Home Economics Circular No. 10. Norember, 1921. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR BUREAU OF EDUCATION WASHINGTON, D. C. PRESENT STATUS OF HOME ECONOMICS EDUCATION. Home economics educational courses have undergone a satisfactory reorganization following the somewhat disturbed condition due to war work and emergency aid. There has developed a vigorous and sustained effort to emphasize, in all classes, the relation of home economics instruction to healthful living, financial thrift, and social service. A number of extraneous forces have reacted upon home-economics education : The widespread interest in child health and welfare, with special stress upon the generally prevailing condition of malnutrition, has opened avenues to home economics trained women for service in the conduct of food clinics, nutrition classes, and the redirection of school lunch-room management. Physicians and hospital au- thorities have recognized, as never before in the practce of medicine, the relation of diet to disease, and the need of highly trained home economics women as prescribing dietitians. Operators of industrial plants and administrators of mercantile establishment have employed home economics women to supervise their social service. Banks have established home-economics graduates as advisers of their women depositors in the division of their incomes and in methods of wise spending.- These various outside forces have modified, as well as intensified, the home economics instruction given in universities, col- leges, and normal schools. Universities, colleges, and normal schools offering home economics courses. The number of institutions of higher education maintain- ing courses in home economics has not greatly increased during the past year. At present all State universities except six and all land- grant colleges for white students except five offer home economics. Those not providing for this instruction are usually institutions for men which either actually exclude women or discourage their at- tendance . Home-economics departments are supported by 177 G1930 21 (1) normal schools, which employ 379 teachers; 306 colleges and uni- versities employ 1,133 teachers of home economics. Besides these in- stitutions, almost all academies and junior colleges admitting girls offer courses in this subject. Home economics In liberal arts courses. Home economics is ac- cepted in many liberal-arts schools as an essential part of a woman's well-rounded education. This sentiment is reflected in the Univer- sity of Oregon, where there is a strong demand for certain courses that will be of special value to students preparing for professional life as journalists, doctors, social workerSj physical-training teachers, etc. It is felt that the courses in the care of children and care of the sick, together with elementary dietetics, and household budget mak- ing, are needed by all women students as part of a well-rounded training for citizenship, as well as by those who plan a definite "home-making"- or professional home economics career. These courses, already very much in demand and successfully developed during the past two years, will be greatly strengthened in the future. New courses in child feeding and welfare. Child-feeding and child-welfare courses have been added to the home economics depart- ments of many institutions of higher education, and special instruc- tion in advanced nutrition classes has been given a prominent place in these schools. In Purdue University two new courses have been developed this past year, the first being a course in child care and management, offered to seniors specializing in home economics. This course in- cluded three lectures and demonstrations per week for one semester. There have been 63 enrolled in the class, and the students have been greatly interested in the work. The instructor is a graduate nurse who is also a graduate in home economics and is a woman who has had a great deal of experience in connection with the care and handling of children. Michigan Agricultural College offered an elective course in ad- vanced nutrition during the past year, which attracted 41 seniors. It is especially planned that this course shall lead to nutrition clinics for the mothers and children of Lansing. Already these graduates have been called to assist in other cities in this type of social service. Oregon Agricultural College, the University of Minnesota, Cornell University, and other colleges and universities had babies or small children in the practice houses, in order that the courses in child care might be more valuable. Courses in the conduct of school lunches. A generally accepted dictum is that all public-school lunch rooms .should be under the supervision of the home economics departments. In consequence of this many institutions are establishing cafeteria courses. Purdue University, Kansas State Agricultural College, and Oregon Agri- cultural College are among the colleges reporting these courses. The rural-school hot lunch has been given especial attention in the home economic departments of normal schools. Georgia Normal, at Milledgeville, South Dakota Normal, at Aberdeen, and the normal schools of the State of Washington have conducted intensive courses in rural-school lunch work. Specialized courses for dietitians. These courses are now offered in all leading home economics schools. The Battle Creek School of Home Economics requires that its graduates have actual experience as student dietitians before accepting administrative positions. At Drexel Institute the course comprises two years' work after high-school graduation. The students take standard courses in organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, technical chemistry, physi- ological chemistry and pathological chemistry, physics, bacteriology, physiology, accounting, principles of food preparation and nutrition, institutional cookery, and management. Graduates of the University of Wisconsin, Ohio State University, Iowa State University, and other similar institutions are now pre- pared to be prescribing dietitians. Home economics in public high schools. There are now more than 8,000 high schools offering to girls the opportunity to elect one or more years of this work. The annual increase in the number of high schools offering home economics has been about 600. A questionnaire sent to all high school principals resulted in answers from about 50 per cent. One State, Illinois, contributed 311 replies. Of these 311 high schools, 184 maintained courses in home economics. These schools had enrolled 13,334 students in the regular high-school home economics classes and 1,753 in high-school classes, aided by the Smith-Hughes Act. Since it is the larger high schools which support departments of home economics, it is evident that the majority of all high-school girls in the United States now have an opportunity to study home economics if the} 7 so elect. Statistics show that the high-school girl frequently fails to avail herself of this opportunity. This failure may be traced to difficul- ties iii adjusting schedules to courses requiring the long period usually considered necessary for home economics work. Chicago is leading in the experiment of teaching home economics in 60-minute periods. Girls entering high school generally choose commercial courses, trade courses, or courses in liberal arts, preparing for college en- trance. A fully organized continuous home economic course either interferes with their pursuit of a chosen course or else is not so pre- sented that they realize the value of home economics as a part of their general education. In order to make home economics attractive to all high-school girls, the home economics high-school teachers of Chicago passed a resolution and presented the same to the city superintendent of schools, requesting that the present four-year course be abandoned and in its place six separate semester courses be offered. They fur- ther requested that in planning high-school courses next year it be made possible for every girl in a regular course to take an elective in household arts any semester. The idea actuating these requests is that all high-school girls should have an opportunity to take some home economics instead of each girl being forced to choose between a four-year course in home eco- nomics and exclusion of all home economics from her high-school studies. In Los Angeles and several other cities home economics is now required for one high-school year, while in Berkeley, Calif., certain home economics units are included in the social-science course. Home economics in public elementary schools. The rate of increase in the number of public schools maintaining departments of home economics has been normal. Two-thirds of all the larger school sys- tems report that home economics is required of all girls in the seventh and eighth grades. In a considerable number of cities it is required of fifth and sixth grade girls as well as of those in the upper two grades. The great number of girls reached by instruction in home eco- nomics is indicated by the following figures, taken from reports of various cities chosen at random : Philadelphia, Pa. Fifth grade 13,126 Sixth grade 12,117 Seventh grade 9, 298 Eighth grade _. 8, 035 Boston, Mass. Fourth grade 5,950 Fifth grade 5,234 Sixth grade 5,335 Seventh grade 4, 900 Eighth grade 4,561 Los Angeles, Calif. Fourth grade __ 2, 498 Fifth grade 4,300 Sixth grade. 3,931 Seventh grade 3, 385 Eighth grade 2,305 Total . 25.980 Total . 16.419 Total 42, 576 In the elementary schools of these three cities alone 34.975 girls received some training in the arts of the household. When to these are added all of the girls in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades in Chicago, the seventh and eighth grades in New York, Cleveland, Detroit, and all other larger cities in the United States, it is inevitable that there must be finally a marked effect on all American homes. There is a general effort to insure that the school home economics education functions in the home life of the girl, that efficient methods of work are taught, and that the lu-st standards of American living are maintained. Establishment of health habits and preparation for home helpfulness are the dominant motives now determining the courses of study and the methods of instruction. Hence home eco- nomics in the elementary schools has undergone interesting modifica- tions of work, as the following quotation from one city supervisor of home economics indicates : This year we have made the work in nutrition more -concrete and vital by relating it more closely to the feeding of children. Every girl was weighed and measured and taught to keep her own record. If through her knowledge of foodstuffs her weight did not hecome normal through modified diet, then the cause was found. This gave rise to study of the relation of personal hygiene, tonsils, adenoids, teeth, etc., to health. The results were most gratifying. In many cases parents appreciated the situation and responded and the whole family benefited. We plan next year to have every girl in the schools taking domestic science to be personally responsible for the improvement in diet and health of at least one child outside her immediate family. Credit will be given on the results. In San Francisco the home-economics department took over the management of the lunch room of the Buena Vista School, where a group of 50 undernourished children were cared for in open-air classrooms by the Associated Charities and the Antituberculosis As- sociation. There Avere 18 girls in the cooking class of this school who prepared the hot drink or hot dish that was served every day. The girls worked in groups of four, under the supervision of a domestic-science teacher on one day of the week and with a student teacher from the Lux School on the other days. The meal was served in pleasant surroundings, and the children gained in weight. They were taught table manners and habits of neatness. The making of simple wash dresses is now introduced in the sixth grade of Los Angeles schools, whereas a few years ago the use of the sewing machine was delayed until a girl reached the high school. Home teachers. The law of California permits the employment of one home teacher for every 500 pupils in attendance. Not all the cities have availed themselves of this opportunity of articulating the school with the home, but at the beginning of the second semester, in January, 1920, the board of education appointed a home-eco- nomics teacher as the first home teacher in the Berkeley schools. Her function is the correlation of the work of the home and of the school. She counsels with the mothers and in nearly every case brings about improved conditions, either through cooperation with the Berkeley dispensary or through beneficial changes in the home. She conducts nutrition classes for the pupils of the fifth and sixth grades in the two schools where she works. Among the results already accomplished are the substitution of milk or chocolate and cereal for the coffee and bread which formerly composed the break- fast for a large proportion of the children, the formation of " anti- coffee clubs," the increased use of fruits and vegetables, and the 6 general intelligent reorganization of the diet, not of the children only but of many entire families. It is the aim of the home teacher to use the facilities of the do- mestic-science rooms to give lessons in better home making to the foreign-born mothers. Promising beginnings have been made this year. It is a question of time only when there will be regular classes of women meeting in the two schools for the study of nutrition, hygiene, and other subjects that make for better homes and families. Vocational home economics. Almost all of the supervisors of home economics in the various States are paid about one-half of their salaries out of Federal money, appropriated by the Smith-Hughes Act. Following the appointment of these supervisors vocational home economics has been developed along different lines in different States, depending almost wholly on the interpretation placed upon " voca- tional home economics." If this term is given by the State authori- ties, the interpretation generally accepted by educators as the mean- ing of " vocational," then the reports of the State supervisors of home economics resemble the following, received from Wisconsin : " Total number of schools receiving Smith-Hughes aid for home economics, 68, divided as follows : ' Part-time schools,' 32 ; ' night schools,' 30; 'all-day schools,' 6." If it is assumed that all home economics is vocational, then the reports are similar to that of Nebraska, Avhich shows Federal aid and supervision, supported partly by the Federal Government, for two night schools and 43 standard high schools, or that of Minnesota, where Federal aid is extended to one night-school class and eight regular day schools. The confusion as to the meaning of vocational home economics will tend to clarify itself in succeeding years. Home demonstrations work under the Smith-Lever Act. More than 1,000 women are now engaged as agents in home-demonstration work. This is one of the most important types of home-economics education. Usually these agents are women educated in home economics and graduates of colleges, universities, or normal schools. Their methods of approach in their special h'eld differs in different sections of the country. One county agent in Tennessee established a nutrition clinic for rural children. She cooperated with the Farm Bureau, the county board of education, and the local parent-teacher association. Two thousand five hundred children were examined, and a class of 15 was selected for demonstrating methods of overcoming the con- dition of malnutrition. In general, the home demonstration agents strive to assist the rural housewives in applying business principles to household tasks UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY A 001 139 356 8 for the purpose of making the farm home as efficient as the farm, and thus contributing to the development of a better type of rural life. HOME ECONOMICS IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. Belgium. As a result of the efforts of M. Paul De Vuyst, director general, ministry of agriculture, Belgium, a college of agriculture and home economics for women is being established in Lierre, one of the suburbs of Brussels. New Zealand. A very fine addition to the Otago University, in the form of well-equipped laboratories for the teaching of domestic science, has just been made, at a cost of nearly 10,000. Domestic science is growing in favor, and last year these classes were well attended by 38 holders of Government scholarships. At Brighton-on-the-Sands, Sydney, there is an experimental school where girls are taught domestic economy in its various phases. England. In discussing the reorganization of English public- school education Sir Auckland Geddes says : The secondary school (age range 12-17, maybe 10-18) has not been neglected, and the arrangements there are of considerable interest. . . . For girls, needle- work, cookery, laundry work, housekeeping, and household hygiene are com- pulsory subjects. Poland. The seven-year program of the elementary schools pro- vides for needlework two hours a week in grades three to seven, inclusive. The normal schools for girls teach gardening, agriculture, cooking, sewing, and dressmaking. There is a free course of one year in the State seminary for the training of home economics teachers. Chile. In Santiago home economics was first established in 1907 by a teacher brought from Sweden. Great efforts are being made to adapt the instruction to the social and economic conditions existing in a country where there is a superabundance of labor for household employment. There is now a three-year course in teacher training, leading to the title "professor." It includes not only cooking, garment making, and child care, but also the history of education, psychology, pedagogy, civics, political science, and other subjects. Canada. Saskatchewan teachers' courses. Acting upon the request of the department of education, the council of the University of Saskatchewan has recommended to the senate the establishment, during the academic year, 1920-21, of a one-year course in household science for teachers in provincial schools. The object of this course is to give, within the period of the ordinary aca- demic year, work which will be of substantial service to teachers in improving their equipment in household science. The course will include both foods and textiles, as well as the related subjects including chemistry. 8 To be admitted to this course, teachers must have a second-class license or higher credentials. Preference will be given to teachers having three or more years' experience in the public schools. The class will be limited in number, and therefore it is suggested that early application for admission be made to the registrar of the university. It is recommended also that those teachers who have not had the work in chemistry required for first-class diploma should, if possible, take the course in chemistry to be given at the summer session of the university. Journal of Home Economics. Constantinople College. The American Home Economics Asso- ciation raised a fund of approximately $6.000 to support a professor- ship in home economics in the Constantinople College for girls. The fund will support the chair for three years, after which is expected that the trustees of the college will be able to continue its main- tenance. HOME ECONOMICS ORGANIZATION. The American Home Economics Association is a national organi- zation of professional women and admits to its membership anyone interested and in sympathy with its objectives. The Journal of Home Economics is sustained by the association and is the only technical and professional journal of its kind in the country. In addition to the national association there are regional State and city organizations of home economics women, all bending their efforts to increase interest in home economics education, in scientific research affecting the problems of the home, in improved conditions for the welfare of children, in careful use of national wealth, in personal thrift and intelligent investment of savings. ADDITIONAL COPIES OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON, D. C. AT 6 CENTS PER COPY WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PBINTING OFFICE : 1921