The One Right Way
Back when I was a home economics teacher, my students would often tell me things like “That’s not how my mom/aunt/ grandmother does it.” I understood they felt that I was telling them there was one correct way to do things and therefore what was happening in their home was wrong.
Home economics was meant to apply various sciences to the operation of a home, raising a family, providing and caring for clothing, producing nutritious and palatable meals, managing personal and family finances, and many other related topics. At the time, the late 1800s, the home and family were considered to be the most important unit of society and it was thought that the application of science and engineering to that unit could help optimize it and make it more successful…and make life a bit easier on homemakers in the process.
Over the years, it appears that home and family have lost their designation as important, or at least we have gotten the idea that running a home and family is so dead simple that we do not need to have anyone on hand to help or teach us how to do it. To quote Dr. Phil, “how’s that working out for you?” And by “you,” I mean everyone, the society, etc. I am not saying the demise of home economics is the problem, but the dismissal of the importance of home and family certainly is a large part of the problem.
We still need solid information, especially in these times of being completely drowned in “information” at every turn. The Information Age is turning out to be the Misinformation Age. We could certainly use some assistance in learning to think things through and evaluate choices and information, which was a central aim of home economics.
Back when my students were thinking I was teaching the One Right Way, what I was really doing to was challenging them to think about and evaluate things rather than just keep doing what they and everyone around them had always done. It was never about the one correct place to store your skillets, for example, but it was about a thought process regarding what is going to be the most efficient and effective for you in your circumstances. Additionally all of home economics was infused with aesthetics, in other words, how to make things a bit nicer or a bit more enjoyable, even in meager circumstances.
What triggered this line of thought was reading a health and fitness book by a person with a PhD who is otherwise wholly brilliant, and having her say that if you are a vegetarian who eats dairy, you can get your protein from yogurt, cottage cheese, eggs, and fluid milk. People roll their eyes at me for picking at things like this, but these bits of misinformation tend to clump together and enter people’s consciousness as the truth. And that goes on until somebody gets hurt—like when people become convinced that the fermentation of sourdough gets rid of the gluten in bread, rendering it safe for celiacs.
In conclusion, the best place for your skillets is in lower cabinets, and eggs come from chickens, not cows and therefore are not dairy. SpringCreekArts-Guild@gmail.com.