Home Economics History PDF

**HOME ECONOMICS HISTORY** **Home Economics** - the profession and field of study that deals with the economics and management of the home and community. **Topics under Home Economics** - consumer education - institutional management - interior design - home furnishing - cleaning -...

**HOME ECONOMICS HISTORY** **Home Economics** - the profession and field of study that deals with the economics and management of the home and community. **Topics under Home Economics** - consumer education - institutional management - interior design - home furnishing - cleaning - handicrafts - sewing - clothing and textiles, - cooking, - nutrition, - food preservation, - hygiene, - child development - and family relationships **Catherine Beecher** - the first to champion home economics. - along with her sister, they talked about domestic science and valued education for women in the middle of 1800. **Harriet Beecher Stowe** - was an American abolitionist and author. She came from the Beecher family, a famous religious family, and is best known for her novel Uncle Tom\'s Cabin. Home Economics education started in the US after the American Revolution. The land grant colleges and universities established by the Morrill Act of 1862 were the first institutions which provided a foundation for the growth of Home Economics education. **The Morrill Act of 1862** - This Act led to educating farm wives to run their households while their husbands were taking agricultural methods and processes. **Ellen Swallow Richards** - started the Home Economics movement. - the first woman to attend the Massachusetts of Technology and became its first woman instructor. - She believed that nutrition was not only the women's work but information for all. - Richard, along with Melvin Dewey and other educators and activists, organized a series of annual gatherings that became known as the Lake Placid Conferences. For over 10 years, Ellen Richards and her contemporaries explored the latest in this line of profession. It was their goal to form an educational and scientific association as an important component in formalizing the profession. Home Economics is also known as Family and Consumer Science. It is taught in secondary schools, colleges and universities, vocational schools, and in adult education centers, where students include women and some men. The **Smith-Hughes Act** mandated the importance of occupational preparation in Home Economics, thus in 1917 funding was provided. It was through this Act that women's role in the home and society was elevated. It emphasized that the study of home economics should prepare students for their effective discharge of duties in their respective homes and prepare them for the efficient administration of household affairs. The **Vocational Education Act of 1963** diminished the funding that the field had been receiving. Funding was only to be provided for Home Economics education which led to gainful employment. In the 1960\'s and 1970 home economics came under fire due to changing societal norms for women at home and in the workplace. However, home economics legitimately created opportunities for women and greatly impacted American society, creating vocational and economic opportunities for women, and educating boys and men about domestic skills. **American Home Economics Association (AHEA)** This organization effectively lobbied federal and state governments to provide funding for home economics research and teaching, including adult education work through agricultural extension services, leading to the rapid expansion of educational programs in 1908. In 1993 American Home Economics Association was changed to American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences during Scottsdale Conference in Scottsdale Arizona. **History of Home Economics in the Philippines** Home Economics in the Philippines is attributed to the late Dr. Helena Zoila Tirona Benitez, who founded the Philippine Home Economics Association in 1948. This was a national non-government organization composed of individuals, institutions, and organizations to improve Home Economics education in the Philippines. 1901 - American methods of instruction were ensured by bringing in hundreds of American teachers called Thomasites. Vocational training in housekeeping and household arts was made an important element of girls' education in the Philippines. 1913 - Elvessa Ann Stewardt, a graduate of the University of Nebraska went to the Philippines as a teacher in Home Economics. 1920 - Girls in grade 5 to 7 were required to devote 80 minutes a day to home economics activities which includes Cooking, Sewing, Housekeeping, Sanitation, Home Nursing, Infant Care, Food Selection, Embroidery, Lacemaking. 1929 - Elvessa Ann Stewardt became the Superintendent of Home Economics in the Bureau of Education in Manila. 1941 - Every secondary girl was required to have at least one year of home economics before graduation. Required subjects included nutrition and childcare. Teachers of Intermediate Home Economics were required to be graduates of the Philippine Normal School or the equivalent, which required 3 years of study beyond the secondary level. For 20 years, domestic training had flourished in Filipino schools starting with sewing, cooking, and housekeeping. Today, Home Economics continues to be practiced by professionals in many venues including secondary teaching, college and university teaching, and research and outreach through cooperative extension programs. It has been given emphasis in the K-12 curriculum. **Societal Changes and Development Brought about by Home Economics** Curriculum development and changes relate to Home Economics education at all levels, elementary through adult and professional, and in all aspects of the Home Economics program\--prevocational, home and family living, occupational, pre-professional, and teacher education. We require comprehensive and detailed training for every important profession and career that serve human life and well-being. Therefore, home management and nutrition science are clearly important. It is evident that Home Economics education has many opportunities to develop a visionary approach to education. Obesity has become the most common nutritional disorder in the industrialized world. It is a major risk factor for the development of degenerative and chronic diseases and for the leading causes of death in the Western world. Poor eating habits and improper diet are notoriously serious causes of disease. Careful detailed planning is important, and, with this, Home Economics will make an important contribution to counteracting such a development. Home Economics as a creative subject can allow for experimentation and the development of critical judgment relating to food and meals. That way it can inspire students to use their skills outside school and later in life. As a practical subject, the teaching of Home Economics encourages students to cook and develop a sense of pleasure in work as well as good working habits, and to be conscious consumers, allowing them to take responsibility for food and meals both in recreation and in the workplace and society. Teaching the subject will contribute to an awareness of what constitutes a healthy lifestyle. **The Role of Home Economics Education in National Economy** Dr. Michelle Pinnock (2015), Director of the Ministry of Education Youth and Information\'s Western Regional Office said, \"home economics education continues to be an important subject area that plays a critical role in nation building.\" \"The subject area provides the knowledge, skills and attitude needed for healthy family life and community living, which are regarded as integral for national development.\" She pointed out how home economics education makes significant contribution to family life and stability. \"Home economics exposes our students to the fundamental principles of budgeting and financial management, home and resource management, health and nutrition to name a few,\" she added, noting that significant strides have been made \"in educating our people about preparing foods within budget and eating a balanced diet.\" Pinnock pointed out that home economics education has matured into a range of offerings which include home ecology, human and consumer sciences, family resource management, clothing and textiles, home management, food safety, family life, food, and nutrition. She noted that the theme for the conference: \"Future-Proofing Families for 21st Century Living\" is timely and implies a broader appreciation of the need to prepare persons to take care of their families amid the challenges of contemporary living. \"t calls upon us as innovators to share strategies and best practices to minimize the effects of\...limited budget, increase in cost of living, scarcity of goods, just to list a few. Home economists, you have the answer for successful living in the future so please take the lead,\" she said. She further urged educators to \"continue to celebrate, to broadcast and to advocate for home economics to take its pride of place amongst subjects as we prepare for a successful future.\" **Home Economics in the 20th Century** A field of study that is primarily concerned with strengthening family life and increasing productivity of individuals in the social economy. It synthesizes knowledge from arts and science-based disciplines to improve manipulative skills, organizational skills, and social skills (James, 2003). Lemchi (2001) also noted that Home Economics is a skill-oriented subject which can equip the individuals with basic skills and knowledge that will help them to be self-reliant and thereby contribute to the social and economic development of the individual, the family, and the nation at large. Home Economics is also a diversified field of knowledge that involves education and research in many areas including food and nutrition, clothing and textiles, family life and human development, household and institutional resource management and community health. This is a course that has a greater role to play in poverty alleviation, a global phenomenon ravaging some countries in the world. When human and natural resources of a nation are not sufficiently developed, poverty becomes the order of the day and the economic scenes will be eluded with various problems to the extent that policy makers, practitioners and public will be in a state of confusion. (Ajekamo 2008). Poverty reduction becomes the most difficult challenge facing the developing countries and Home Economics must help families of the world (Arogundade, Adebisi & Ogunro, 2011). Home Economists should realize that they themselves should be producers of goods and services, producers of saleable knowledge, attitudes to alleviate poverty. **Areas of Home Economics in the K-12 Curriculum** - Housekeeping - Caregiving - Beauty Care - Cookery - Bread and Pastry - Dressmaking - Handicraft