Courses relating to the use of foods and textiles were introduced to British Columbia schools in the early 1900s, about the same time as manual arts classes were established. Like manual arts, home economics was part of a broad educational movement intended to promote efficiency and progressivism.
The purpose of home economics - or domestic science as it was known prior to 1911 - was not simply to teach sewing and cooking, but rather to apply “scientific principles to the management of the home.”
There is more to learn in home economics classes these days than how to hard-boil an egg. You can start by learning a new name for this domestic course. Home ec has been shoved aside for its new moniker: “family and consumer sciences.”
Today’s family and consumer sciences curriculum has been altered to fit modern students.
In some schools, classes have strong child-development curriculum, including information on birth control. Some schools even have nurseries where students learn to take care of infants.
Still other schools employ programs for latchkey kids that show students how to organize their homework or make a simple, healthy snack.
