finger
pointed toward throat, theatrical gagging noises

That is so lame! I guess they probably tried to teach that old adage:
"The
way to a man's heart is through his stomach"...sounds very '50's to me.

I certainly did not learn anything remotely "economic" in home
*economics*.
I hope they teach more relevant skills these days!

Well, besides the creampuffs, we made spaghetti "al dente" (I still
remember
throwing the noodles at the wall to check if they were done perfectly) and
risotto, so those things were a bit more useful.

What would be far more useful to teach in home *economics*, IMHO, is how to
feed a) a single person and b) hungry family of 4 or 6 with nutritious food
without breaking the bank. How to cook 14 basic, easy, meals with cheap
ingredients (emphasis on the nutritious, easy, cheap and digestable rather
than the appearance and the quality of the table decoration which is how we
were marked). What one's rights are when renting, purchasing goods and other
money transactions. How not to screw up your credit rating. How to budget,
how to save. Where to go if you get yoruself into financial difficulties.
What your basic legal rights are for common situations. How to carry out
basic household maintanence. How to clean a toilet in less than 5 minutes.
Why you pay tax, and where it goes. etc etc

That, to my mind, is *home economics*. You know, survival skills in the Big
Bad Adult World that Everyone Should Know. Instead, we were taught that its
far more important to have a clean and ironed table cloth and a fresh sprig
of parsley on the plate than whether the meal was either edible or even
economically viable for the stuggling student or family. It was definately a
class focussed on the myth of the perfect 1950's style white, middle
classed, housewife. Which of course, none of were, it being well into the
80's by that time.

Yowie

What a great idea! That's something everyone, boy or girl, woman or man,
should know.
Best wishes,
--
Polonca & Soncek

"Yowie" wrote in message
...
What would be far more useful to teach in home *economics*, IMHO, is how
to
feed a) a single person and b) hungry family of 4 or 6 with nutritious
food
without breaking the bank. How to cook 14 basic, easy, meals with cheap
ingredients (emphasis on the nutritious, easy, cheap and digestable rather
than the appearance and the quality of the table decoration which is how
we
were marked). What one's rights are when renting, purchasing goods and
other
money transactions. How not to screw up your credit rating. How to budget,
how to save. Where to go if you get yoruself into financial difficulties.
What your basic legal rights are for common situations. How to carry out
basic household maintanence. How to clean a toilet in less than 5 minutes.
Why you pay tax, and where it goes. etc etc

That, to my mind, is *home economics*. You know, survival skills in the
Big
Bad Adult World that Everyone Should Know. Instead, we were taught that
its
far more important to have a clean and ironed table cloth and a fresh
sprig
of parsley on the plate than whether the meal was either edible or even
economically viable for the stuggling student or family. It was definately
a
class focussed on the myth of the perfect 1950's style white, middle
classed, housewife. Which of course, none of were, it being well into the
80's by that time.

Yowie

Yowie wrote:

What would be far more useful to teach in home *economics*, IMHO, is how to
feed a) a single person and b) hungry family of 4 or 6 with nutritious food
without breaking the bank. How to cook 14 basic, easy, meals with cheap
ingredients (emphasis on the nutritious, easy, cheap and digestable rather
than the appearance and the quality of the table decoration which is how we
were marked). What one's rights are when renting, purchasing goods and other
money transactions. How not to screw up your credit rating. How to budget,
how to save. Where to go if you get yoruself into financial difficulties.
What your basic legal rights are for common situations. How to carry out
basic household maintanence. How to clean a toilet in less than 5 minutes.
Why you pay tax, and where it goes. etc etc



I went through culture shock the first time I substituted for Home
Development (What Home Ec is now called) at one of my middle schools.
Like Joyce, we were taught mostly useless skills in Home Ec. I did
learn some useful ones, because my mom couldn't sew, didn't know squat
about needlework, didn't know what spices were for cooking, thought that
gravy was the only sauce one needed, and so forth. I also had a few
really good Home Ec teachers who actually taught some of the life skills
one needs. The school I graduated from was a project school, where new
teaching methods, organizational systems, and other innovative ideas
were tried out. Boys were expected to take Home Ec, and girls took some
sort of industrial arts, for one of the trimesters of their freshman
year. The last trimester was a student's choice. I wasn't there for my
freshman year which is good, as my parents would have thrown a fit.
I loved the Trimester system, but like the 4X system that replaced it
even more.

Anyway, I walked in to substitute for Home Development, and looked over
the lesson plans and class list. First of all, they were learning about
budgeting, check writing and balancing check books, and had to work out
a series of budgets given different incomes and family circumstances.
They had to balance a collection of bank statements, mark which ones
could qualify for tax exemptions ect. They were kept busy every minute
of the class period and one of the students asked me how one managed
with children.

Later classes included sections on child care, menu planning, choosing a
career, and credit options. Field trips were made to three grocery
stores for comparison shopping (with a full meal being cooked between
the various classes for lunch as a reward), a day care center to take
care of children with full adult supervision, and to the state fair to
enter and visit different exhibits. I was impressed with the advances
that were made in teaching life skills.

Not that there aren't things that I think should be taught, and aren't.
I think they should have to learn about rent-to-own rip offs, planning a
party, etiquette, and making health care decisions.

Pam S.