"During the 20 years I taught home economics in both junior and senior high school, I made it a priority to teach healthy eating habits. My students always prepared dishes that were nutritious and easy for them to cook.
Fresh fruits and vegetables were included in these lessons whenever possible, and we frequently discussed the hazards of including too much salt, sugar and fat in the diet.
These students often returned during their college years to thank me for teaching them these skills.
I was disheartened when home economics was eliminated from the curriculum in many New York school systems.
Most children are no longer taught how to cook at home and therefore do not have the tools to help them make good food choices.
Bringing home economics back to the classroom would be a huge step toward educating our population about the hazards of obesity while teaching them to eat responsibly.
AUDREY MANNERS
Nantucket, Mass., Sept. 6, 2011
(Manners, Audrey. "Bringing Home Ec Back to the Classroom." Letter. 6 Sept. 2011. New York Times. New York: New York Times Company, 2011. Print.)
Argument:
1) Home Economics classes teach students to prepare dishes that are nutritious and easy to cook
2) Home Economics classes teach students about nutritious foods and unhealthy foods
3) With out these classes most students do not know how to cook or make healthy decisions
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Therefore home economics classes should be instituted to teach children these skills
Well, this is sorta tricky 'cus she assumes to universalize her classroom for most of it.
ReplyDeleteGood example. It would be helpful to put the quoted text in quotations, and give a full citation of the source.
ReplyDeleteHigh School kids could care less about healthy food. Well at least the majority of them and at least Pittsfield kids. I am sure there is some school like the one this woman worked in that has kids eager to make the world a healthier place, but I think that was at least 20 years ago. But I do not trust the data because this is from her opinion, so who knows if most of her students really hated making food or could care less about it being healthy.
ReplyDeleteThis is a Topic I can very well relate to. During my 8th grade year of School, I was in a Home Economics Class. In this class we not only learned how to Cook, we learned how to be resourceful, such as: sewing and repairing clothes, making our own stuffed animals or pillows etc.... I think that it would a wonderful idea to bring this subject back into the School System. There are many that may look at it as a waste of time, well let us not look at it this idea negatively just think how resourcful the children will become for their Adult years when they are on their own. Home Economics is a usefull skill that every young girl and boy should learn. Just remember there is Culinary Arts in High Schools and Colleges where you learn to cook to be a Chef, so why not learn in Junior HIgh again like it used to be. You never know What Home Economics will inspire in the generations coming up in this century.
ReplyDeleteI think this was a pretty strong, inductive argument. My high school actually did have a mandatory home-ec class for freshman and then several optional cooking classes after that if students were interested. These classes should definitely be kept around in high schools everywhere not only because it can help keep kids healthy (very big issue today) but also because it can open up a whole new career path that some students unfortunately have little to no access to.
ReplyDeleteThis is a strong argument and I agree with it wholeheartedly. It is important for people to know about healthy eating habits now a days due to the obesity epidemic. So many people do not pay attention to what they eat, which leads to many different cancers and heart problems. Each of these premises strongly supports the conclusion and the argument is correct. This was an interesting choice!
ReplyDeleteDamon,
ReplyDeleteI think that what you're saying is exactly her point. Kids aren't interested these days and it's not doing anything good for them. As for not trusting the data...I don't see what's not to trust. She isn't making profound statements or saying that everyone loved her class, she's putting up what I see as a strong argument to bring back home economics classes.