They're scrapping home economics – so who'll make the macaroni cheese?

[Northerner]

Pupils will, among other things, "design a food product" , including the "use [of] nutritional analysis software to model ideas prior to making", and "produce a manufacturing specification which lists the information a manufacturer would need in order to produce the prototype in quantity". All well and good if you aspire to, say, running a Pot Noodle factory when you leave school, but not much cop at all when you're starving hungry and need to knock up something tasty and nutritious

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/04/home-economics-gcse-exam-clean-up-cooking

Surely they should be teaching kids to cook as a compulsory subject rather than how to design more processed rubbish?

 

[Sally71]

It would be better to show the children what to do with raw vegetables, as a scary number of parents don't seem to know that! And how to make a nutritious meal from scratch... 🙄

 

[Andy HB]

My memory of 'home economics' from school (a few years ago now!) involves telling my scandalised Mum that after stewing the blackberries and apple for the blackberry and apple crumble, we were told to throw the remaining juice away!

NOTHING was wasted by Mum! She knew how to feed an army on a miniscule budget (and had to given the size of my family!).

Andy 🙂

 

[Abi]

Big mistake to not teach basic cooling skills ( and probably sewing as well)
Home economics almost 30 years ago in my school taught basic skills such as chopping fruit and veg to make fruit salads, coleslaw etc, then graduated onto baking and proper meals such as shepherds pie. We were taught "healthy eating" which although wrongly demonising saturated fat at least taught some good dietary principles rather than encouraging reliance on processed foods and takeaways. Also our teacher was fairly cost conscious regarding ingredients
At a time of increasing reliance on food banks, which then leads to rather heavy handed criticism of budgeting and cooking skills, it seems rather hypocritical of our government to stop the above subject being taught, particularly when much of the negative opinions of the casualties of our current economy come from the Tories and their supporters

 

[AlisonM]

My Home Ec classes were pretty basic and I was already far past the stage they were teaching when I started. Comes from having several good cooks in the family as well as a Master Confectioner. I think it's crazy to withdraw the subject while criticising just about everyone for their ignorance of hygienic food prep and healthy eating.

 

[Mark T]

I learnt much more practical cooking from my parents then I did from school.

OK, I didn't do GCSE Home Economics, so my school taught cooking is limited to making bread, scotch pancakes and few other similar things.

The question comes down to, how much should we expect our schools to teach and how much should a parent be responsible for?

 

[Northerner]

I learnt much more practical cooking from my parents then I did from school.

OK, I didn't do GCSE Home Economics, so my school taught cooking is limited to making bread, scotch pancakes and few other similar things.

The question comes down to, how much should we expect our schools to teach and how much should a parent be responsible for?

I learned from my Mum, or taught myself also, but I think the difference in my day was that people were used to home cooking - there really wasn't much in the way of processed food and there was only one person in 100 houses that had a fridge, let alone a freezer. More recent generations have grown used to ready meals, so there are probably a lot of parents who don't know how to cook and teach their children. I think some basics should be taught to everyone at school so at least they are aware of alternatives 🙂

 

[trophywench]

It's madness really.

The children of the chef daughter are taught at school below their level with cheap basic ingredients in a relatively affluent area and the children of the daughter on benefits where almost all the children come from similar circumstances - come home with lists of expensive ingredients - you know like 3 Charlotte potatoes, or 2 slices of granary bread, where you have to buy a bag or a whole loaf and though you might enjoy the rest of them, you just wouldn't buy them at all under normal circs but make do with whatever is cheapest.

The two former kids have had regular arguments with their teacher - the eldest when asked why he'd done something certain way instead of the way she said, and answering with Sorry, but mum says you should always do it this way because (whatever) and teacher came back with 'Huh - what does your mother think she is then? A chef or something! ' So grandson answered, No Miss - she doesn't THINK she's a chef - she IS one actually!

That went down ever so well ......

 

[Redkite]

Actually this is all good, and better than it sounds. My son has been having catering classes for one term per year since year 5 (he went to a middle school). They had 3 1-hour long lessons per fortnight and would have a theory lesson and a double practical. In year 5 they made simple basic items - he made fruit kebabs (no actual cooking), apple crumble, potato salad. In year 6 they made different breads and other yeast-containing foods, culminating in designing their own bread rolls - he made some lovely rolls with olives and rosemary in them. In year 7, the theme was flavours from around the world - they made simple dishes like bolognese sauce, vegetable curry, savoury rice, etc. and again at the end had to design a dish of their own - he made mini spiced meatloaves. He really enjoys it and is learning useful skills (though is painfully slow at peeling and chopping!). I doubt he'll end up opting for the GCSE but it's definitely been a worthwhile curriculum subject 🙂

 

[trophywench]

Oh - a teacher with a brain then? LOL