The education that we receive at South is of premium quality and covers a broad range of subjects and experiences. We are, however, lacking something crucial: home economics. It may sound old fashioned, but in reality it’s very useful. In a home economics class, students would learn the basic skills of homemaking: cleaning, cooking, sewing, balancing a check book and managing time.

Unlike some of the other classes at South, in this class students could directly apply the material in class to help out at home. In some of the other classes, unless a student loves the subject and wants to pursue it after high school,  they will never use some of the lessons in real life again. For example, in Chemistry we just took a polyatomic ions quiz. Unless a student is planing on becoming a chemist or an engineer that information will probably not be useful after we graduate.

In home economics what the student learns in class could be directly applied to their life. O-ne week the student might have a project in which they have simulate creating a budget where they make X amount of money and they have bills to pay and/or have a savings account and put money in it. Learning a skill like that would directly benefit their home lives and their future. Financial stability is very important, and isn’t really taught in any other class.

Home economics has, in the past, had sexist inclinations because it was generally directed towards training girls and women to be housewives. Skills such as learning how to cook a basic meal, or learning how to finance your money/balance a check book are important skills for everyone to learn and know because social norms are expanding. All students would benefit from taking this class, not just women.

By taking a home economics class students would be exposed to different career opportunities that they may have not thought of or been exposed to before. This could be a career in the culinary arts, fashion industry, housekeeping, or accounting/personal financier. This class could open doors for many students that don’t want to pursue the “traditional” career path.

High school should be preparing us for our lives after we graduate. While most of us wont be using all of the skills and shortcuts that we learn in some classes such as science or mathematics, it will be imperative to our survival that we learn how to do basic skills such as how to cook a basic meal, or how to do our laundry. It’s a class that needs to be taught.