•Home Economics in Elementary and Secondary Schools
Bv
AGNES K. HANNA
II
Formerly of the Home Economics Department of the University of Chicago
WHITCOMB & BARROWS
BOSTON, 1922
H3
Copyright 1922 By Whitcomb & Barrows
Printed July, 1922 Reprinted November, ig22
MADE IN U. S. A.
PREFACE
THIS book is planned primarily as a text-book for stu- dents in special methods courses in home economics in colleges and normal schools. In addition it should be valu- able to experienced teachers as it contains discussions of many of the practical teaching problems that they meet in their daily work, as well as a more general study of the pur- poses and results of home economics teaching.
Teachers of special methods courses in home economics have been handicapped because little material on the prin- ciples and methods of teaching home economics has been available for use as text or reference books for these classes. This has resulted not only in less effective teaching in these courses, due to the necessity of using a lecture method rather than a problem method in the class, but also in the slow development of a common understanding or interpre- tation of some of the most fundamental problems in home economics teaching.
This book has been written with the hope that it will be of assistance in both of these situations. It is based on several years* experience in teaching a special methods course in which many of the students have been experienced teachers. The point of view that is emphasized and the conclusions that are reached are the results of the discus- sions carried on in these classes. It is because this material embodies or reflects the consensus of opinion of many per- sons who have received their training in schools in different parts of the country that it is offered as a first step toward a more scientific study of the teaching of home economics.
One of the points that is emphasized throughout this book is the need of using specific problems, for which the students see the need of a solution, as the basis of class
iii
5 0 4 5 * > i
iv PREFACE
discussions. Such a method of teaching should be used in the study of the topics included in the following chapters. This means that carefully directed observations of class- room practices and some experience in planning for or taking part in particular teaching situations should be a definite part of a special methods course in order to give meaning to practical teaching problems.
It is expected that students who use this book shall have completed courses in foods, clothing, shelter, household management, etc., so that they may have knowledge of the different aspects of these subjects and of the technical problems of each type of work. It is presumed, further- more, that students have had education courses which gave them the elements of educational methods, principles, and administration.
The content of special methods courses in home eco- nomics shows great variation in different schools. In addi- tion to the material outlined here, class time in these courses may be given to more extended discussion of general methods, if such work is not required as a prerequisite, and to the study of some or all of the following topics: lesson plans; equipment, supplies, and illustrative material; ad- ministrative responsibilities of the teacher; the problems of rural and urban extension; rural school problems.
The writer wishes to acknowledge the helpful sugges- tions that she received from the members of the Home Eco- nomics Departments of the University of Chicago and the University of Minnesota, who read the manuscript, and the encouragement and criticism given during the writing of the book by Miss Talbot of the University of Chicago and by Miss Josephine Berry. Less personal obligations have been acknowledged in the footnotes.
CONTENTS
PART I THE SUBJECT MATTER AND METHODS OF HOME ECONOMICS
Chapter Page
I. THE SELECTION AND ORGANIZATION OF SUBJECT
MATTER i
*il. METHODS OF TEACHING IN HOME ECONOMICS CLASSES 28
III. FOOD AND ITS PREPARATION ..... 60
IV. FOOD SELECTION . . . . . . .85
JV. SEWING COURSES . . . . ' . . .104
w VI. THE SELECTION OF CLOTHING 128
VI I. THE HOUSE AND ITS SELECTION; PLANNING, DEC- ORATION, AND CARE 151
VIII. HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT, AND THE FAMILY AND
ITS CARE 171
PART II PRINCIPLES OF HOME ECONOMICS TEACHING
IX. THE STATUS OF HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS 203 * X. AIMS OF HOME ECONOMICS TEACHING . '. .218 XI. HOME ECONOMICS IN VOCATIONAL AND LIBERAL
EDUCATION 230
XII. THE NATURAL SCIENCES AND HOME ECONOMICS . 253
XIII. THE SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HOME ECONOMICS . 269
XIV. ART AND HOME ECONOMICS . . . . 279 XV. COURSES IN THE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY
SCHOOLS 287
APPENDIX 313
PART I
THE SUBJECT MATTER AND
METHODS OF HOME
ECONOMICS
CHAPTER I
THE SELECTION AND ORGANIZATION OF SUBJECT MATTER
OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTER
THE SELECTION OF SUBJECT MATTER. Selection based on tradition. Selection based on the needs of students.
SELECTION IN HOME ECONOMICS COURSES. The conventional course. Group and community needs in courses.
THE ARRANGEMENT OF SUBJECT MATTER IN TEACHING UNITS. The value of large comprehensive topics. Types of topics. Concrete topics. General topics.
USE OF GENERAL AND CONCRETE TOPICS.
Difference between comprehensive and theoretical courses. Danger of an incomplete study of principles. Kinds of topics in different types of courses.
PROJECTS.
Distinction between practical problems and projects. Use of projects in home economics courses.
LENGTH OF A COURSE AS AFFECTING THE SELECTION OF SUBJECT
MATTER.
The general home economics course. Unit courses.
The Selection of Subject Matter. The first question that a home economics teacher in a new school asks herself is, "What shall I teach?" This same question is being asked by the most progressive teachers of all subjects of instruction. A course of study that is built on traditional lines is no longer acceptable to a teacher who is trying to
2/. : : .;HpME;£CQNOMCS IN THE SCHOOLS
make "her ciass work of the greatest social value to her students, and who, therefore, must select the subject matter of her courses to fit the needs, interests, and capacities of her students. Such a teacher must look upon her subject matter, not as an end, but as a means, and she must learn to analyze, select, and organize it, so that it may serve her purposes. The subject of home economics, which in its essence is the study of home activities and home life and interests, particularly needs wise choice in the selection and organization of subject matter, and intelligent study of the best methods of teaching, if it is to attempt to meet the widely differing needs of the students' homes.
Selection based on tradition. In subjects that have been organized for instruction in the schools for a long time, there is much similarity in the content of courses. Long experimentation has proved the relative values of dif- ferent topics and the best sequence in which these topics should be taught, in order to give students mastery of the subject as rapidly and completely as possible. Though the subject matter of these courses has gradually changed with fuller understanding of the needs and abilities of children in the different grades, the traditional course is based on giving a comprehensive and progressive exposition of the subject, and not on selecting the topics that may be of the greatest social value to a particular group.
Selection based on the needs of students. In con- trast to this, we find many subjects in which no such uni- formity in the subject matter of courses exists. A general science course in one school is quite a different thing from a similarly named course in another school, and the variety of topics that may be included in a civics course seems almost unlimited. The content of such courses represents the selection of subject matter by individual teachers or groups of teachers, many of whom have widely differing
SUBJECT MATTER 3
educational objectives, rather than the standardized selec- tion of many successive teachers. Some of these courses show immature or faulty judgment and limited educational ideals, and they survive merely because of the enterprise of their originators, who have put them in text-book form ; others are based on sound pedagogical principles and fun- damental social values, and will stand the test of use by many teachers. Most of these courses, however, have one common value: they represent a conscious effort to adapt subject matter to the needs of students.
There is steadily growing evidence in text-books and courses of study, that the needs of the students are becom- ing increasingly the basis for the selection of the topics of courses, even in the most traditional of subjects. In some cases, the changes in the subject matter of courses are not very marked and consist, mainly, of the addition of new topics, or the gradual elimination of topics that were un- related to the interests of children, or that no longer had any real significance in the changing demands of social life. Changes of this type can be seen in such basic subjects of the curriculum as mathematics and English. Even when courses show little variation in their main topics, the in- creased use of illustrative materials or problems that will relate subject matter and the interests, activities, or experi- ence of the students, illustrates the tendency to emphasize social uses.
The selection of subject matter on the basis of the social needs or of the particular demands of the vocational activi- ties of students has resulted in the complete reorganization of the instruction in many courses. The type of material found in newer courses in history, civics, science, geography, and other subjects illustrates the fundamental changes in the interpretation of the relative values of different topics that have been brought about by a clearer understanding
4 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
of social conditions and social needs. Civics courses illus- trate this change to a marked degree, for the older courses consisted mainly of a study of governmental forms and institutions, while the newer courses are concerned with the study of the social problems that are the basis or result of community life.
The effect on subject matter of the more specialized needs of a vocation can be seen in the selection of topics for courses in shop mathematics, business English, agricul- tural and home economics science, costume or household design, etc.
Selection in Home Economics Courses. Home eco- nomics is one of the newer subjects of the curriculum, and the content of courses illustrates the selection by indi- vidual teachers, rather than a standardized selection of subject matter. As a result, courses show great variation in their content and arrangement. Topics that are empha- sized in one course are subordinated in another; there is little agreement among teachers as to the relative value or difficulty of problems, or as to the best sequence in which to present subject matter.
This lack of uniformity is due, probably, to a certain extent, to the response to the varying needs of different groups of children, but there are also several other factors that affect it: (i) The expansion in the subject matter of home economics has been so rapid that .every teacher of this subject has felt the need of constantly changing her courses to include new topics or problems. This has greatly retarded the writing of text-books, which is an essential step in the standardization of instruction in a subject. (2) The successive demands that have been made upon home economics teachers to select and organize their subject matter so that it might accomplish the objectives of manual training, general education, and vocational
SUBJECT MATTER 5
training, have also tended to increase the diversity of content seen in home economics courses. (3) Lack of authoritative studies of the relative values of different types of subject matter and of the results of teaching is another element, since without such studies it is difficult for teachers to reach sound conclusions as to the best selection of subject matter, except by a long period of individual experimentation.
Every home economics teacher should feel the respon- sibility, not only of trying to select the best subject matter for her own courses, but of cooperating with other teachers with the object of reaching some common agreement as to the subject matter that will be of greatest value to different groups of children. This does not mean -"that a standard course should be established, but that standards for selecting subject matter must be agreed to by many teachers, if good home economics teaching is to become universal.
The conventional course. A survey of text-books and course outlines will show that though home economics courses are unstandardized and contain great variety in subject matter, there is a marked tendency in many of them to perpetuate the same selection and arrangement of subject matter that is found in teacher training courses. A course in foods or clothing planned for normal school or college students is concerned, primarily, with present- ing a comprehensive exposition of the facts and principles of the subject that will give the prospective teacher com- mand of her subject matter, and even though such a course may be simplified to meet the capacities of elementary or secondary school students, it is quite unadapted to the needs of all groups of children. As a result, such a course becomes a formal study of a subject, not a study of vital and real problems.
6 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
Group and community needs in courses. If home economics courses are to be so planned that they will be of maximum value to the children, they must reflect the home conditions and needs of the group for whom the course is given and the community in which these homes are found. A course of study planned for a rural school will probably include many topics that would have no sig- nificance for a city group; and the home conditions of different economic groups within a city system may neces- sitate wide variations in the choice of the topics which constitute the course, as well as a difference in emphasis on the different aspects of the topic. It is the failure to respond to group and community needs that has been the greatest weakness of many of the older courses of study in home economics.
Adaptation of courses to the needs of the group is the keynote of effective work in vocational schools. Vocational home economics cannot train students for "average" or "typical" homes; it must give training that will make students effective homemakers in particular types of homes, and it is the needs of these homes that must be considered in the selection of the subject matter of courses. Short courses offered in continuation and extension schools are specially in need of a wise selection of topics that is based on the needs of the particular group of students.
In making the needs or uses of the students the basis for the selection of the subject matter of home economics courses, it is most important that the needs of the group should not be interpreted too narrowly. The immediate and practical value of giving, to a group of girls, skill in the performance of some of the activities which they are carrying out in their own homes has such a direct appeal, not only to the girls themselves, but to their fami- lies, that such needs have been, very largely, the basis for
SUBJECT MATTER 7
the selection of subject matter in many of the older courses in cooking, sewing, and housewifery. With the growth of the broader interpretation of the subject matter of home economics has come the realization that the selection and purchasing of food, clothing, and household furnishings, the* study and organization of individual and family ex- penditures, the training of children, the creation of the best social relationships within the family and with the community, are also homemaking interests and activities. The acquisition of skill in the performance of a few types of household work may be a less real need of children than the development of power to analyze and solve house- hold problems, and to form judgments of qualities, con- ditions, and situations that will lead to good selection of the essentials of living.
It is evident that the first step in selecting the subject matter of a course is to decide which aspects of the subject have the greatest social value to the group for whom the course is being planned. Subject matter that has funda- mental social value should have the following character- istics: (i) It must be worth while educationally; that is, it must offer an opportunity to give a type of educational experience that will develop, progressively, the powers and interests of the students. (2) It must be worth while from the standpoint of the immediate or future use of the children. (3) It should help to interpret the problems and activities of the immediate environment of the students.
The Arrangement of Subject Matter in Teaching Units. A course in any subject is made up of a number of teaching units known as topics. The problem of select- ing subject matter consists, first, of the selection of the main topics of the course; and, second, of the selection of the particular facts, principles, problems, illustrations, and other related material that constitute the subject matter of the
8 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
topic. A main topic should be a fairly comprehensive divi- sion of subject matter, and it may include many sub-topics.
The value of large comprehensive topics. The selec- tion of a few main topics as the basis of a course gives an opportunity for a more intensive and related study of sub- ject matter than is possible when a course consists of a number of smaller topics that are not intimately related. The intensive study of a topic not only gives subject matter greater meaning, but it makes it possible to cover the topic so adequately that the class acquires power to use subject matter and relate it to their own experience. A food prepa- ration course, that gives extended experience in the prepara- tion of a few typical and common food materials, will give far more power to cook than one that attempts to teach the preparation of all types of food materials. A household management course that makes an intensive study of a few management problems will give a realization of the social values of home activities that would never result from the study of the variety of topics included in many so-called household management courses.
One of the weaknesses of home economics courses, par- ticularly of those given in the elementary school, has been the tendency to attempt to include a great variety of subject matter in a single course. It is absolutely impossible, for example, to teach the principles of selection, preparation, and care of all the main classes of food materials, to give knowledge of and skill in the technics of different cooking methods, to establish habits of good selection of foods, and to establish habits of laboratory work, all of these, in the thirty-six lessons in food offered in many elementary schools. If the result of a year's work is to be seen in any definite achievement, such as usable knowledge of facts and princi- ples, acquired habits, awakened interest or ability to think out problems, the work of a course should be grouped
SUBJECT MATTER 9
around a few big topics, and only those aspects of the sub- ject that have direct bearing upon these topics should be included.
It is not a simple matter to decide upon the relative values of subject matter, especially when every problem or topic has some easily seen value, but this is one of the funda- mental problems in the effective selection of the subject matter of courses. It is a particularly difficult problem for the inexperienced teacher, who comes to the task with thor- ough knowledge of her subject, but with little realization of what the actual accomplishment of a class in a single lesson really is, and of how carefully the achievements of each day must be built into the work of each succeeding day, if the topic that is being studied is to have continuity and the course real meaning to the class. Such a teacher must either have recourse to a ready-made course, outlined in a text-book, or learn, through observation and study of the needs, experience, and accomplishment of her class and through weighing the value of every fact or problem, to select only that subject matter which will serve the pur- poses of her course.
Types of topics. A comparison of the main topics of several courses and text-books will show that there are two kinds of topics : concrete, or practical topics, that emphasize subject matter in use or present a study of principles through their application ; and general, or abstract topics, that out- Mine a comprehensive study of the subject and emphasize the principles or the natural divisions of the subject matter.
Concrete topics. The selection of a few basic problems or a few concrete household interests or activities to serve as units of instruction, or as central ideas for the selection and grouping of subject matter, has become the most usual method of organization for home economics courses in the elementary school and in many secondary schools. A food
io HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
course that uses the school lunch, the home dinner or sup- per, and the home breakfast, as the topics or concrete prob- lems for teaching intelligent use of foods or the preparation of common foods, offers the opportunity for a much more specialized selection of subject matter than a course that is based on a general study of the principles of selection and preparation of all types of food materials. A short course on the house that, through an intensive study of the care and furnishing of a girl's own room, gives a class insight into the main problems of house care and furnishing, should be of greater practical value than a course that attempts to give a more comprehensive study of the house, but that lacks the purposeful study of problems which usually accom- panies the intensive study of a concrete topic.
The organization of subject matter around activities rather than problems is a type of concrete topic often found in practical subjects: making a dress, planting a garden, building a garage, selecting a house. Some of these are fairly extensive topics that will serve as the basis for the selection of a large part of the work of a course, while others are more simple topics, requiring only a few lessons to complete them. Topics of this type are used very gener- ally in clothing courses. One of the greatest values of organizing instruction around a productive activity is that the immediate need of solving the problems involved in the activity gives vital interest to the study of subject matter.
General topics. Though the selection of concrete prob- lems or activities for the main topics of a course is a com- mon method of organizing subject matter in home economics courses, a study of several food texts planned for elemen- tary and secondary schools will show that the topical divi- sions of many food courses are based on principles or on a study of some definite part of the subject. The following
SUBJECT MATTER u
topical headings, selected from several well-known text- books, illustrate this point: The Preservation of Food; Combustion and Fuels; Carbohydrates; Protein Foods; Food Requirements ; Stimulants ; Radiation and Conduction of Heat; Meats; Eggs; Vegetables. Such topics as these give an opportunity for a comprehensive study of the sub- ject that will give the students all of the facts and princi- ples of the subject as completely as is possible at their stage of development. This is the traditional method of arrang- ing subject matter, and it is found in all subjects in ad- vanced courses and in some subjects even in elementary school courses.
Use of General and Concrete Topics. Both of the methods of organizing subject matter, around the principles or natural subdivisions of the subject or around concrete problems or activities, can be misused. In the desire to pre- sent a comprehensive study of a subject, a course may be- come so theoretical that the students fail to realize the practical value of their work. On the other hand, there is always danger that when only a few of the principles of a subject are considered, students may be left with knowledge of a few facts and principles without power to recognize their relation to other problems or situations.
Difference between comprehensive and theoretical courses. A comprehensive study of a subject does not, neces- sarily, mean a theoretical course, if the study of each topic is approached through the experience and interests of the students, and if many practical problems are used through- out the course to show concrete applications of principles. With the idea of presenting a logical sequence of subject matter, many food teachers have made the same mistake that is seen in other subjects, that is, to approach their subject from the standpoint of their own knowledge and experience rather than from that of the students.1 The be-
1 J. Dewey, "How We Think," page 98. D. C. Heath & Co.
12 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
ginning course or text-book in foods, that in the first lesson presents a classification of food materials in terms of their composition or uses in the body, illustrates a theoretical approach to the study of foods quite unrelated to the ex- perience of the students. Whereas, the course that starts with a study of some familiar food, and in which the con- cepts of carbohydrate, protein, and similar technical terms are built up from the children's experience in working with foods containing these materials, illustrates an equally logical and less theoretical arrangement, and one which is adapted to a comprehensive study of food materials. In such a course as this a lesson on the classification of food materials might be given somewhat later in the course as a summary of the class experience rather than as an intro- duction to it.
Danger of an incomplete study of principles. It is evident that in the study of concrete problems or activities, only those principles or facts that are directly concerned will be considered. Such a topic as, The Selection of a Ready-Made School Dress, will necessitate study of some principles of costume design, some principles of fabric selec- tion, and a few of the economic principles involved in purchasing; but no systematic study of textiles, costume design, or purchasing will be undertaken. Principles that are studied through their application in a particular situation are made more significant ; but there is always danger that students will be left with knowledge of many particular facts and principles, but with no fundamental understand- ing of the subject. A course that consists of the study of concrete problems necessitates a very careful selection of topics in order to give the class big general concepts that have universal significance.
The study of a number of concrete topics that do not bear a close relation to one another may give a class some
SUBJECT MATTER 13
useful information or experience; but it will not give the wider experience and richer understanding of a subject that comes when the selection of topics is controlled by a uni-\ fying idea, and each successive topic builds upon the facts and principles studied in the preceding topics. This lack of close relation between the topics of a course is often to be seen in the general home economics course that attempts to give students experience in the different productive activi- ties of the home. The activities of making a dress, making a hat, cleaning a room, preparing a meal, and laundering a dress require quite dissimilar technical skill, information, and basic principles, and there is very little that can be carried over from the study of one of these topics into the study of the others. Some teachers try to counteract this isolation of topics by the use of a general problem as the statement of the purpose of the course ; for example, " What must a girl of my age know of food, clothing, and cleanli- ness in order to help my family to keep well and strong and happy?"1 In spite of such general statements, it is difficult to build up a close connection between the main topics of such a course.
Kinds of topics in different types of courses. The kind of topics that should be used for any course should depend upon the maturity of the students and the length of the course. Concrete topics are most valuable for intro- ductory courses, for an elementary treatment of a theoreti- cal or complex subject, or for a single short course in a subject including a great variety of subject matter. Courses in " general " science, " civic " biology, " applied " science, " community " civics, " survey " of art, and " general " home economics illustrate the use of this type of organi- zation in introductory or applied courses in the secondary
1 "Household Arts for the Seventh and Eighth Grades." Teachers College Record, March, 1915.
14 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
school. The type problems or " projects " used as the basis of instruction in geography and history courses in the ele- mentary school illustrate its use in elementary courses. The " unit " courses used in extension and continuation classes consist of concrete topics.
When the first course in a subject has been made up of a study of concrete problems, it is desirable that the second course be a more systematic study of subject matter. The ninth or tenth grade food course, that follows an elementary course in foods offered in the earlier grades, illustrates this change. The same thing can be seen in the chemistry and physics courses that follow a course in gen- eral or applied science given in the eighth or ninth grade. The more mature student is not only able to grasp a more theoretical presentation of subject matter, but also her study of concrete problems in the earlier grades gives her a back- ground of experience that makes the later courses more significant.
Concrete topics are used, universally, in vocational courses. If productive power is the aim of a course, practi- cal problems and activities are the natural centers of corre- lation for the study of the related science and art, knowledge of which is essential to efficient production. If the subject matter related to an activity is being studied while the activity is being carried on, we have both of the elements of productive power — technical knowledge and manual ability — developing side by side.
Projects. There has been much discussion among home economics teachers regarding the use of " projects " as units or centers of instruction. It is quite evident, however, that the variety of meanings given to this term has made it difficult to arrive at definite conclusions as to the value of projects or as to the best method of using them. Though there is general agreement that a project is a center around
SUBJECT MATTER 15
which instruction is grouped, there are two general inter- pretations of this term: (i) that a project is primarily a unit of productive work; and (2) that it is any unit, whether productive or not, that deals with a concrete problem and that requires purposeful study by the students.
As used in history, geography, science, or civics courses, the name project is generally applied to concrete problems that are sufficiently extensive to require the same type of con- structive and purposeful thinking and study of contributing elements as are involved in the carrying out of similar projects outside of the school.1 Such a definition is so general that the topics that are called projects in many of these courses are very different in character, as can be seen by the following list: The writing and production of a play on Greek life; " The Greek fleets "; The lumber in- dustry ; The planning of a " Clean Alley " campaign ; Ex- tending the bell system of the school building. These are all fairly extensive concrete topics, but in some of them the need of constructive thinking is more evident than in others, as by their very title they show that they require the making of a comprehensive plan or the planning and carrying out of a piece of productive work.
If such topics as, The lumber industry, Greek fleets, Indian life, etc., are to be called projects, it is evident that the methods of teaching that are used must differ in some way from those used in the study of other concrete topics. As a project is "that which is projected or designed," a project method must mean that the working out of the plans for studying the topic is the problem of the class rather than of the teacher. By making such planning part of the work of the class, the topic becomes more vital to the students, and it should lead to a more purposeful study of
1S. C. Parker, "General Methods of Teaching in Elementary Schools," page 121. Ginn & Co.
16 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
the sub-topics and related technical material, for such study will be the result of a conscious need of information or experience on the part of the students.
If the value of a project lies in the development of the interest, the initiative, and the responsibility of the students, it is most important that teachers understand the essential characteristics of a project method in order that they may use such methods in their teaching. Any concrete topic may be taught as a project; and, on the contrary, any so-called project, even those involving a constructive problem, such as the selection of a house, the making of a dress, the run- ning of a lunchroom, etc., may be so presented that the initiative of the students in working out the problems is completely subordinated to the formal study of sub-topics prescribed by the teacher.
Because of the general use of projects in vocational work, it has been suggested1 that the use of this term be limited to " a definite unit of instruction which combines practical or manipulative achievement with a definite en- hancement of power to apply related technical knowledge." Such a definition adds no new elements to the previous definition of a project as a type of concrete topic, except to limit the use of this term to topics that require productive work, for it is quite evident that " enhancement of power to apply related technical knowledge " should result from the study of related facts and principles that always accom- panies the effective study of a concrete topic.
Distinction between practical problems and projects. Since home economics includes a great number of produc- tive activities, the projects that are undertaken in these courses include, usually, the element of practical or manipu- lative achievement. In many cases, however, the scope of the problem defined as a project is so limited that it lacks 1 D. Snedden, " Vocational Education," page 561. Macmillan Co.
SUBJECT MATTER 1?
all the other essential characteristics of a real project. The following statement1 illustrates this point:
" In this manual the units of study are the project and the topic. Any definite undertaking for the pupil in which it is the primary purpose to have her acquire knowledge and experience by doing some work of concrete and objective nature (e.g., buying and pre- paring an article of food, making a dress, observing and reporting on the location of a house, canning food, taking apart and putting together a sewing machine, taking charge of an infant and reporting on the care given, etc.) is called a project. On the other hand, when the learner is expected to obtain and assemble information regard- ing a definite subdivision of her subject by reading, hearing lectures, performing illustrative laboratory experiments, etc., the unit of work thus assigned is called a topic. It is expected that information ob- tained from reading, class discussions, and laboratory experiments will be used in connection with learning through the project also; but the primary purpose in project study is learning through con- crete doing, whereas in topic study the primary object is learning through acquisition of knowledge tested and organized by others. Another distinction of importance is that a chief object of project work is skill or capacity to do, whereas a chief object of topic study is knowledge or taste."
The difference between these two forms of exercises is clearly seen in the following illustration:
"Topic. — Study of cereals. Project. — Making oatmeal. Topic. — Preservation of food. Project. — Canning tomatoes."
In this definition, a project is any unit of work, no matter how small, in which the student is doing some work of con- crete or objective nature, " making a loaf of bread, making an apron, washing the dishes of a dinner, repairing a sew- ing machine," etc. As an illustration of the possible use of such a project, let us suppose that the topic that is being studied is bread making. By knowledge gained in class dis- cussion, each member of the class makes a loaf of bread in the laboratory period; in this case, the basic principles to be considered in bread making have been developed through discussion and experiment, and they have been applied in
1 " Household Arts." Bulletin of the Board of Education, Com- monwealth of Massachusetts, No. 29, 1916.
18 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
the concrete problem of making a loaf of bread. Is this concrete problem a school project? Let us consider an- other situation. Having carried through in the classroom the lessons in bread making outlined above, the students are asked to make at home a loaf of graham bread. This prob- lem will reproduce many of the conditions already encoun- tered in the making of white bread and a few additional situations that were previously considered in making gra- ham muffins. Is such a problem a home project? Are not such exercises more accurately designated as concrete prob- lems or practicums?
The distinction between a topic and a project used in this syllabus is due probably to a desire to secure a con- scious division between the theoretical and practical work of the course and to emphasize the value of concrete prob- lems and problem-solving methods. A concrete problem or activity may be used to give meaning to the study of a larger and more general topic as well as to constitute a topic itself. It is quite evident that the canning of tomatoes and the making of oatmeal, used as illustrations of projects, are both smaller units and involve fewer principles than the larger topics, study of cereals and food preservation, to which they contribute. The making of costumes for a play or the management of a school lunch for a definite period represent sufficiently extensive problems, however, so that the subject matter considered by the class would be condi- tioned by the problem itself. The making of oatmeal is a simple, concrete problem, while the making of costumes for a play is a concrete topic or a project.
A more acceptable definition of the term project has been that used in agricultural and extension work :
" It is desirable, also, that the term ' class project ' shall be ap- plied only to rather ambitious, well-planned lines of work for which we might use the term 'home project* if they are located at home. The school or class project lacks the individual responsibility found
SUBJECT MATTER 19
in the home project, but should not lack the other features and should not be confounded with practicums, experiments, problems, and other minor exercises.
If a school leases an orchard, prunes, scrapes, sprays, tills, and does all the work needed for a year on a class basis, this is a class project as distinguished from an individual home project, but it re- quires similar methods and records. The pruning is a practicum rather than a project, whether done by a class or by an individual, and many different practicums may be included in a single project."1
This definition defines two requirements : a problem that involves the solution of many minor problems and that is extensive enough to require a long period of observation, practice, and experimentation; and the necessity of hav- ing the carrying out of the project the responsibility of the individual in a home project and of the class in a school project. Fundamentally, this will mean that a project must have practical value or real meaning to the boy or girl in order that it shall be carried through to its final completion.
Use of projects in home economics courses. In the larger meaning of the term, projects have not been used to any great extent in home economics teaching in the elemen- tary and secondary schools. The most usual course consists of a systematic study of general or concrete topics, with the occasional use of school or home projects. With the devel- opment of vocational home economics, the value of the project as a teaching unit has been greatly emphasized, and all home economics teachers are beginning to give a larger proportion of the time of their classes to the study of projects.
There is marked difference of opinion among home economics teachers as to the extent to which project teach- ing should dominate the work of a course. There are so many factors involved in this problem and so little has been done in the way of systematic experimentation with
1 " The Home Project as a Phase of Vocational Agricultural Edu- cation." Federal Board for Vocational Education, Bulletin No. 21.
20 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
project teaching that no adequate discussion of this point can be undertaken. It is quite evident, however, that many questions like the following must be answered before any decisions can be reached as to the wisest use of projects. To what extent should the maturity of the students influ- ence the use of projects? Is individual teaching rather than class teaching necessary ? Is it possible to provide sat- isfactory projects for all the subject matter of home eco- nomics? Can continuity of subject matter be secured more easily by the systematic use of concrete topics alternating with projects than by a continuous use of projects? Should projects be used more extensively in vocational courses than in non- vocational courses ?
In some schools, school projects of varying degrees of complexity are used in different courses. School projects are those that are planned and carried out by groups of students or the whole class working together ; they are con- cerned with school or community interests, rather than with the family or personal interests that characterize the home project. The following outline illustrates the types of prob- lems that are often treated as school projects in elementary and secondary school home economics courses :
1. The making of supplies or equipment to be used in school activities.
a. Serving meals for special groups or the school lunch.
b. Entertaining special groups in the school or visitors.
c. Making costumes for plays.
d. Making furnishings for classrooms, curtains, etc.
e. Making exhibit material for school use.
2. The making of supplies for individuals, institutional groups, or community enterprises.
a. Preparation of clothing or food for a charitable purpose : relief associations, Red Cross, Christmas baskets, etc.
b. Preparation of exhibit material for community exhibits: food shows and demonstrations, clothing budget and textile exhibits, etc.
SUBJECT MATTER 21
3. Investigations and reports, of community activities that affect the living conditions of the home.
a. Control and supervision of food supplies, housing, etc.
b. Work of the city departments : health, streets and alleys, etc.
4. School activities.
a. Managing the lunchroom.
b. Maintaining a shop for the sale of products produced by students.
c. Managing a practice house and similar extensive prob- lems.
Home projects are steadily assuming greater importance in home economics courses, and teachers are gradually work- ing out the types of problems that can be used effectively as home projects. Since the methods of using home projects is the problem that is of greatest interest to home economics teachers, this topic will be discussed more fully in the next chapter.
Length of a Course as Affecting the Selection of Subject Matter, An elementary or secondary school course in natural science, mathematics, history, home economics, or other subjects may cover several years' work, or it may be offered for a single year or part of a year. The subject matter that may be considered under any of these general names is so varied that for purposes of instruction certain aspects of the subject are organized into teaching units of a year's or a half year's work. The most logical basis for the selection of subject matter for a single course is along the natural divisions of the subject. In home economics, this would mean to offer courses in foods, clothing, house- hold management, etc. While these divisions of subject matter are made on the basis of grouping closely related material, such divisions are not the only ones that are used in elementary and secondary school courses. Chemistry, physics, and biology are accepted divisions of natural sci- ence, as are arithmetic, algebra, and geometry of mathe-
22 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
matics ; yet we are increasingly rinding science courses that contain facts and principles from the different divisions of natural science organized into a coherent course, and mathe- matics courses in which problems from arithmetic, algebra, and geometry are brought together.
If the purpose of a course is to give students command of a particular branch of knowledge, the grouping together of all the facts, principles, and problems relating to that division of subject matter is probably the most satisfactory plan. Such a plan presupposes that a student's school life will be long enough so that he will have an opportunity to include some work in each of the divisions of a given sub- ject. To offer to a student a single course in food prepara- tion as her only work in home economics, or a single course in physiology as her only science course, is to give her a very limited interpretation of home economics and natural science. The introductory or "general" course fills this need. The topics found in most general science courses are concrete problems in the explanation of which biology, chemistry, physics, and the earth sciences may all contribute ; economics, sociology, and political science may all be called upon to explain the topics of a social problem or community civics course. The general home economics course should be made on a similar plan.
The field of home economics is so varied and includes so many different aspects of each division of subject matter that the selection of material for an individual course offers an opportunity for great variety in interpretation. The fol- lowing schematic definition illustrates this point. Home economics includes :
social economic scientific sesthetio
food: selection, preparation, use clothing: selection, preparation, use shelter: selection, preparation, use household management the family and care of children
SUBJECT MATTER 23
In the main, home economics teachers organize their individual courses around the three main divisions of sub- ject matter: food, clothing, shelter. In elementary classes, household management and care of children are often in- cluded as a part of the course in shelter. In the secondary school, a more complete subdivision of subject matter is possible, and we find courses in cooking (food preparation), dietaries (use of food), marketing (selection of food), sew- ing and dressmaking (clothing preparation), textiles (se- lection of clothing and use), costume design (selection and use), house decoration, house planning, household manage- ment, care of children, etc.
When a student is required to take or may elect a num- ber of courses in home economics, it is comparatively simple to organize effective courses. A more difficult problem is the organization of the short course. With a single course in foods, should we teach food preparation with incidental work in food selection and use, or should we teach food selection, making the cooking secondary? Furthermore, should we emphasize the scientific aspects of food work and subordinate the economic aspects, or should we reverse the order, or make the two equally important? A survey of food text-books shows that in the conventional course, food preparation is the basis, and that the scientific aspect domi- nates. The universal need for knowledge of food selection is suggestive of the necessity of organizing more of our courses with emphasis on selection rather than preparation.
The general home economics course. The selection of subject matter for a general home economics course offers even a more difficult problem than the selection of topics for a single course in foods or clothing. From the preceding discussions, it is evident that such a course should have the following characteristics: it should consist of a study of concrete problems that have meaning and interest
24 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
to the group; the topics of the course should be closely enough related so that the principles and facts that are con- sidered in each one will build upon the work of the preced- ing topics; and it should include material from many as- pects of home economics, in order to give students deeper and fuller insight into home interests, problems, and activi- ties. The selection of topics for a general home economics course admits many different interpretations, and the con- tent of these courses varies as greatly as does the content of different general science and general mathematics courses.
The least effective course is one which consists of an unrelated and elementary study of each division of the sub- ject matter of home economics, foods, clothing, etc. The most satisfactory courses are those that have a central, uni- fying idea which is carried through the study of each topic. Health is so vital a factor in normal family life that the relation of household activities to the maintenance of the health of the family might serve as the basis for the selec- tion of the topics for a coherent general course. A course based on the study of the social and economic problems involved in household activities, illustrates coherence se- cured by emphasizing a particular aspect of each of the divisions of the subject.1
Unit courses. Because of the particular needs of con- tinuation and extension work, home economics teachers have adopted for these classes a form of organization known as the " unit course." This is a short course that consists usually of a single concrete topic. The advantages of this type of course are: that as each topic is a complete unit in itself, it is possible to offer students wide choice of courses which will give them an opportunity to find just the type of work that they need ; and that, since each course requires only a short time for its completion, students do not have
*Note. A detailed outline of such a course is given in the appendix.
SUBJECT MATTER 25
to undertake an extensive course, and new courses can be started at fairly frequent intervals.
In outlining unit courses, there are two points that should be noted particularly. First, these courses should be so planned that the experience and the special needs of the group are made the basis of the selection of subject matter. If a short course is to have any real meaning, it must en- gage the interest of the members of the class and secure their cooperation in the study of problems. In a class that meets only a few times, with several days between each class period, effective work can be done only when the class work is live and real enough to stimulate the students to carry the class teaching into their daily work or daily living. This means that the individual experience of the students must enter into all class problems.
Second, it is most important that courses should be so graded that students may be able to secure not only work suited to their stage of progress, but also a sequence in courses that will give them, progressively, more advanced work. The teachers of part-time classes must see that their courses have educational as well as practical value.
PROBLEMS
1. How would the needs of the girls affect your selec- tion of subject matter for a food course given to the follow- ing groups: a class in a private school for girls, a high school class taking a commercial course, a group of club girls in a settlement?
2. From the standpoint of social value, criticize or ex- plain the use of the following problems or topics :
a. In a seventh grade food course, 36 lessons : a les- son on jelly-making and one on popovers.
b. In a seventh grade sewing course : the making of an overhand patch.
26 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
c. In a ninth grade clothing course: the historical development of the use of clothing.
d. In an eleventh grade food course: eight weeks' work in fancy cooking.
e. In an eleventh grade clothing course : the making of a hand-made baby dress.
3. Outline four or five concrete topics that might be used as the basis for a food selection course in an elemen- tary school.
4. Explain why the making of a cooking apron in an elementary class is usually treated as a concrete topic rather than a project. How could you make this exercise assume the characteristics of a project?
5. In what other elementary school subjects besides home economics is the use of courses consisting of concrete topics increasing?
6. If you were planning a single year's work in art for a secondary school, what would be the character of your course as contrasted with a four-year course ?
7. Discuss sampler making as a method of organizing sewing topics.
8. In a four-year vocational course, would you use a greater number of projects in the first year or in the fourth year?
9. Explain how the problem, selecting a house, may be used as one of the main topics of a housing course or as a practical problem to vitalize a general course in domestic architecture.
Supplementary References
F. Bobbitt. The Curriculum, Chapter IV. Houghton Mifflin Co. W. H. Kilpatrick. The Project Method. Teachers College Record
September, 1918. A. H. Leake. Vocational Education of Girls and Women, Chapter
IV. Macmillan Co.
SUBJECT MATTER 27
C A. McMurry. Teaching by Projects,* Chapters I, II, and III. Macmillan Co.
S. C. Parker. Methods of Teaching in High Schools, Chapter IV. Ginn & Co.
D. Snedden. Vocational Education, pages 130-137, 561-565. Mac- millan Co.
D. Snedden. Problems of Educational Readjustment, Chapter II. Houghton Mifflin Co.
Home Economics in American Schools. Supplementary Educational Monograph, Vol. II, No. 6. Chicago: Department of Educa- tion, University of Chicago, 1920.
Unit courses and projects for home economics classes
Bulletins of the Home Economics Education Series. Federal
Board for Vocational Education. U. S. Bureau of Education, Bulletin No. I, 1915. Vocational Homemaking Education — Illustrated Projects. Edited by D. Snedden. N. Y. : Teachers College, Columbia Uni- versity.
CHAPTER II
METHODS OF TEACHING IN HOME ECONOMICS CLASSES
OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTER
LABORATORY METHODS.
Productive laboratory work.
Laboratory method of studying ideas.
Exhibits and field trips.
The selection of laboratory exercises. OTHER CLASS EXERCISES.
Lectures and " telling."
Class discussions. MOTOR TRAINING. PROBLEM SOLVING AND PROBLEM FINDING.
Problems in home economics courses.
Problem-solving methods.
Problem finding.
Use of school and home projects.
Plans for using home projects and reports. THE DEVELOPMENT OF APPRECIATION. METHODS OF TEACHING AS REFLECTED IN TEXT-BOOKS.
Subject matter texts.
Laboratory manuals.
A careful observer of home economics teaching in the elementary and secondary schools is conscious that there has been progressive improvement, not only in the greater richness of content and better organization of subject mat- ter, but also in the methods of teaching that are used. This improvement in methods can be seen in many ways: in the use of the home experience of the pupils as well as their school experience as a method of approach to the study of problems; in the use of discussion of problems
28
METHODS OF TEACHING 29
as a means of developing purposeful thinking; in the increased use of various forms of graphic illustration; in the use of projects whose purpose is to develop the initia- tive and the resourcefulness of children; in the use of greater student activity and less teacher activity in class work.
Though we may still see the cooking or sewing lesson that makes no demand upon the class except to follow directions carefully and to carry out the practical assign- ment as skillfully as possible, we are also seeing increas- ingly lessons in which the principles underlying the prac- tical work are developed by experiment and class discus- sion, and the method of cooking the dish or sewing the seam is formulated by the class rather than by the teacher. Teachers are beginning to realize that skill in cooking and sewing, and information about household materials, are not the only objectives of class work in home economics courses, and that the ability to find the underlying prob- lems in a given situation and to analyze and solve these problems, the development of appreciation of values and the power to understand social relationships, are equally valuable objectives. With the broader interpretation of teaching aims has come the equally important realization that only through the careful selection of effective teaching methods can these various objectives be attained.
Laboratory Methods. Because home economics courses deal with concrete materials and practical situa- tions, laboratory methods of teaching are used almost uni- versally in cooking and sewing classes and to a smaller extent in the study of food and clothing selection, house- hold management, and child and family problems. Labor- atory methods, as distinct from lecture, recitation, or discussion, imply the use of concrete materials. In the
30 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
broadest use of this term1 any problem in which the dis- cussions and conclusions of the class are based on accurate observation and analysis of concrete situations or ma- terials is a laboratory problem, even though all of the steps involved in the study of the problem may not be carried out in a school laboratory. In this sense, therefore, a class field trip to study the housing conditions in different parts of a city and the selection of good food combinations from an exhibit of cooked foods are laboratory methods of study- ing housing and food selection topics.
Productive laboratory work. The purpose of labora- tory experience is evidently not the same in all home economics classes, for the type of laboratory work differs greatly in different courses. Much of the work that is seen in food and clothing courses is so planned that it serves, primarily, to give students experience in making or producing some practical result, such as cooking certain dishes or making an article of clothing. Laboratory work of this type has as its ultimate objective the acquisition of skill or ability in production. The amount of constructive thinking that is aroused or created by this form of labora- tory work varies greatly, for with some problems accurate observation, and ability to analyze conditions and make decisions, are essential elements of carrying through the required practical work successfully, while in other lab- oratory exercises, especially those in which the acquisition of hand skill is emphasized, such thinking is not stimu- lated and the activity may be carried on quite mechanically. In the selection of productive laboratory problems it is
a Note. In the more restricted use of the term laboratory, lab- oratory work represents a selected type of experience that admits of an experimental method of study. A laboratory method of teaching cooking, in this case, would mean a technical study of cooking proc- esses as contrasted with a practical method of teaching cooking through the cooking of meals..
METHODS OF TEACHING 31
important to choose those that necessitate constructive thinking if the greatest educational value is to be secured by these exercises.
Laboratory method of studying ideas. Laboratory ex- ercises that have as their purpose the discovery, verifica- tion, or illustration of certain facts, principles, or problems are, also, to be found in home economics courses, just as they are found in other subjects using laboratory methods. Laboratory problems of this type are used rather generally in food courses and to a smaller extent in clothing, house, and household management courses. The value of exer- cises of this kind will depend upon the degree to which it is necessary to recall and apply previously learned prin- ciples, or the extent to which the exercise stimulates the students to see and formulate new principles or new prob- lems, Laboratory work of this type may be in the form of more or less formal experiments, exhibits, demonstra- tions, etc., or it may include the making of some concrete article or performing some type of productive work. Food courses in which both the experiments and the practical cooking problems are selected because they illustrate or assist in the discovery of the principles of cooking show the use of these two forms.
When practical construction problems are used to illus- trate or demonstrate a particular principle there is always danger that, in the student's interest in the productive ac- tivity, she will lose sight of the principle which this activity is supposed to illustrate. This is particularly true of prac- tical problems that require a good deal of time for their completion, and, in using such problems, the purpose of the laboratory work should be restated in many cases as being, primarily, for the acquisition of ability to produce. An illustration of this point is seen in the use of garment mak-
32 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
ing in a course in garment selection, for the making of the garment has no relation to the main problems under dis- cussion in the course, yet it occupies a large proportion of the time of the class.
That many home economics teachers do not distinguish between these two forms of laboratory work or use them most effectively, is very evident in the organization of courses of study and in laboratory manuals. The pressure of the popular demand that children be given the ability to cook, sew, or clean has been so great that the acquisition of household technics rather than the study of household problems has been the dominating influence in the planning of laboratory work. In a subject such as home economics, in which manual ability must grow along with power to do accurate and constructive thinking, both of these forms of laboratory exercises will be used by the effective teacher.
Exhibits and field trips. Exhibits and field trips are forms of laboratory exercises that are being increasingly used in the schools. To many teachers, an exhibit is a formal use of illustrative material prepared by the teacher which calls for little more than a passive interest on the part of the class. A great deal of the prepared exhibit material used in class work is based on the idea of showing processes or materials that are unusual or difficult to make clear without some form of illustration. Such material is valuable, but it should, more accurately, be called illus- trative material, for an exhibit that is to provide laboratory experience must call for some activity on the part of the students themselves. Whether an exhibit is selected and organized by the students, or whether materials from which choices can be made are assembled by the teacher for the use of the class, an exhibit is a most useful form of class exercise, since in the first case it represents the results of
METHODS OF TEACHING 33
careful planning, weighing of values, and making choices, and in the second case it provides a diversity of sugges- tions and concrete data for the solution of practical prob- lems that involve the making of choices.
A field trip is a valuable means of showing, in a nat- ural setting, conditions, activities, or objects that have been studied or are to be studied in the classroom, thereby mak- ing such study more vital and significant. A field trip may be a class exercise under the personal direction of the teacher, or it may be an assignment for a group or for an individual member of the class. The usual purpose of such special assignments is to secure data to be used in class discussions, or that will be used by the student or group of students in the analysis of a special problem, the final results of which will be reported to the class.
The selection of laboratory exercises. The amount and type of laboratory work that should be used in the study of a topic may vary greatly. The teacher who under- takes to work out her own laboratory manual finds that the selection of laboratory exercises requires as clear an analy- sis of values as the selection of subject matter. She must see clearly the purpose of the laboratory work that she is planning, and decide whether it is to be used as an end in itself, to give manual experience, or whether it is to be used as a means of arriving at accurate ideas about the topic under discussion. Her next problems are to decide what ideas are the most valuable ones to develop through laboratory experience, and to select the particular exercises that will make these ideas clear and significant, and that, also, will stimulate the thinking of the students.
A comparison of several laboratory manuals for food preparation courses will show a good deal of similarity in laboratory exercises; the same dishes are cooked to illus-
34 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
trate certain principles of cooking, and similar experiments are used to discover and demonstrate these principles. In other words, there is quite uniform agreement as to the ideas that should be emphasized by laboratory experience and as to the particular exercises that will develop these ideas most effectively. There is much less agreement as to the laboratory exercises that should be used in the study of household management, food and clothing selection, house- wifery and housing courses. Teachers of these subjects are experimenting constantly with different forms of lab- oratory exercises, and reports of these experiments are appearing gradually at educational conferences and in pub- lications. Many of these experiments illustrate a selec- tion of laboratory exercises adapted to a particular school or a particular situation, and some of them illustrate over- emphasis of a minor topic, but all of them show that home economics teachers are increasingly realizing the value of home projects, exhibits, field trips, experiments, and dem- onstrations as a means of giving clear concepts and accu- rate data for the study of problems.
The amount of laboratory work that should be used in the study of a given problem depends upon many fac- tors: the maturity of the students; the background of ex- perience which the students bring to the study of the prob- lem from their home life or previous school work; the length of the course and the time schedule; the character of the particular problem and the number of problems that can be analyzed or explained only by laboratory experience ; etc. It is just as great a loss to the students to use too much laboratory work as to use too little. The experiments that the students perform perfunctorily because the result is obvious or because its purpose is not clearly seen, the laboratory exercise that is not preceded or followed by
METHODS OF TEACHING 35
sufficient discussion of the results, or laboratory work that can be done with little thought by the students, illustrate losses in teaching. The teacher who uses laboratory work most successfully selects each exercise because it is neces- sary to the effective presentation of a problem.
Other Class Exercises. In all courses some type of class work is used to supplement laboratory experience. In those courses in which laboratory work is used as a means of studying ideas, class work and laboratory work are com- plementary to each other and are given equal emphasis in the planning of the course. When skill in production is the primary objective of laboratory work, there is a marked tendency for teachers to subordinate the discussion of prob- lems and to give greater emphasis and a larger proportion of the time of the course to laboratory work.
The use of separate periods for recitation and labora- tory work is of great assistance in maintaining the proper balance between these two types of exercises. The occa- sional use of a demonstration or a simple experiment during a recitation period or a short discussion on some problem given during the laboratory period may be most valuable, but it is difficult to achieve a satisfactory discussion of prob- lems when the attention of a class is divided between the discussion and laboratory activities. When the time sched- ule of a school allows double periods for all class meetings in home economics courses, the wise teacher will use a number of these periods for class work and supervised study rather than plan for a laboratory exercise each day.
In making this distinction between laboratory work and class discussion, it is not implied that discussions of prob- lems should not take place during a laboratory period. Free discussion of problems with the teacher or between students is an important part of an effective laboratory
36 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
lesson. The teacher, who realizes that a laboratory as well as a recitation room is a place to train students to think, will constantly stimulate discussions by asking questions and by presenting new applications of principles or prob- lems. Such discussions may take place between the teacher and one or two students, or between small groups of stu- dents. It is a group exercise and not a class exercise,
Lectures and " telling!' A recitation period may be used to test the students' knowledge or ability, to give them information, or, through discussion, to stimulate them to see and solve the difficulties that may be found in every problem. The giving of information through dictation, lecture, or demonstration has taken far too large a propor- tion of the class time in home economics classes, in the past. In many school systems, home economics courses are designated as unprepared courses. This has made it impossible for the teacher to require her students to secure information outside of the class period, and she has relied upon "telling" as a means of giving the class knowledge of the many facts and principles that are related to the topics under discussion. With the gradual appearance of home economics text-books that are adapted to the needs of elementary and secondary school students, the substitu- tion for this lecture method of assigned readings for use in outside preparation or during a supervised study period has become much more common/
Another condition that has increased the use of dicta- tion or telling is that some teachers of the practical sub- jects are more concerned with giving their students skill in production rather than power to think. To show a pupil how to do a piece of work is a much quicker and simpler method than to teach her how to think out each step in the process for herself and to modify her methods of
METHODS OF TEACHING 37
working accordingly, yet it is this very ability to analyze a problem and work out a practical solution that is an essential quality of intelligent workmanship. That a cer- tain amount of time in productive laboratory classes must be spent in giving directions or in demonstrating processes is quite evident; classroom experience must always be se- lected experience, and it would be distinctly unprofitable for a class to attempt to work out through discussion or experi- ment all of the technical problems that are to be found in cooking or sewing classes. There seems little excuse, how- ever, for the use of detailed instructions how to make various seams in clothing classes or for the continuous use of ready-made recipes in cooking classes.
Class discussions. The use of the recitation period for class discussion of problems rather than for the giving of information is steadily increasing in home economics classes. A discussion on a subject presupposes some knowl- edge on the part of the class of some of the facts or prin- ciples related to the topic under discussion, and the exist- ence of a particular problem that needs to be solved. The experience of the members of the class, data secured from observation of home or community conditions, information from text-books or previous class or laboratory work, should all be used in the discussion of problems, if they are to become live and vital to a class. Discussions may be concerned with working out the practical problems of the laboratory or with the more theoretical aspects of the topic.
The class discussion may precede or follow the labora- tory work. In the first case the purpose of the discussion is to organize any general information about the problem and any experiences of the class that have any bearing upon it, and to raise questions or problems in the minds of the
38 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
students that will be solved or answered by their laboratory work. A discussion of this kind prepares the class for lab- oratory work, and makes it purposeful and intelligent. This method of approach is particularly valuable when a labora- tory exercise is used for its illustrative value or to demon- strate the adequacy or inadequacy of some familiar prin- ciple or situation. Most of the laboratory work asso- ciated with the study of household methods of working is of this type, and in the study of such problems as the fol- lowing the discussion of household practices should precede the laboratory work: to show the relative efficiency of different cleansing agents; to study arrangement of equip- ment for various activities ; to study the efficiency of various methods of reducing the temperature of different parts of the oven, etc. Students will not only carry out an ex- periment with enthusiasm when it will prove some closely debated point, but they will also be able to formulate the conditions of the experiment and outline the procedure of the class. WVhen the main discussion of a problem follows the laboratory work, it helps the students to analyze the results of their work, and to compare and test the con- clusions or general principles that they have drawn from it. The ability to weigh the data secured in the laboratory, and to draw sound and logical conclusions from it, should be one of the most valuable results of the laboratory study of problems. Class exercises should be so planned that students will see the need of securing accurate data about a problem, of weighing evidence, and of formulating ade- quate conclusions. The facts found in laboratory work are not ends in themselves, and they must be related to new situ- ations and other experiences of the class in the discussion that follows the laboratory exercise.
Both of these methods of relating laboratory and class work should be used in home economics classes. There is
METHODS OF TEACHING 39
no "only way" of studying any given problem. Whether the main discussion of a problem should precede or follow laboratory work must depend upon the needs of the class rather than upon any special requirement of the problem itself. Students must learn to form sound conclusions from apparently scattered and slightly related situations, and they must learn to prove the worth or falsity of many accepted principles or conclusions.
Motor Training. The formation of motor habits is one of the definite objectives of home economics teaching. Some degree of skill in manual activities should result from the training given in all food preparation, clothing making, housewifery, and home nursing courses. It is important, therefore, that the most effective methods of securing such skill should be used in these courses, in order to bring students most rapidly to accuracy and facility in perform- ing household activities. Some of the processes of cooking and cleaning require rather simple muscular control, that can be acquired without much time or attention being given to the details of the processes, while most sewing processes and some in cooking and cleaning require such complex movements, that carefully planned and long continued ex- perience in performing them is necessary before a student can become skillful.
With no formal training, the acquisition of skill or knack in doing a piece of work is secured, usually, by repeated trials that are regulated, sometimes consciously and at other times unconsciously, by the success or failure which accompanies each attempt. There may be wide divergence with different people, in the degree of skill that can be attained, in the amount of time or number of trials that are necessary to secure maximum efficiency, in the char- acter of the muscular adjustments that may be made by
40 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
each individual, and in the extent to which such adjust- ments are made, consciously or not.
The problem of motor training is to economize as much as possible the time and effort that must be spent in secur- ing skill. The first step in acquiring good motor habits is to initiate the use of the best positions of working and the most effective movements. This is done, usually, by giving a demonstration of the positions and movements, accompanied by verbal instructions. Possibly, because of the great number and the variety of the activities required in home economics courses, home economics teachers have failed to make a clear analysis of the positions and move- ments involved in performing most of them, and, as a re- sult, a great deal of the training given in these courses shows no improvement over the wasteful methods seen out- side of the classroom. Even hand sewing shows this lack of analysis, in spite of the fact that it is taught in the majority of schools and that it requires highly specialized and complex muscular control.
The second step is to assist the student in modifying her movements until she becomes skillful. This may be done by centering attention on the results of her work, or by centering it upon adjustments in the movements them- selves. Both of these methods should be used, and the skillful teacher is one who understands when to use either of them. Unevenness in the spacing of a hemming stitch may be due to failure to judge the distance between stitches, or it may be due to lack of control of the material by the left hand. In the first case, attention should be directed to the appearance of the stitch itself, while, in the other, attention given to the method of using the hands will be more profitable. There are dangers in the over-use of each of these methods of correcting faults in working; emphasis given too exclusively to the results of an activity gives a
METHODS OF TEACHING 41
student no way of judging her particular difficulties and makes her attempts to modify her movements hit or miss rather than purposeful; and, on the contrary, too much emphasis put on positions and movements may result in a wasteful exaggeration of movements.
Models or scales that show desirable standards of the results of an activity and demonstrations of a skillful per- formance of a piece of work are extremely valuable in giv- ing students a basis for criticizing the quality of their own work. They should be used at frequent intervals in motor training, in order to make students analyze their difficulties and to stimulate self -correction of faults. Fail- ure to acquire skill may be due, in many cases, to lack of proper standards and, in others, to allowing poor or wrong muscular control to become a habit.
Some degree of speed or facility in doing a piece of work should result from motor training. This means that students must be given an opportunity to repeat an activity enough times so that it is carried beyond the point of con- scious adjustments, and becomes fairly automatic. In the de- sire to give a class variety of experience in several activities, many home economics teachers do not provide sufficient repetition of processes or else plan the repetitions with such long intervals between that the student is unable to carry over the last experience. This situation is seen most often in cooking and housewifery classes. When skill in produc- tion is one of the objectives of a course, it is most important that activities using similar movements or similar methods of working should be so grouped or so presented in sequence that the acquisition of motor habits is emphasized.
The use of special assistance in providing repetitions of a process, such as drills or separate training on the ele- mentary movements of a process, is another type of train-
42 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
ing that is not usually found in home economics classes. Yet there are many situations where muscular control can be secured much more rapidly and economically, if the at- tention of the class is centered for a short time upon a par- ticular movement or upon securing facility in some elemen- tary movement.
From the standpoint of economy in learning, it would seem to be most important that motor training in the school should be given under the same conditions as those to be found in the home, in order to prevent loss in skill in transferring the activity from the school to the home. Home economics teachers are beginning to realize this point and they are trying to meet it in two ways: by making the equipment of school laboratories as similar as possible to home equipment in type and arrangement, and by using home projects to secure skill by repetition, rather than by providing extensive repetition of processes in the school.
Though motor training is only one of the factors to be considered in planning a home economics course, it is de- sirable that comparative difficulty in manipulation should be considered in the selection of the sequence in which practical problems are to be presented to a class. This point has not been recognized in the organization of many courses, especially in sewing courses, where handwork usually precedes machine work, and the selection of the sequence in which stitches are presented to a class and the type of materials on which the sewing is done have often had no relation to the comparative difficulty of the motor con- trol that is involved.
Problem Solving and Problem Finding. If any per- son stops to analyze when it is that he does his most con- structive and effective thinking, he will agree, probably, that it is done when he is trying to solve some definite
METHODS OF TEACHING 43
problem in the outcome of which he is vitally interested. The need of a problem as a stimulus to thinking is a re- quirement not only of an adult mind, but equally of a child's mind. Teachers are realizing this, and the value of problems and problem-solving methods of teaching is in- creasingly emphasized in educational literature. The fol- lowing quotation1 illustrates this attitude:
" Possibly the greatest contribution which a teacher can make to the development of thinking upon the part of children is in dis- covering to them problems which challenge the attention, the solu- tion of which for them is worth while."
Problems in home economics courses. Home economics instruction can be so closely related to the children's home activities and interests, that it is comparatively simple to find problems that will engage the interest of all the members of the class, and to the study of which they can contribute much that is valuable from their home ex- perience. How effectively such problems will be used as teaching material depends upon two points: whether the home economics teacher sees clearly the need of teaching her students to think, and how fully she will make experi- ence in problem solving a definite objective of her teach- ing. Ability to solve problems can be developed only through experience in the analysis and solution of similar situations. Far too often in home economics classes such ability has been expected to result as a by-product without any attempt being made to plan courses in such a way as would secure the greatest number of problem-solving situ- ations. Teachers have been more concerned with the giving of information about household materials and with the acquisition of manual skill in household activities than with the study of home problems.
1 G. D. Strayer and N. Norsworthy, "How to Teach," page 121. Macmillan Co.
44 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
If any one should attempt to make a complete list of all the problems that need to be solved, or questions to be an- swered by a homemaker during a stated period, she would be much impressed with the wide range of these problems. They would include: (i) simple practical problems, such as how to do a piece of work, that could be decided after analyzing and comparing two or three possible methods ; (2) more complex problems, such as the selection of a piece of furniture, which involve the analysis of art and economic values and social value to the family; (3) those most difficult problems that arise in every home and that involve social relationships within the family or with out- side groups — problems of child training, family discipline, recreation, social ideals and standards, activities of the fam- ily outside of the home, etc. If home economics courses are to give experience in studying home problems, it is most important that the problems in these courses should show progressive difficulty as students are able to solve more complex problems. Courses must make progressive intellectual demands on students as well as give them man-* ual experiences of progressive difficulty.
Problem-solving methods. The teacher who wishes to emphasize problem solving must not only select vital prob- lems, but she must see also that the problem is so clearly stated that every child understands the characteristics and limitations of the problem. Nothing creates so much in- exact thinking as failure to understand the problem. The statement of the problem on which the class is to work should be made at the beginning of the lesson, in order to focus the interest and the thinking of the class from .the start.
It is most important, also, that the scope of the prob- lem considered in each lesson should be limited enough that
METHODS OF TEACHING 45
the class can see real accomplishment as the result of the class exercise. This does not mean that only small prob- lems should be studied, but that in the study of large prob- lems, which need the work of the class through several periods, the work of each period should be defined clearly. In many cases it is of great value to extend the study of a problem through several periods, in order to allow time to secure needed data from observation, reference reading, experiments, or other sources.
The next step in the use of problem-solving methods is to guide the class in the analysis of all the elements enter- ing into the problem. If the study of problems in home economics courses is expected not only to give experience in thinking, but to help students to interpret fundamental home problems, the home and social experience of the class, as well as school experience, must contribute to dis- cussions. In this way the study of a problem becomes many-sided, and students are stimulated to analyze their own experience and its relation to the problem under dis- cussion. This many-sided study of a problem demands a constant consideration by the class of the relevancy or value of the points brought forward by different students, and the testing of opinions and suggestions.
The class study of a problem should result in a clearly formulated statement of a usable solution of the problem, whether the purpose of the problem was to work out the best method of doing a piece of practical work, to find the basic principles involved in some practical situation or ac- tivity, or to arrive at an understanding of some social or economic condition or attitude.
The steps of a problem-solving method that are out- lined above correspond closely to those used in what is known as an experimental method. An experimental
46 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
method implies the use of some objective material to cor- rect or test the hypotheses that are advanced. A problem- solving method, on the contrary, may or may not use ob- jective material, but it requires the same kind of clear, accurate, logical thinking. The teacher who wishes to give her students a scientific attitude toward home problems will use problem-solving methods.
Problem finding. The effective person in any activity or in any social relation is the one who is able to find new problems in any situation, as well as to solve the problems that are evident and pressing; he is unwilling to accept a condition because it is usual or familiar, and is constantly questioning the methods of working or thinking that he finds around him. Problem finding as well as problem solving is an essential element of active mental life and of a trained mind.1 In most school work the finding and selection of problems has been the teacher's work, and the students have been so busy in the study of teacher-made problems that they have acquired a receptive habit of mind rather than a questioning one.
It is in the development of the initiative and the prob- lem-finding attitude on the part of students that the value of the project lies. One of the requirements of a project, as we have noted before, is that the initiative of the student in an individual project, or of the class in a class project, rather than that of the teacher, should be the basis for the selection of the sub-topics or problems that are considered. This does not mean that the teacher should not assist or make suggestions, but that she should use her suggestions to stimulate the students to discover or formulate the prob- lems for themselves.
Use of school and home projects. There are no special points of class procedure that need to be considered in the
i J. Dewey, "How We Think," page 78. Heath & Co.
METHODS OF TEACHING 47
use of school projects, as the^whole class is working together, and any type of class exercise, recitation, discussion, experi- ment, field trip, etc., that may be needed at any stage in the progress of the project can be planned for easily. In the use of home projects, however, such uniform class needs do not exist. The physical conditions of the home, the standard of living of the family, the family needs and re- quirements, and the differing abilities of the students may create wide differences in the problems that each member of the class will undertake to solve in carrying out her project. As a result, the most difficult problem that con- fronts the teacher using home projects is to provide class exercises that will keep home projects effectively related to the school work of the course.
Many home economics teachers feel that any close rela- tion between class work and home projects is impossible or unsatisfactory. They argue that home projects are so in- dividual that they should be carried out entirely outside of the class, and that the supervision and teacher assistance given to the home project should all be done in the girl's own home. While apparently this may constitute the sim- plest solution of the situation, it presents two difficulties: individual teaching is always more expensive than class or group teaching, and may be less stimulating; extensive home supervision may be a very difficult method to use in some localities and with some groups. Home supervision of projects is most valuable; it gives the teacher an oppor- tunity to see the limitations and opportunities of each home, helps her to understand the needs of her students, creates a close relationship between the teacher and home interests and activities, and makes it possible for the teacher to see the student working under home conditions.
Effective home supervision means that the teacher must make several visits to the home of each member of her
48 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
class : a friendly visit to secure the cooperation of the fam- ily and to acquire general information as to the standards of the home; one or more visits to supervise the work of the student while carrying out the project; and a final visit to decide upon the credit value of the project. When these visits are repeated for every member of the class, this rep- resents a tremendous amount of time that must be spent by the teacher in individual instruction, and some definite allowance must be made for such visits in planning the teacher's schedule.
In various places, teachers of vocational courses have undertaken to meet this issue in different ways. One plan is to engage the teacher for eleven months' service, and defer all home projects until after the formal school year. This gives the teacher about two months that can be de- voted entirely to home supervision of projects. Another plan is to arrange the weekly schedule so that only four days are given to class work and one day is given to home supervision. This plan has the great advantage of allowing home projects to be carried along with general class work.
Because of the amount of time necessary for home supervision, there is great danger that in many classes home projects will not be used, unless, in some way, home visits. can be reduced to a minimum. The friendly visit to secure the cooperation of the girl's mother and to get some idea of the standards of the family is of the greatest assistance in the use of home projects. If such a visit could be made to the home of each member of a class, it should be pos- sible to use home projects without further visits to the home. The progress of the student in carrying out the project can be estimated by such means as individual con- ferences, classroom exercises, school tests, and reports.
Home projects may be individual problems, or they may be group or class problems. The selection of the same
METHODS OF TEACHING 49
project for the whole class OF for a group of students does not mean that the problems that each girl must solve will be alike or that the conditions under which she works will be the same; it is still a real project to each girl.
Plans for using home projects and reports. A home project that is made a class or group problem needs a care- fully developed plan that will include a clearly defined co- ordination with the work of the school, and provide for some form of report or test on the results of the work on the project. Several such plans1 have been worked out for agricultural projects, and they are suggestive of the type of plans needed in home economics. The following outline illustrates a plan for an elementary home project:
Project: Keeping the family silver clean
1. Observe the methods used at home and assist in the process.
2. Class demonstration at school to give school standards and to compare with home methods suggested by the members of the class.
3. Experiment at home to study conditions of work and the advisability of modifying equipment or other factors to meet school standards.
4. Conference with teacher in regard to problems that arise.
5. Class discussions of common problems, experiments to settle disputed points, etc.
6. Report on project and its results.
7. School test.
The requirement of a report on home projects intro- duces another element for which a clearly outlined plan is needed. A statement of the number of times a job is re- peated or of the amount that is accomplished is plainly inadequate, for it gives no idea of how effectively the girl has met the problems or emergencies that may have arisen.
1"Home Projects as a Phase of Vocational Agricultural Edu- cation." Federal Board of Vocational Education, Bulletin No. 21.
50 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
The following points are suggested as the types of infor- mation that such a report should embody in the case of the silver cleaning project:
Report on silver cleaning project
1. Conditions of job ; improvement that was made in conditions or that might have been made.
2. Tools, equipment, and cleansing agents that were used, and additions to equipment which were advisable. How such tools were used most effectively.
3. Sequence in processes used in the job, and suggested modi- fications of the sequence.
4. Amount of time spent on the job. Did any increase in speed result from change in methods ?
5. Cost of materials used in cleaning, and estimated cost of keeping silver clean if work was performed by paid service.
6. References consulted in study of project
A project, such as is outlined above, does not require much initiative on the part of the individual student. This is due not so much to the use of a class plan as to the char- acter of the project itself, which is of an elementary type. It is most important that home projects become progres- sively more difficult as the student develops power and initiative in the analysis and solution of problems. The following types of problems show the possibility of such progressive treatment:
1. Single processes carried through a stated period of time: a definite unit of cleaning — caring for an icebox, cleaning sil- ver; bed making; preparing infant's food, etc.
2. Simple constructive projects, such as designing and making a simple garment.
3. Multiple processes carried through a stated period of time: cleaning of rooms, preparing meals, marketing for the family, purchasing textiles, etc.
4. Advanced constructive projects: making a dress, making a hat, etc.
5. Organization projects: planning the dietary; establishing ac- counting system for the home; organization of weekly serv- ice schedule; purchasing plan for the family, etc.
METHODS OF TEACHING 51
The Development of Appreciation. In many home economics courses the development of appreciation is as definite an objective as the acquisition of skill or the abil- ity to think clearly. There is, however, far less clear under- standing of the methods that should be used to acquire ap- preciation. Methods of teaching should be based on the psychology of learning, and the educational psychologist has given little assistance to the formulation of effective methods in teaching appreciation. Most of the discussions on appreciation in educational literature are concerned with the development of aesthetic enjoyment, but in a few cases this term is used more broadly to cover also social appreci- ation, or realization or understanding of social situations.1 Empirically, most of us realize that fuller appreciation of a thing or a situation grows with greater knowledge and greater experience with it. We realize, also, that narrow or limited experience does not lead necessarily to growth in appreciation of wider issues, and that generalized expe- rience may not lead to appreciation in a specialized field. The person who has read "Macbeth" does not necessarily have appreciation of Shakespeare as a dramatist, and the person with good general art training may not have appre- ciation of good taste and good design in clothing. Another element that seems to enter into appreciation is a sensation of enjoyment or satisfaction, or a feeling of realizing fundamental values. The person having this sensation, however, may be quite unable to analyze the factors to which it is due. Any training that will focus attention on the characteristics of a thing, situation, or condition so as to lead to discrimination of values, and that at the same time offers so rich and varied an experience that satisfac- tion in discrimination grows steadily, should lead towards the development of appreciation.
*G. D. Strayer, "A Brief Course in the Teaching Process/' Chapter VII. The Macmillan Co.
52 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
The extent to which participation in productive activi- ties is an essential element in the appreciation of the values of concrete materials and situations is one of the problems on which there is much difference of opinion. Skill in pro- duction and appreciation are not synonymous, but comple- mentary, and a careful study of their relationship may re- sult in absolute change of some present teaching practices. In all probability, some elementary experience with mate- rials and industrial processes is necessary to realizing the problems of a constructive activity; this does not, however, imply the necessity of giving extended experience. The following quotation1 expresses a point of view that should be weighed carefully by home economics teachers :
" If it be contended that the most effective way of teaching peo- ple, on the one hand, to appreciate painting and pictures, and, on the other hand, to appreciate good music, is to undertake to make them, at least in the early stages, performers in both of these fields, then I insist that the burden of proof rests on those who advocate this procedure to show that it is educationally valid. I suspect that the contention referred to above is merely an assumption not founded at all upon facts of observation or experience. I believe, for ex- ample, that it is entirely possible to teach appreciation of good poetry without taking any steps whatever in the direction of teach- ing young people to write poetry. We endeavor to- teach apprecia- tion of the beauty of landscapes without, of course, undertaking to have our pupils shape such landscapes. In the world of more homely affairs, I am convinced that it is worth while to train the taste and discrimination of our young people in order that they may appreciate and value simple and good standards in cooking, dress, and the ordinary paraphernalia of life, but that these ends can be achieved quite independently of any effort to make our pupils dress- makers, cooks, or interior decorators."
Methods of Teaching as Reflected in Text-Books.
Text-books illustrate in a concrete form the changes that are constantly taking place in the schools, in the subject matter of courses and in its organization for teaching pur- poses. The teacher who has developed an effective method
*D. Snedden, "Problems of Secondary Education," page 269. Houghton Mifflin Co.
METHODS OF TEACHING 53
of teaching a particular subject demonstrates her method of presentation in a text-book. The teacher who finds that text material for the topics that the class is studying is not available, or can only be secured from widely separated sources, writes a text-book that presents a specialized se- lection of subject matter adapted to the needs and capac- ities of her students. A study of the text-books in any subject, therefore, should show a gradual evolution of im- proved methods of teaching, and more specialized adapta- tion of subject matter to the needs of different groups.
Text-books for elementary and secondary school classes in food, clothing, household management, and the house can be classified under two headings: those that consist mainly of text material, but that in many cases contain suggestions of problems and laboratory exercises which may be used in studying the topics; and those that are, primarily, laboratory manuals, including possibly some text material. The amount of space that is given to the text in this last type of book varies greatly; in some cases it is very limited, while in others a fairly adequate exposi- tion of many topics is included.
Subject matter texts. Though the number of subject matter texts for use in home economics courses is steadily increasing, lack of good text material has been one of the most serious handicaps of home economics teaching. This deficiency of material to use for classroom and outside preparation of lessons is much greater in some divisions of the subject than in others. There is a great deal more text material for food courses than for clothing, housing, household management, or family problem courses. There is much information available about food materials and the scientific problems involved in the selection and prepara- tion of foods, but there is little about the economic prob-
54 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
lems involved in the purchasing of foods. The teacher of clothing finds an exhaustive treatment of fabric manufac- ture in several books, but little on the selection of clothing ; and the teacher of house problems finds material on house planning, but little on house selection.
One of the greatest weaknesses of most of the text ma- terial for home economics subjects has been that in many of these texts a concise statement of facts has been given rather than an explanatory treatment of problems. In many food texts scientific terms are used without any at- tempt being made to give a comprehensive explanation of them, or clear concepts of the scientific principles that ar^ involved; in household management texts, such complex problems as the organization of the family budget are given a few pages of generalized material without any con- tributing discussion of the many far-reaching social prob- lems that lie back of the establishment by a family of a standard of living.
Some of the newer home economics text-books not only include text material on topics that are not found in the older texts, but they, also, show a selection and organiza- tion of topics adapted to the capacities and interests of children. They are written not only to give information about the materials or problems that are being studied, but to explain the many problems that cannot be answered by the laboratory experience of students and to arouse the interest and stimulate the thinking of the students. The purpose of such a text is more comprehensive than to serve as a reference book; if the topics are selected wisely and are adapted to the needs of the group, it can be used as the basis of a course and the laboratory work of the stu- dents can be so organized that it will supplement and expand the text.
METHODS OF TEACHING 55
The teacher who selects a book emphasizing text mate- rial as the basis for the work of her course must see that it fulfills the following conditions: (i) it must show a selection and organization of topics adapted to the needs, maturity, and interests of the students; (2) the material given under each topic should be adequate as well as accu- rate; (3) it should either present or suggest the main prob- lems in the study of which the students will see the real significance of the subject matter included in the book — that is, it must be adapted to the study of worth-while problems.
Laboratory manuals. - So much of the class time in food and clothing courses is given to laboratory work, that the selection of laboratory problems and the working out of laboratory procedure has been the piece of work that has seemed of greatest importance to home economics teachers. This has resulted in the production of many laboratory manuals of varying degrees of excellence; most of these books, however, include text material, and they are planned evidently to serve as the sole text-book of the class rather than to serve merely as a laboratory manual.
There are two types of material to be found in lab- oratory manuals for food and clothing courses : ( I ) detailed directions how to do the practical work, such as direc- tions for making seams, plackets, etc., in sewing manuals, and recipes in food manuals; and (2) outlines of the ex- periments and other exercises to be used in the study of the problems of the course. A laboratory manual that con- sists mainly of directions for carrying out the practical work or for performing experiments is valuable only as a means of saving work for the teacher, who otherwise would have to provide such information in another form; in sew- ing classes, such directions are usually given by demon-
56 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
strations and the sewing manual is used mainly for refer- ence, while in cooking classes directions may be dictated by the teacher, written on the board to be copied by the class, or given to the class on mimeographed sheets, the last being the most effective method.
The food teacher that is satisfied with a recipe book for a laboratory manual, and the clothing teacher that is satis- fied with detailed direction for making different garments, fail to appreciate that the primary purpose of laboratory work is to give objective experience that will assist in the realization and understanding of problems. If laboratory work is to be used as a means of studying problems, the most effective laboratory manual is one which outlines the basic problems under each topic that is being studied, and suggests the experiments, demonstrations, projects, exhib- its, or investigations that can be used in the study of these problems. It should include, also, enough questions about the problems to stimulate intelligent and purposeful labora- tory work on the part of the students.
For food preparation courses, there are a few effective laboratory manuals on the market. One of the greatest needs of home economics teachers, however, is for labora- tory manuals for courses in food selection, clothing selec- tion, house selection and furnishing, housewifery and household management. Laboratory manuals are in great demand not only because of their value in class work, but because they present a method of approach to the study of a subject. The inexperienced teacher sees in the labora- tory manual an answer not only to the question, "What to teach?" but also to the equally difficult question, "How to teach?"
The attempt to combine laboratory exercises and text material in one book usually results in the subordination of
METHODS OF TEACHING 57
the text material. Another disadvantage of this plan is that it gives little opportunity for the teacher to control her method of approach to the study of a topic. In some books, laboratory exercises merely illustrate or demonstrate the principles that are discussed in the preceding text material, while in others the study of every topic is approached through laboratory experience. The separation of text material and the laboratory manual makes it possible for a teacher to select her own method of relating laboratory work and discussion.
A still more inflexible arrangement of subject matter is to be found in several of the food texts. This is the division of the material into lesson assignments. Books of this type may be of assistance to the inexperienced teacher in giving some idea of the possible achievement of a class in a single laboratory or recitation period, but they are most difficult to use as a class text unless the purpose of the course and the conditions under which the class is conducted are similar to those that governed the writing of the text-book. Another disadvantage of this form of text is that effective teaching is often subordinated to cov- ering the amount of material that is outlined in a given lesson.
The prospective home economics teacher should make a thorough study1 of the text-books that are available in her own subject, and of the reference material in her own and related subjects that should be used by her classes. She should learn to analyze not only the excellence of a given text-book, but its adaptability to the needs of different
1 " Home Economics in American Schools." Supplementary Edu- cational Monograph, Vol. II, No. 6. Chicago: Department of Edu- cation, University of Chicago, 1920. This study presents a definite method of evaluating the content of text-books. The results of this study are most suggestive, whether the conclusions drawn from them seem too sweeping or not
58 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
groups. From the preceding discussions on the selection and organization of subject matter, it is quite evident that a large number of the text-books that are available at the present time can be used only as reference material by the teacher who sees the necessity of adapting her subject mat- ter to the capacities and interests of her classes. It is evi- dent, also, that few text-books are so planned that they can serve as the basis of a course for the teacher who is interested in problem-solving methods.
PROBLEMS
1. Make a list of the main problems that you think would be interesting to a group of tenth grade girls studying the general topic of clothing selection. Make out a similar list for a seventh grade class. Explain your reasons for any differences in these problems.
2. Outline some laboratory exercises that might be used in the study of house selection.
3. From the standpoint of motor training, explain the dis- advantages of teaching the making of several hand stitches on a piece of muslin before starting work on an article. How advisable is it to have a class become fairly skillful in using one stitch on various materials before attempting to teach more difficult stitches?
4. Observe a cooking class and analyze the effectiveness of the motor training that has been given. Outline a plan for this class that will provide the best conditions for increasing skill.
5. Would you make any distinction in the use of the terms problem-solving method and scientific method?
6. Compare, as to the type of laboratory work and the relative emphasis given to practical problems, a good
METHODS OF TEACHING 59
food laboratory manual with manuals for general sci- ence, chemistry, biology, or physics courses. 7. From the standpoint of good selection and organiza- tion of subject matter, what text-books would you recommend for the following courses and how would you use each of them?
(a) An elementary school food course in a large city.
(b) A food selection course in an elementary school.
(c) A general home economics course in the ninth grade.
(d) A food preparation course in the ninth grade.
(e) A food selection course in the ninth grade. (/) A clothing selection course in the ninth grade.
Supplementary References
J. Dewey. How We Think, especially Chapters IV, VI, and VII.
D. C. Heath & Co. L. B. Earhardt. Types of Teaching, Chapter X. Houghton Mifflin
Co.
F. N. Freeman. The Psychology of the Common Branches, Chapter
II. Houghton Mifflin Co. C. H. Judd. Psychology of High School Subjects, Chapters XII,
XIV, XV. Ginn & Co. S. C. Parker. Methods of Teaching in High Schools. Ginn & Co.
G. D. Strayer. A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, Chapter
VII. Macmillan Co. G. D. Strayer and N. L. Engelhardt. The Class Room Teacher,
Chapter V. American Book Co. E. L. Thorndike, Principles of Teaching, Chapters X and XIV.
A. G. Seiler.
CHAPTER III FOOD AND ITS PREPARATION
OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTER FOOD PRODUCTS. PRINCIPLES OF COOKING. EXPERIMENTS IN FOOD COURSES.
General experiments.
Composition experiments.
Experiments on methods of cooking.
Methods of using experiments.
Relation of experiments and practical work. DEMONSTRATIONS, EXHIBITS, AND FIELD TRIPS. THE PRACTICAL WORK IN COOKING CLASSES.
Skill in cooking.
Routine activities. PRODUCTIVE WORK IN COOKING CLASSES.
Order work.
The school lunch.
The lunchroom as a cooking laboratory.
THE INFLUENCE OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS ON FOOD PREPARATION COURSES.
A distinction has been drawn between food preparation and food selection in some of the discussions in the pre- ceding chapters. In actual practice, food preparation courses may include material that is more accurately re- lated to the choice of foods than to their preparation, for discussions of such problems as food manufacture, mar- keting, the nutritive value and use of foods, etc., are found almost universally in these courses. With the ex- ception of some work on dietaries, these problems are sel- dom made main topics in food preparation courses; they are discussed incidentally as each type of food material is studied, and constitute the background of related material that is grouped around the main topic, preparing the
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food. In spite of this incidental material in food selection found in food preparation courses and of the food prepara- tion problems used in food selection courses, these two types of courses show a great contrast, both in the char- acter of the material that they contain and in the methods that are used in teaching them.
Food preparation courses consist, primarily, of the study of food materials and the principles underlying their, cooking, and of selected experience in the cooking of foods. The purpose is to give students understanding of food materials and of cooking processes, and some skill in the preparation of foods,
Food Products. The general term food products, as used here, includes all material on the sources of food sup- plies, their cultivation and manufacture, their preparation for the market, the grades and qualities found in the mar- kets, and their care and storage.
Food production problems may be emphasized in some food preparation courses and not included in others. An illustration of this is seen in the use of material on the geographical distribution of food supplies. In a few ele- mentary and secondary schools, where correlation with commercial geography is attempted, this problem has been studied in the food courses ; in most schools it has not been given, except in an occasional intensive marketing course. In the study of food conservation during the war, the importance of knowledge of the distribution of the world's food supply was so great that we have accumulated much interesting material on this subject, adapted to elementary and secondary school groups. Such material has far greater significance in a study of food costs and market prices than it has in food preparation courses, and its logical place is with other purchasing problems.
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The manufacture of food materials has a closer rela- tion to food preparation courses, since many of the food materials used in cooking have gone through some process of cooking before they are purchased. Such processes often affect the preparation of foods, as is seen in. the greater amount of water and longer cooking required for oatmeal than is required for rolled oats. One of the chief difficulties has been the lack of accurate information in regard to commercial processes and the limited amount of illustrative material. This has resulted in the over-empha- sis of the few processes for which illustrative material was available. The relation of the manufacturing process to the different market grades and varieties of a food is the most significant part of this topic, and the study of a man- ufacturing process has little value unless it results in more intelligent choice of foods.
The study of the storage and the adulteration of foods and of the standards of quality in different food materials has so much practical value that it is usually included in food preparation courses. If these topics are to have real meaning to the class, exhibits and laboratory experience in grading foods should supplement all discussions. The relative values of package and bulk goods, the relation of appearance, flavor, and nutritive value to cost in canned goods, the relation of price to the proportion of waste in different grades of fruit, vegetables, and meat, the relative value of weight or measure in buying different commodi- ties, are all problems that require laboratory experience in order to secure accurate information of values in food materials.
A study of quality will always include some considera- tion of substitution and adulteration. Intelligent demand for quality cannot be secured, however, by placing empha-
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sis on food adulteration. The study of pure food laws and food ordinances is rather perfunctory in many of out courses. To make this material vital, it must consist of a study of concrete situations. The aspects of food control that have the most immediate interest to the housekeeper are the local regulations affecting the sanitary care of foods in markets and public eating places, accurate measures, etc. A visit with a food inspector or personal investiga- tion in various stores as to the extent of use of such sani- tary measures as screening, covering exhibits, or protection of food from handling will be most valuable in creating an interest and demand for better food care.
Principles of Cooking. The study of the principles of cooking is the main theoretical work in food prepara- tion courses. Experimental work is used to emphasize or isolate the applications of these principles, and methods of cooking and preparing food materials are based on princi- ples of cooking, yet there is little formulation of these principles in food text-books. One of the reasons for this has been the rather late development of the scientific study of cooking processes. Such studies are being carried on in the experimental food courses in colleges and universi- ties, and the results are gradually appearing in print.
"Principles of cooking" is a vague term to many home economics teachers, as is easily seen if a group of teachers is askecj xto formulate the principles of cooking vegetables, meats, cereals, or any other food materials. The experi- ence of the writer has been that teachers will express prin- ciples in terms of methods of cooking. When they are asked to formulate the principles of cooking vegetables, such statements as the following are given: "Vegetables should be cooked in boiling salted water" ; "Delicate flavored vegetables should be cooked in a small amount of water or
64 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
they may be steamed"; "The cover should be left off of the saucepan to retain the green color of vegetables." These are all statements of methods of procedure and not of prin- ciples on which such procedure is based. Principles of vegetable cooking must be expressed in terms of the effect of different degrees of moist heat on cellulose, the relation of surface exposure and solubility of constituents to loss in nutritive value and flavor, etc.
Many of the explanations of the reasons for using cer- tain methods are comparatively simple, while some require extensive knowledge of chemistry, biology, or physics. How far such explanations or study of principles should be attempted in elementary and secondary school work is one of the main problems in teaching food preparation. Should we teach cooking methods in elementary courses, and discuss only those principles which affect the cooking of the main constituents of the food, such as cellulose, starch, connective tissue, protein, etc.? What principles of cook- ing may be further developed in secondary school classes? To what extent should the secondary school student be expected to select her own method of cooking? Are ex- perimental cooking problems advisable for secondary school students? Can such principles of cooking as those of cake and jelly-making, for example, be taught without ex- perimental cooking? These are some of the questions that a clearer formulation of the principles of cooking foods will help to answer.
Almost every cooking process involves chemical or physical changes of some kind, and any adequate study of the principles of cooking must include a study of such changes. The extent to which the discussion of general science problems should be undertaken in food courses, and the amount of correlation with science courses that is de- sirable, will be discussed in Chapter XII.
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Any discussion of principles of cooking, immediately raises the question of using recipes in school work. A recipe is a rule of procedure and should embody the best practices for producing a certain result. Recipes not only define the proportions of ingredients that are necessary for flavor and consistency, but they also outline methods of combining ingredients. Recipes may be given to a class as a rule without any attempt at explanations, or they may be used as a standard for comparison with the recipe that has been built up, by discussion in the class, from the stu- dents' knowledge of principles of cooking. This last method of using recipes is the most desirable one. A com- parative study of the recipes of different cook-books and of those used in the homes of the girls is a valuable prob- lem, and it will bring out many points in technic or varia- tions in flavor that may be most useful. Such a study re- quires some knowledge of principles of cooking and should lead to independent and intelligent use of recipes, if the basis for the variations in them is clearly understood.
Experiments in Food Courses. The term experiment as used here is confined to exercises which aim at the dis- covery or proof of some principle or fact or the securing of data. The application of a principle in the making of a cer- tain dish will be called a practical exercise. Some food texts use the name experiment for both of these. If, how- ever, a practical cooking problem is used as a means of studying the effects of different methods of preparation or of varying ingredients, it assumes the characteristics of an experiment.
The amount of experimental work included in a course is influenced largely by the value which the teacher places upon experimental methods of teaching. A few experi- ments are included in nearly all food courses, and in some,
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the major part of the laboratory work is experimental in character. The method of cooking which will be selected for a given food will depend upon its composition and the effect of the different cooking processes upon it. If stu- dents can be given knowledge of these basic facts and prin- ciples through experiments, the practical work becomes a problem of applying these principles and facts. Such a method of studying food preparation emphasizes problem solving and the application of principles.
Even in courses in which experimental methods are not emphasized, there is general use of experiments that illus- trate or demonstrate certain facts of composition or effects of cooking that cannot be readily observed during the cooking process, and knowledge of which is essential to intelligent work. For example, a realization of the char- acter of gluten, almost essential to understanding the leav- ening of flour mixtures, is most difficult to secure without the gluten ball experiment. The conditions for bacterial growth and the effect of heat on gas production from baking powders are other , problems more effectively taught by experiments. Such experiments .might be called essential experiments ; their number is not necessarily large, but they should be found in all courses.
Some of the experiments found in food courses are used primarily to emphasize or create interest in a sig- nificant problem, for it is evident that many of the facts of composition or principles of cooking that we demonstrate or discover through experiments can be observed easily dur- ing the cooking process. We may perform a formal ex- periment to show the casein, fat, and water content of milk, or we can observe these constituents during the preparation of cottage cheese or rennet custard. The iodine test, as used in many elementary school courses, is an illustration
FOOD AND ITS PREPARATION 67
of an experiment to increase interest, for the statement that potatoes contain starch is as readily accepted by the chil- dren, as the fact that the color change is produced in the presence of starch. In more advanced work, the iodine test is used to secure an accurate answer to a scientific inquiry rather than for interest.
General experiments. In order more easily to select experiments for particular courses, they may be divided into three classes: (i) general experiments; (2) experi- ments to show the composition of foods; (3) experiments to demonstrate principles of cooking. General experiments include all experiments on combustion, temperatures, rela- tion of density of liquids to temperature, evaporation of liquids, latent heat, action of acids and carbonates, condi- tions of bacterial growth, etc. Secondary school food courses in which food preparation is emphasized, and which do not require prerequisite work in the sciences, should include these experiments as a fundamental part of the course, as they are essential to the understanding of the physical, chemical, and biological phenomena that are an integral part of the care and preparation of foods. A few of the experiments included in this group, such as those on bacterial growth, acids and carbonates, etc., may also be included in elementary school courses..
Composition experiments. Composition experiments are of two types: gross composition experiments, which dem- onstrate the larger constituents of foods, such as are significant in influencing the choice of cooking methods; and detailed composition experiments, which demonstrate the presence of those constituents of a food that affect their nutritive value rather than their cooking. Knowl- edge of the characteristics and presence of casein in milk is important in cooking, whereas, the presence of sugar,
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while of great importance in infant feeding, makes prac- tically no difference in the selection of methods of cooking. In the cooking of potatoes, a student is more intelligent if she realizes their cellulose, starch, and water content ; but the presence of protein in no way influences her method of cooking. Similar illustrations could be given for all other types of food materials. Composition experiments in cooking classes are seldom quantitative; although in a few cases, the relative bulk of the main constituents of a food is so easily seen that such quantitative aspects are noted.
In the use of composition experiments, two different methods may be seen: (i) to test a food for a known constituent, using only those foods that illustrate the point clearly — the proof method; (2) to test a food for all possible constituents — the discovery method. The difficulty of securing exact conditions which will make it possible to demonstrate the presence of minute quantities of a con- stituent of a given food makes this second method an ex- tremely unreliable one unless a class is well trained in experimental technic.
Experiments on methods of cooking. Experiments to illustrate principles of cooking and to study the effect of different methods of cooking are emphasized in those courses in which the recipes are developed by the class. Experiments in cooking methods that require the compari- son of results secured by varying the method of cooking or by varying an ingredient in a mixture, are better adapted to advanced classes. A few of these comparative experi- ments, such as those to study the different methods of soft cooking eggs, different methods of making tea and coffee, the relative thickening power of different flours and similar problems, are used even in elementary school courses.
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Comparative experimental work in flour mixtures and in similar complex mixtures requires a clearly defined standard for the finished product in order that the student may judge the relative values of the different results. This is an im- possible condition for beginning classes.
A method of using comparative cooking experiments that is often seen is to assign a single method of cooking to each member of a group of three or four students, the group comparing their results at the completion of the experiment. Such a plan will often lead to the result observed in an elementary school class, where a child was seen busily boiling tea for a luncheon to be served by the class. On being questioned as to the reason for using that method, she explained that it was the way she had been told to prepare tea in a lesson several weeks before. The danger of initiating wrong habits in beginning courses through the use of comparative experiments is very great, for even when each child carries out all the methods there is a loss because no clearly recalled definite habit of work has been started. Furthermore, comparative experiments should be used only when children are carefully trained to observe accurately.
Methods of using experiments. Experiments may be performed as a demonstration by the teacher or as an individual exercise by the students. An experiment suc- cessfully carried out by the students themselves is usually more vivid and impressive than one demonstrated to the class. There are many cases, however, when a class experi- ment offers many advantages over individual experimenta- tion. In those experiments in which there is possibility of widely diverging results, or that need special attention given to certain points, the class experiment is most valuable. Experiments requiring careful noting of consistency or of
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color, on the contrary, are far more effective as individual experiments. A class experiment may often be performed in the middle of a practical exercise to illustrate an imme- diate issue when individual experiments would be impos- sible. There is need of both of these methods in food courses.
In some courses, experiments are used rather infor- mally to illustrate some particular points, while, in others, they are made a part of formal instruction, and are carefully recorded in note-books corrected by the instructor. Re- cording an experiment and formulating the conclusions reached by it, is one method of assuring a complete piece of work and uniform agreement by the members of the class as to the results. If all experiments are followed by a carefully developed discussion and by consistent demon- stration of the applications of the points developed, there is less need for a formal and often unused record.
There is much difference of opinion among laboratory teachers as to the value of note-book work. There is nothing so tiresome as the recording of obvious or familiar facts in a note-book that is never actually used by the stu- dents, yet there is nothing so valuable as a habit of making accurate, usable records of the data and results of a piece of work. If note-books are to be made a feature of ex- perimental laboratory work, teachers must see that unneces- sary writing of directions is eliminated by the use of mimeo- graphed directions and that students learn to make usable, well-arranged notes, not merely formal records.
Relation of experiments and practical work. Though occasionally experiments may be used incidentally during the practical work, they are usually performed before or after the cooking problem. In the first case, the experiment is used to study the facts of composition or principles of
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cooking that are to be used in the practical problem. When experiments follow the practical work, their purpose is to explain or clarify the procedure that has been used in the cooking, and to emphasize the principles that were applied. The great advantage of this last plan is that the students have a background of practical experience before they perform the experiment which will give it greater meaning; because of this, this method is most valuable for beginning courses.
Demonstrations, Exhibits, and Field Trips. Demon- strations, exhibits, and field trips are all illustrative exer- cises. Demonstrations are used in food preparation classes to illustrate the technic of manipulative processes, such as stirring, kneading, combining ingredients, use of rolling- pin, cutting instruments and other equipment, etc., and to show effective methods of working, such as use of fewest possible movements, selection of tools for fitness to pur- pose, arrangement of equipment and materials, etc. The value of a demonstration lies in the tendency of the class to reproduce or imitate the movements and method of working used by the demonstrator. This is the first step in the teaching of good motor habits. As was suggested in the previous discussion of motor training, a demonstra- tion that is given to initiate effective manipulation should include an analysis of the movements that are used in order to make the practice of the class purposive as well as imi- tative.
Class demonstrations of cooking processes are usually given before the students start a new piece of work. The teacher who is interested in the acquisition of good motor habits, however, will not be satisfied with a single demon- stration ; she will see that it is repeated for different groups or for the whole class, until all of the students are using
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good methods of working. The use of the most skillful members of the class as demonstrators is often valuable as a means of stimulating interest in technic. Demonstrations are particularly valuable and necessary in elementary courses where the foundation is made for good working habits.
Exhibits are a valuable means of comparing qualities or characteristics of food materials or of prepared foods. An exhibit of finished products, at the end of a cooking lesson, gives an opportunity for illustrating the effects of poor methods or mistakes, as well as to provide a stand- ard for an acceptable product. Because of limited time many such exhibits are perfunctory and ineffective. An exhibit should be as distinctly a teaching exercise as is an experiment, and it requires a definite allowance of time for study and discussion. In some cases, a laboratory les- son based on an exhibit of foods prepared by the class may be far more effective than an additional cooking lesson.
Field trips are not used as extensively in food prepara- tion courses as in household management, house decoration, or costume design courses, but, wherever marketing lessons are included, a few trips are often used. Field trips to study commercial methods of preparing foods are very useful when a study of effective time-saving methods is being made. Such a study should include observation of school, home, and commercial methods. The experience of most teachers has been that field trips are of value in proportion to the amount of preparation for the trip that has been given. Unless the individual members of the class have a clear idea of the things for which they are to look, the distraction of the new experiences will result in vague and poorly related observation, and much energy of the teacher is wasted in trying to give instruction under unfavorable conditions.
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The Practical Work in Cooking Classes. Laboratory experience in preparing food materials is the major activity in food courses. In many courses, a cooking problem is included in every meeting of the class, which means that from 50 to 70 minutes of the QO-minute period is taken up in getting out supplies, cooking, and cleaning and putting away equipment; on some days, the entire period is given to the cooking problem. In other courses, laboratory cooking exercises are found only on alternate days, the intervening days being spent in discussion or recitation. The greater amount of time spent on the practical cook- ing problems, than on experiments, exhibits, and discus- sions, is the distinguishing characteristic of those courses which emphasize skill and experience in handling food materials. When skill in cooking is subordinated to study of the principles of food preparation, the time spent in discussions, experiments, and exhibits is increased and the cooking exercise is reduced to the position of an illustrative exercise. The aim of this second course would be to make the students intelligent about cooking problems without attempting to give them the extensive experience that is necessary to secure skill in cooking.
Skill in cooking. The emphasis and time spent on the acquisition of skill should vary with the aim of a food course. In actual practice, however, the difference in em- phasis seems to be more often decided by the interest or lack of interest in technical skill felt by the teacher. To plan the work of. a cooking class so that the students really acquire skill is one of the most difficult problems of the teacher of foods. Not only must she initiate the use of good methods of working, but she must, also, provide for enough repetitions of each problem so that the activity becomes a habit. With many classes the problem is further
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complicated by the need of breaking up the bad habits that have been already acquired in the home.
We give excellent training in most food courses in the performance of single processes, but the students may leave our classes with no ability to prepare foods rapidly and without waste motions. It is easily seen that such habits can only result from extended practice which in most courses cannot be given in class time. We cannot dismiss the problem on this plea, however, since practice is only one element in securing this skill. By the use of home projects, time can be secured outside of school for practice, if class time is given to an analysis of different practices and to a critical study of the results that can be secured through a modification in technic. Many of our school methods of working are time consuming and impractical under home conditions, and we give the students no basis for analyzing and selecting the method of work which should be adopted in their home practice. This problem should be presented as a special topic which should include an analysis of labor- saving methods of working, the study of different types of equipment and labor-saving appliances, and the use of home projects that will emphasize time value and effective motions.
The cooking problems in a course are usually selected because of their value in illustrating principles of cooking, and no attention is paid to arranging these problems in such a sequence that cooking processes (broiling, frying, etc.) are repeated until the students acquire skill in using them. If a food course is arranged under such general topics as Carbohydrates, Protein Foods, Milk, Vegetables, etc., each topic may necessitate the preparation of dishes that require quite dissimilar cooking processes. For example, the topic Starch may include the making of such dishes as cocoa,
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cream of wheat, fried mush, rice pudding, etc. The technic in the cooking of these dishes is quite different, and there is almost no repetition of processes and accumulation of skill. If skill in cooking is an element to be considered in planning a course, some of the topics should consist of a study of cooking processes. The practical work included under such a topic as Scalloping, Sauteing, or Broiling would give an opportunity for repeated experience with a process, and, at the same time, illustrate the variations necessary for different foods. Skill in the use of a small quantity of fat for browning or sauteing means ability to keep steady heat, to recognize signs of browning, to decide on the amount of fat necessary for browning, and to turn and manipulate the different foods ; a series of lessons on batter- cakes, French toast, potato cakes, fried eggs, sauted fish, or similar problems would give repeated experience in this process and would emphasize skillful handling.
A second type of technic for which special training is needed is the ability to prepare several dishes at one time for serving in a meal. The preparation of one dish at a time is almost essential when a class is learning the technic of a process, or is studying the application of principles, but it is an ineffective method to use when skill in cooking is the aim of a course. Judicious use of a QO-minute lab- oratory period will make it possible to cook several dishes, if a class is trained to plan their time.
Skill in cooking requires not only good technic in pre- paring foods, but, also, judgment in combining food ma- terials from the standpoint of flavor, consistency, and appearance, and in the selection of the best methods of pre- paring each food. As in the study of all selection prob- lems, this means that the class must be given an opportunity to compare a variety of products and to make choices. For
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a lesson of this type, a food should be prepared in various ways by the class, but the major part of the class period should be given to a comparison of the different results and to study of the recipes for the same dishes used in the homes of the students. The exhibit and the opportunity which it offers for analysis of essential values, rather than the practical work, is the important element of such a lesson.
A similar method should be used to study flavor. Ap- preciation of flavors in cooking, as appreciation of good taste in dressing, needs to be developed through study of the principles underlying good combinations, and realization of the wide opportunity for choices. Food habits, with all that they mean in terms of efficient or inefficient nutrition, are so largely influenced by the liking or dislike for a lim- ited number of flavors, that such a study should be em- phasized more often than it usually is in food preparation courses.
Routine activities. The laboratory cooking exercise in- cludes not only a cooking problem, but dish-washing, care of equipment and supplies, and cleaning. Good training means that attention should be given to skillful and rapid manipulation, and to careful planning in the use of equip- ment in order to reduce the cleaning operations to the minimum. In the desire to teach the use of the best equip- ment, many cooking teachers elaborate their cooking technic until dish-washing becomes a serious problem. Coopera- tive use of equipment will often save time; good planning will always save time. The expenditure of much time on cleaning is justified by some teachers on the basis that good habits in the care of equipment are as necessary as learning to cook. An essential part of such an argument is that the equipment and methods of cleaning should be those that
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represent a good standard for the homes of the girls. Should such training be emphasized in class time or in a carefully planned home project? Should it be given the same attention in a tenth grade course as in a seventh grade course ?
Productive Work in Cooking Classes. While the individual portion used in most cooking classes serves admirably to demonstrate processes and principles of cook- ing, it does not give experience in handling the larger quan- tities used in the home. Cooking in family size portions can be carried out successfully in the regular school labora- tory with some additions of larger equipment. The main difficulty of large quantity cooking is the need of finding some means of disposing of the prepared foods in order to cover the cost of supplies. Various ways of providing for this have been used by different teachers. They can be classified, however, under two types: those that provide for order work from outside the school ; those that sell food for consumption within the school.
Order work. The preparation of foods to be used in the homes of the girls or sold to other people, is used in a limited way in some schools, and quite extensively in others that offer special courses in trade cooking or cater- ing. In schools that use order work in a limited way, the putting up of fruits and vegetables and the making of bread and cake products are the types of dishes most often pre- pared. Where catering courses are offered, order work is much more varied, ^ though it seldom includes the plain foods used in family cooking. Order work gives an oppor- tunity for a study of costs and of accounting that is most valuable, and it assists in unifying school and home stand- ards of cooking. It is difficult to use, however, except in advanced courses.
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The school lunch. The sale of food within the school is always associated with the school lunch. Products made in the classroom may be sold in the regular lunchroom; a lunch may be served in the food laboratory to teachers or to other special groups; or the class may work in the lunchroom kitchen and prepare the food sold in the lunch- room. The method to be selected by a teacher should de- pend upon the value to the students of each of these methods, as well as upon the administrative possibility of relating the lunchroom, which is primarily interested in furnishing food, and the classroom, which is interested in the educational development of the girl.
The disposal of food cooked in the laboratory to the lunchroom is the plan that offers more advantages than any of the others. It requires, however, extremely close cooperation between the food teacher and the manager of the lunchroom. A plan or schedule for each week must be outlined, so that the lunchroom can be sure of receiving certain foods in a definite quantity, at a definite time. This food must be of marketable quality, and prepared in a form that can be handled by the lunchroom. By using this method, it is possible to give a class not only the opportunity to cook larger quantities of food, but, also, to study the standards and cost of commercially prepared foods and the wage value of time spent in preparing them. Unfortunately, there are limitations to the varieties of food that can be contributed to the lunchroom by a class meeting from 8 to IO A.M. or in the afternoon. In spite of time schedule prob- lems and the difficulty of securing complete cooperation with a department not always intimately associated with the home economics department, the disposal of prepared foods to the lunchroom is one of the most effective methods of developing large quantity cooking.
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The serving of luncheon at noon to teachers or other groups is found in many schools. This plan offers similar training to that discussed above, and, in addition, it gives an opportunity for experience in serving. The danger in this plan, as in all plans which involve the supplying of meals, is that in the desire to keep patronage regular, the students will be required to continue meal serving beyond the point at which its educational value begins to diminish. If the serving of meals can be made a special feature that can be started and discontinued at any time, this difficulty can be obviated. Another problem associated with this plan is the necessity of keeping the students during the noon hour to serve and to clean the laboratory ; this is too heavy a burden to add regularly to a girl's daily program.
The lunchroom as a cooking laboratory. The use of the lunchroom kitchen as the cooking laboratory is in- creasing in both elementary and secondary schools. In some schools, this type of work is used only for advanced students; in others, all of the food preparation is taught in this way. There are many arguments for and against the use of the lunchroom kitchen. It is popular with admin- istrative officers on the basis of cost. It offers a practical situation to those who feel that food preparation courses are impractical. If well used, it stimulates resourceful- ness, initiative, a feeling of responsibility, and greater in- terest in food problems. Some of the other methods of using the school lunch which we have been discussing also give these same results without the rather serious loss in educational value that has been observed where the lunch- room kitchen has not been used judiciously.
Where the entire work of the lunchroom is done as class work, it is practically impossible to maintain the educational standards of the food courses. The routine activities and
8o HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
the repetition of such processes as making cocoa, sand- wiches, etc., take so large a proportion of the class time that instruction is subordinated. In those schools where the preparation of the school lunch has been most success- ful, paid service has been used for washing dishes, clean- ing, preparing staple dishes, and similar routine work. Even under these conditions, there are other factors that make this a difficult method of instruction. With the responsibility of having a well-prepared lunch ready to serve at a specified time, the attention and interest of the teacher must be cen- tered on the preparation of the food and not on the think- ing of the members of the class. There is always danger, also, that a particular dish will be made by the girl who knows how rather than by the one who needs instruction in making it. Many foods that might be prepared in a class- room are not practical to serve in a lunchroom ; this means over-emphasis on the preparation of a few foods. The greatest difficulty with this method, however, is that such teaching emphasizes how to do things without, at the same time, giving equal attention to the reasons for so doing. Even with a special period for the discussion of the theo- retical aspects of food preparation, it is difficult to relate theoretical and practical problems because many principles and facts can be illustrated only during the cooking process.
Lunchroom cooking is a valuable form of work where skill in handling food materials and the development of initiative and a sense of responsibility are desirable objec- tives of a course. It is a problem for advanced students — not for beginners. Even for such classes it needs skillful planning in order to make it a project of maximum benefit to the students. The use of the lunchroom for vocational training of lunchroom assistants is a special problem to be discussed in Chapter XL
FOOD AND ITS PREPARATION Si
The Influence of Community Standards on Food Preparation Courses. Many of the courses in food prep- aration seen in elementary and secondary schools illustrate careful planning, good teaching practices, and a compre- hensive study of the principles of cooking and their appli- cations, yet the courses fail to achieve their fundamental aim because they are absolutely unrelated to the food prepara- tion problems of the particular group that is receiving instruction.
The selection of the cooking problems to be used in a given course, as was noted before, is generally based on their value in illustrating principles and processes of cooking. This has resulted in the general use of certain dishes which offer the best illustrations of the different principles — pop- overs to illustrate leavening with water vapor, milk soups to illustrate a thin white sauce mixture, oysters to illustrate albumen cooking in fish, etc. While many of the recipes which are used to illustrate principles or methods of cook- ing are for foods that are used in many homes, some of them are seldom used in certain communities and in differ- ent groups because of high cost, difficulty of preparation, ignorance about many foods, or prejudice against them. Where high cost and difficulty of preparation are the rea- sons for failure to use a dish in the homes of the girls, there are two courses open to the teacher: to use these impractical dishes because they are the most effective illus- trations or to eliminate them and substitute other dishes which, though they may illustrate the principle less well, will have more meaning to the class.
One of the aims of food preparation courses in certain localities is to teach the preparation of foods that are not used generally among the group in order to increase the variety of foods or to encourage greater use of such foods
82 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
as milk and vegetables. Such an aim has great social value, but these results can only be secured if the selection of cook- ing problems and the organization of the course are planned to this end. It is impossible to teach the principles of cooking all types of food and at the same time emphasize the use of special foods. It is extremely difficult to make children or adults adopt a new food or a new method of cooking a food unless they have an opportunity to taste it several times, which would necessitate several repetitions of certain cooking problems. In place of organizing this course around principles and methods of cooking and at- tempting to teach the cooking of all foods, it should be organized around such concrete topics as : How to use a quart of milk a day in cooking, How to cook vegetables so that we will want them once a day, etc.
The Americanization of foreign groups is one of the big problems of the schools in most of our cities. School instruction which deals with the problems of the home has a unique opportunity to contribute towards making the adjustment between foreign and American standards of living — one phase of the Americanization problem. The experience of people who have worked with foreign groups has been that the only method of modifying their ideas or practices is through an intelligent and sympathetic under- standing of their own national customs and persistent at- tempts to reconcile these customs to life in a modern Amer- ican city. Food is particularly associated with national cus- toms, and food preparation courses planned for these groups must be specially adapted to their needs. To many teachers, one of the great values of food preparation courses is the opportunity which they offer to teach the children of for- eign parents about American foods and American methods of preparation. Undoubtedly some of the teaching about
FOOD AND ITS PREPARATION 83
new foods does carry over into the homes of the children, but food preparation courses that use familiar flavorings and familiar food combinations will accomplish far more.
PROBLEMS
1. Make a list of essential experiments that should be found in all food courses. Would you advise the use of a ther- mometer in the elementary school? When would you use protein, sugar, and starch tests in secondary school work?
2. Outline the exhibits that you would use in a 72-lesson course in food preparation in the elementary school.
3. Observe at least two laboratory lessons in the elementary school. Note the use of demonstrations. Did they em- phasize motor training? Would it have been profitable to increase the number of demonstrations? Should demonstrations be used at the beginning of the hour or may they be used at any time during the lesson ?
4. Arrange a series of lessons on the use of the oven re- quiring a gradual development of skill. What special points in oven control would you develop in each of the lessons ?
5. What principles of cooking vegetables, eggs, milk, and fruit would you emphasize in a half-unit food prepara- tion course?
6. Make a plan for a lesson on a study of muffin mixtures.
7. Make a comparative study of three recent text-books. Does the laboratory manual emphasize problem-solving methods? Are they unnecessarily filled with recipes? Does the content under any one topic differ materially in the three books ? Is there any attempt at explanation of the application of physics encountered in the cooking processes ?
8. Outline the most effective use of ^ the lunchroom in a four-year secondary school course in homemaking.
84 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
Supplementary References
Alice C. Boughton. Household Arts and School Lunches. Survey
Committee of the Cleveland Foundation. S. S. Colvin. Introduction to High School Teaching, Chapter XII.
Macmillan Co. A. H. Leake. Vocational Education of Girls and Women, Chapter
II. Macmillan Co. S. C. Parker. Methods of Teaching in High Schools. Chapters
VI, XIX. Ginn & Co. Eva W. White. Household Art. The Gary Public School. General
Education Board.
W. H. Wiley. Methods in Teaching Chemistry. Journal of Educa- tional Psychology, April, 1918.
Bertha M. Wood. Foods of the Foreign-Born. Whitcomb & Barrows.
» \
CHAPTER IV FOOD SELECTION
OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTER
TEACHING PROBLEMS.
Laboratory exercises. QUALITATIVE STUDY OF THE DIETARY. QUANTITATIVE STUDY OF THE DIETARY.
Quantity in household terms.
Quantity in scientific terms.
Quantity in terms of cost. MEAL PLANNING.
STUDY OF THE FOOD REQUIREMENTS OF THE FAMILY. DIET IN DISEASE.
The study of food selection is concerned with knowledge about food materials and their nutritive value and use, and with training judgment in the choice of food. This ma- terial may be taught as one of the topics of a food prepa- ration course, as the larger part of a general food course or as the entire content of a food selection or dietary course. In food courses for beginners, especially in those offered in the elementary school, a large proportion of the time is always spent in food preparation problems, even though the teacher is emphasizing selection of foods in the planning of her course and in her choice of cooking problems. The reason for this is that practical cooking maintains interest and at the same time makes it possible for the class to pre- pare their own exhibit material to be used in planning meals and in studying food needs. In an advanced course, how- ever, practical cooking is much less essential for interest and is only used to furnish illustrative material.
85
86 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
Teaching Problems. The selection of the food of the family by the untrained housekeeper or by an individual dining in lunchrooms or restaurants is based primarily on the liking or dislike for particular foods, upon traditional use of certain dishes for different meals, and upon accus- tomed use of certain food combinations. Food habits are most intimately related to the social customs of a given group ; they vary with nationality, locality, and occupation. Many of the food customs developed by different groups are dietetically sound, while others are inefficient or waste- ful. The persistence of the food habits acquired in youth can be observed on every side. The problem of the home economics teacher is not only to give knowledge about foods and to teach standards of selection, but also to interpret these standards in ternas_ol_ihejtp_odjhabits of her class.
Standards of selection cannot be imposed by advising the disuse of certain foods, or even by emphasizing the value of certain foods. Food selection must be taught through the use of practical problems that will require from the students intelligent analysis of -their own food habits and some actual experience in choosing their own meals. This means that experience in choosing foods in the lunchroom and in home projects should be an integral part of the course. A liking for new foods can be cultivated through training in their use in the lunchroom. The value of the scl^JJunchroom in teaching food selection cannot be over- emphasized. It may be made the center for neighborhood teaching of better food habits, or it may be used for labora- tory exercises in choosing foods.
Much of the teaching of food selection in the past has been theoretical and unrelated to the type of information and experience needed by the housekeeper or the individual. Knowledge of the number of calories needed per day by the different members of the family or of the percentage
FOOD SELECTION 87
of protein calories they require has little value, unless it can be translated into good habits of selection. Any one who has had extended practice in the calculation of food values appreciates that the interpretation of such quanti- tative results requires far more exact knowledge of the nutritive values of the individual foods than can be profit- ably studied in any but senior high school or college classes. Yet the need of instruction in intelligent selection of foods is so great that this material in simplified form should be well taught, not only in the high school, butjn the elemen- tary school.
""Tliere are two aspects of the teaching of food selection that must be included in all courses : ( i ) What foods should be ^selected, which requires a qualitative stucly of the value of the different foods; (2) Howjnuch_o£_fiach food should be used, which, jneans some quantitative study of the foods needed daily or weekly. It is comparatively simple to teach the qualitative aspects of food selection. The study of the nutritive value of foods is included in even the most ele- mentary courses, and effective methods of teaching this material have been developed in various grades. The quantitative aspect of food selection has been far less effectively taught. We are beginning to see the importance of such teaching, however, and are slowly evolving methods of presentation that will make this material more valuable to the housekeeper or to the individual.
Laboratory exercises. The emphasis given to practical cooking by most food teachers has resulted in failure to recognize the value of other types of laboratory exercises and the need of developing laboratory methods of studying food selection. Since skill in cooking is not an essential element of selection courses, laboratory work is used for its illustrative value or for the opportunity that it gives to make choices rather than to discover or prove principles or to give practical experience in a productive activity.
88 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
An exhibit is the most important type of laboratory ex- ^ercise irT^all gdecEorTTourses. Through exhibits students are given an opportunity to visualize in actual food ma- terials, all of the quantitative aspects of good selection, such as the amount of different food materials that are needed daily by an individual or by a family, or the amount of calcium in average servings of common foods ; they are valuable, also, to show objectively the relative food value of different foods. To use an exhibit most effectively, enough time must be allowed in order that the class can analyze and compare the important elements of the exhibit, and use it in the solving of some definite problem. This last point should be carefully noted, for unless a student thinks of an exhibit as data to be used in the solution of a problem, her~TntefesT-wTTI usually be casual and passive. An exhibit showing the iron content of different foods is most interesting and valuable to students who are asked to report on the iron content of their own dietaries or who are planning the diet of a young child.
In many food selection courses, a large proportion of the laboratory work is devoted not to the use of exhibits but to the preparation of exhibit material. When a class is required to weigh out loo-calorie portions of various dishes prepared in class, several laboratory periods may have to be given to learning the details of calculating the amounts and weighing the ingredients. This is a slow process and there is great danger that the students will lose sight of the real purpose of the exercise, which is to secure a clear picture of the relative fuel value of different foods. This is an advanced problem that does not belong in ele- mentary courses. That some time should be spent on the preparation of exhibit material is not only necessary but also desirable, for food exhibits are never permanent, and their arrangement or preparation necessitates intelligent
FOOD SELECTION 89
discrimination and selection. Exhibits are usually made up of measured or weighed portions of uncooked foods and of foods prepared by other cooking classes or in the lunch- room as well as by the food selection class.
The preparation of meals to show standards of selection is another kind of illustrative work found in both elemen- tary and advanced courses. Some teachers make the mis- take of combining the teaching of serving with this exer- cise, and, as a result, there is no time or opportunity to use the meal as an exhibit and to discuss its adequacy from the standpoints of quantity and food value.
Though experiments are not used universally in food selection, many courses include a few composition experi- ments that serve as the basis of the study of food values.
Qualitative Study of the Dietary. Training in food selection should give students a definite idea of the nutritive value of each type of food used in the dietary and some idea of the relative value of foods. It is not only important to recognize the value of vegetables in the dietary, but if selec- tion is to be made thoroughly intelligent, we must also have some basis for choice between tomatoes and corn, for in- stance, in planning a meal.
The term food value is used rather vaguely in much of our popular literature and by many home economics teach- ers; it has been used as though it were synonymous with fuel value. The fuel value of a food is based on its protein, fat, and carbohydrate, and this term cannot be used to in- clude the value of its mineral matter or vitamine content, which are essential elements of food or nutritive value. Everything used for food has a definite intrinsic value in terms of the quality and amount of its protein, its caloric or fuel value, its value for bulk, its mineral content or its value as a protective food. The statement of the food value of the different food materials used in the diet may be a
90 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
simple statement of the most significant characteristic of the food or it may be expressed in technical terms in much detail in order to give exact information.
The study of food value and of the composition of foods is usually begun in the first food courses. It is extremely important that the emphasis in elementary work should be on usable facts and clear concepts. There are two practices often used in teaching the composition and nutritive value of foods that illustrate failure to recognize this principle. The comparison of foods on the basis of their percentage composition, while bringing out some interesting facts in regard to the amounts of protein, fat, or carbohydrates in different foods, also tends to emphasize certain other less valuable quantitative aspects. The large percentage of water in fruits and leaf vegetables is the most striking quantitative aspect of their composition, yet their value in minerals, organic acids, and protective quality, quantitatively so small, is so important that their use in the diet is based on these elements. Emphasis on water content merely con- fuses the issue. The use of negative statements is another practice which emphasizes non-essentials- rather than essen- tials. Many teachers discuss the value of a food as though it were the sole constituent in the diet. The following are a few of the statements that are constantly heard in class- rooms : " Meat is rich in protein and fat, but contains no carbohydrates"; "Vegetables have little food (fuel) value"; " Milk contains all the five food principles, but the amount of carbohydrates is low and it should not be used alone by adults."
The act of selecting foods necessitates choosing between different foods. While it is possible to compare any two foods on the basis of their relative fuel value, protein con- tent, or any other element of food value, such comparisons are of significance only when the foods are used inter-
FOOD SELECTION 91
changeably in menus or in a dietary. This point is empha- sized in teaching by grouping foods in such a way that those which may be substituted for each other in an ade- quate diet are placed in a common class. There are several methods of classifying foods, the most commonly adopted one being that used by the Home Economics Office of the Department of Agriculture : Vegetables and Fruits ; Protein- Rich Foods; Cereals; Bread and other Bakery Goods; Sweets ; Fatty Foods. Teachers should use the type of food classification which will illustrate the points that they wish to emphasize in their teaching; for example, in a locality where emphasis needs to be placed on the use of milk, it would seem desirable to bring this out by the use of a sixth group, Milk and its Products. In elementary classes a clear idea of the foods that should be included in the different groups may be secured by the use of an exhibit arranged by the class.
Food groups are used as the basis of meal planning and for a comparative study of the nutritive value of the differ- ent foods included under each group, such as their com- parative fuel value, the relative quality of their protein, their ease of digestion, etc. Such a comparative study will bring out many significant points in regard to the food value of individual foods and their use by different mem- bers of the family.
Quantitative Study of the Dietary. There are several methods of giving quantitative ideas as to the amount of each food material that should be used by the individual or the family. The simplest method, and the one generally used in the elementary school and in extension courses,1 is expressed in terms of the number of times a given food should be used or served daily. This method is illustrated by the following statements :
Extension leaflet, N. Y. State College of Agriculture. Food Series No. 8. Teachers' College Technical Education Bulletin No. 3.
92 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
(a) Milk should be used three times a day by children and at least once a day as a beverage or in a cooked form by adults.
(b) Meat should be served only once a day; it is ad- visable to use it only four or five times a week.
(c) Meat substitutes should be used for the main dish at least two or three times a week in place of meat.
In similar manner, statements can be made in regard to the use of eggs, cereals, sweets, fruits, and vegetables in the dietary. While these statements give only a general idea of the amounts of the different food materials that should be used, they emphasize the importance of thinking of meal planning in terms of the day rather than for the single meal. To make this method of teaching really effec- tive, a teacher must devise situations which will give the children an opportunity to make choices of food for them- selves. The preparation of a meal in the classroom and the selection of the foods to be used in the other two meals of the day, selecting a luncheon in the lunchroom which will " fit in " with their breakfast and dinner, and obser- vation of the number of times a food is served in the home, can all be used in elementary classes.
Quantity in household terms. If the teaching of food selection is to be reflected in improved food habits, it is essential that students should realize the amount of each food that it is advisable to use for an adequate diet. Such amounts can be expressed in terms of weight or measure. When a person is planning the meals for a family, the most convenient quantitative information is to know the amounts of each food that should be purchased for the family daily or weekly. Since many foods, such as fish, beans, cheese, etc., are served generally only two or three times during the week, statements of weekly quantities are the simplest ones to use and to compare with the quantities actually used in the homes of the girls.
FOOD SELECTION 93
Statements of the amounts of foods to be purchased are more satisfactory for the study of the family dietary than for the study of an individual dietary. They are sug- gestive rather than accurate statements of food needs, but they present a concrete standard for judging the efficiency of a dietary, and one that can be used easily in the home. This is an elementary method of studying the quantity of food needed by the family, as it does not involve a quanti- tative study of calcium, iron, protein, and other food con- stituents.
As in the use of all quantitative methods, a class must have extended experience in comparing quantities in order to make this material most useful. The following laboratory problems are suggested as the type with which a girl should have experience in order to give her definite quantitative ideas in terms of measures and weights. Some of these problems may require several laboratory periods.
Problem I. Study of the measured size of an " average " serving and comparison with the serving used by different members of the family according to their age and size.
Problem 2. Study of the number of servings from different sized roasts or other meats, from definite quantities of vegetables and fruits, etc. This problem might include a comparison of the quanti- ties of meat required when it is served alone and when its flavor is extended by mixture with other foods.
Problem 3. Study of the amounts used per week of such staples as flour, cereals, tea, coffee. Statistics of home consumption secured by each student should be part of this problem. This will give an opportunity to compare the quantities needed by families of different sizes.
Problem 4. An exhibit of the quantities of the different foods that would represent a good standard for adequate nutrition for a family of definite size for a week. The class should arrange these foods throughout the week, and make out daily menus based on using definite amounts of each food.
Problem 5. The preparation and serving of one or more of the daily food plans worked out in Problem 4 would test the accuracy of the quantities to the satisfaction of the girls.
94 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
Quantity in scientific terms. The study of quantity in terms of the number of calories, the amounts of protein, iron, calcium, and phosphorus needed by the individual is the method most used in advanced courses. The accuracy of our knowledge of fuel requirements and of fuel value of food has resulted in great emphasis on the calculation or estimation of fuel value in the dietary work given in the schools. In fact, the study of the fuel value of foods is the only quantitative work that is outlined in many sec- ondary school texts. That a diet may be adequate in fuel value and quite inadequate in other nutritive requirements has been clearly demonstrated in all of the recent studies of diets of limited costs. Some quantitative study of pro- tein, calcium, iron, and phosphorus requirements should lead to more intelligent selection than a quantitative study based on calories alone.
There are two different points of view in regard to the purpose of this type of quantitative work in secondary school courses. Some teachers believe that dietary work in secondary schools should introduce a girl to the scientific methods of studying a diet and give her some experience in the technic of accurate calculation of the value of a dietary. By the greater number of secondary school teach- ers, however, quantitative work is given only as a means of explaining good selection, and as a result dietary calcu- lations are reduced to the minimum or absolutely eliminated, and the sizes of the portions used in exhibits are secured from standard tables.
Exhibits of weighed or measured quantities of foods may be based on either of the following plans: (i) to show the amount of a given constituent in an average serving of a food; (2) to show the amount of a food that is necessary to give a certain number of grams or ounces of a par- ticular constituent, such as }/£ ounce of protein, 2 milli-
FOOD SELECTION 95
grams of iron, or i/io gram of calcium. Exhibits to show the fuel value of foods are almost universally based on loocalorie portions. A loo-calorie portion and a common or average serving correspond in size for so many foods, that it is easy for a class to establish the size of their average servings of all types of foods in terms of calories. From this, it is simple to calculate the amounts of protein, calcium, phosphorus, and iron in an average serving of a given food.
The advantage of using the average serving as the unit of quantity is that the students are able to use this unit easily in estimating the efficiency of their own dietary. If an exhibit of average servings is extensive enough to in- clude all the types of foods used in the daily dietary of most of the class, it is possible for the girls to get from it a realization of the efficiency or inefficiency of their own food habits. A separate exhibit must be made for each factor for which quantitative standards have been estab- lished: fuel value, protein, iron, calcium, and phosphorus.
Quantity in terms of cost. A study of the expenditures for each class or group of foods furnishes another method of estimating the efficiency of the food purchases of the family. This method has been used quite extensively in the study of family dietaries of small cost, but has not been used to any extent in school work. It is more difficult to give exact quantitative ideas by studying food expenditures than to specify the exact number of pounds of meat, loaves of bread, pounds or quarts of fruit, etc., that should be bought. A large expenditure for meat, for example, may not mean the use of a greater quantity of meat, but more expensive cuts. Yet the cost of food supplies is such an important item in the family budget that the relation of expenditures to the quantity of food that is bought, as well as to the quality, should be emphasized in home economics courses.
The study of the food expenditure of the family and its
96 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
apportionment among the different kinds of food, not only gives the class another way of analyzing their own family dietary, but also it introduces them to a budget method of studying expenditures. A class that has made an intensive study of such comparatively simple problems as a food or clothing budget should be well equipped for the later study of the complete family budget.
The study of the food budget will be made far more interesting if the students work on material furnished by the class. Students should be asked early in a food selec- tion course to accumulate all the vouchers given in the stores for the daily food purchases of the family. To these can easily be added facts in regard to the amounts used in a week and the cost of the foods that are bought in large quantities. The weekly expenditure for meat, eggs, milk, and fruits and vegetables, cereals and bread, sugar and fats can be estimated from these records and the percentage expenditure for each class of food can be calculated. If accurate records can be secured from several families, this will allow an interesting study of the variations in expendi- tures for each type of food in terms of the greater quantity used, higher prices paid per unit, or the excellence or inade- quacy of the diets as compared with standard divisions of the food budget. This study of the family food budget can be made a class problem, or it can be made a home project.
Knowledge of food costs is a most essential feature of the planning of a dietary, and students in dietary courses must be given definite ideas of the relation of cost to food value. Food costs become more interesting when students have the responsibility of buying the supplies for meals to be served at a specified cost per person, for this is an oppor- tunity to compare the cost of different vegetables, meats, fruits, etc., under conditions which give motive and reality
FOOD SELECTION 97
to the study. If sufficient emphasis is put upon this prob- lem and upon the study of the quantities necessary to serve a family, it should lead to a realization of the kinds of dietaries that can be served at different standards of cost per person.
The study of food values in terms of the cost per 100 calories, the cost of 100 protein calories, or the cost of foods giving a day's allowance of protein, calcium, phosphorus, or iron, is a method that should be used in advanced courses. Tables or exhibits showing comparative costs in these terms can be used to demonstrate some interesting points in the relative efficiency of various foods in dietaries of different cost.
Meal Planning. Meal serving may be made a problem in food preparation or in food selection. When the serving of meals, planning of the methods of preparation or time allowance are emphasized, meal serving is a food prepara- tion exercise. When the study of food combinations is the important factor and meals are served to illustrate some principle of choice rather than skill in cooking and serving, it becomes a food selection exercise. While a certain amount of meal preparation should accompany all meal planning, there are several topics that can be studied through ex- hibits or by discussion of meals observed in the lunchroom or at home. A class should have more extensive experience in planning meals than would be possible if all meals are prepared in the classroom.
A study of meal planning should be based on a daily plan rather than a single meal plan. Meals that are planned intelligently must be based on food needs, and it is im- possible to express these for a smaller unit than a day. Even when a single meal is to be prepared, a plan should be made for the other meals in order that students become accus- tomed to thinking in terms of daily requirements. In most
98 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
families, the day's meal plan falls into a definite routine of serving certain types of foods at a definite time. Salads may be served at luncheon, at dinner, or at both meals. Luncheon dessert may be of one type, such as fruit in various forms, and dinner dessert may be more elaborate. Breakfast may be light, and dinner and supper or luncheon may be equally hearty.
One of the first problems in meal planning is to study the meal plans in the homes of the students. This should bring out facts in regard to home practices, such as the number and kind of dishes served at each meal, differences in menus due to the age or activity of the different mem- bers of the family, national customs, etc. The discussion of these problems will emphasize many essential points and help the students to see the necessity of considering the needs of the individual family in planning a dietary. The study of food combinations is another problem to which knowledge of home food habits will contribute, for one of the greatest difficulties in the dietary of many families is the monotony of the combinations. Through a study of the combinations seen in printed menus and of those used in the girls' homes, and through laboratory demonstrations of good and poor combinations from the standpoint of flavor, food value, and appearance, students should receive many new ideas that might be carried out in their homes.
The planning of original menus should be preceded by an analysis of the efficiency of printed menus in terms of good proportions of the essential food groups. The origi- nal menus planned by the class should illustrate some special problem, such as a plan for the meals of a family including young children and old people, or a plan for a family who do not like to use milk for a beverage, but must be en- couraged to use at least two quarts a day in some form. Such problems as these will teach a girl to think of meal
FOOD SELECTION 99
planning in terms of needs rather than of liking and dis- like for special foods. The working out of the menus for a whole week, arranged so that a definite quantity of each food is used, is a more difficult and comprehensive problem, but a most valuable one.
Study of the Food Requirements of the Family. While it would seem to be the logical method to build up a concept of family food requirements from a knowledge of the requirements of the individual members, many of the problems suggested in the previous paragraphs illustrate a reversal of this method. In elementary courses or where only a short course is to be given, the study of family re- quirements represents a simple and usable method which can be easily translated into household practices. The study of individual requirements is most easily approached through a study of the girl's own need, in which she has more immediate interest and for which she has accurate information as to the amounts and kinds of food that she ordinarily takes. The requirements of other members of the family can be estimated and observed after definite personal standards have been established.
One of the special problems connected with family re- quirements is the consideration of the food needs of infants and children under school age. Should all food selection courses make a special study of this problem, or should it be emphasized only in those vocational courses that make a special study of child care ? The tremendous importance of child care in the life of the community and the nation is becoming so universally appreciated that every opportunity should be grasped to extend this teaching. Every discus- sion of family food requirements that is at all related to the actual food habits found in the homes of the girls should bring out some points in regard to the diet of the younger children in the family and their special needs. Whether it
ioo HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
is necessary to make a special problem of infant feeding with some laboratory experience in the preparation of infants' and children's food will depend on the length of the course, the group for whom the food selection course is planned, and whether the course has a vocational aim or not. In some home economics courses only general refer- ence is made to this topic under food selection, and a special study of diet is made in a course on child care which in- cludes all the factors underlying the healthful development of children.
Infant feeding may be studied from two aspects: the technic of preparing food for children of different ages, with emphasis on sanitary methods; and the study of the nutritive principles underlying milk modification and the use of prepared infants' foods. It is the first type of work that is emphasized in most courses, especially in elementary work. The theory of infant feeding is seldom included, even in secondary school courses. Vocational courses in child care which include some experience in a child welfare clinic or day nursery give a real motive to the problem of feeding children, and it is possible to develop this problem more completely and effectively than when it is used merely for a classroom problem unrelated to the actual care of children.
Diet in Disease. In many of the earlier -home eco- nomics courses, courses in dietaries or dietetics always in- cluded some work on diet in disease. The emphasis placed on this problem is steadily decreasing and in many secondary school courses this topic is not included. Teachers are gradually realizing that knowledge of the problems of nor- mal nutrition has not only greater usefulness than facts in regard to abnormal nutrition, but that the modification of diet in illness must be based on a fundamental knowledge of individual body needs and food values. As knowledge
FOOD SELECTION lot
of the physiological value of foods masses, JtheJtreatlTK*iii<; ;/ of disease by diet is becoming more emphasized by the medical profession. It is impossible for the elementary or secondary school teacher to keep close enough in touch with the development in these lines to give her students valuable work on the treatment of specific diseases. If the food selection course has included some study of the physio- logical uses of food as well as the food requirement of the individual, it may be profitable to include some discussion of corrective diet in the course. This would include such problems as diets for constipation and overweight or under- weight. If a secondary school girl has been taught to think of foods in terms of their usefulness and to appreciate the needs of maintaining a definite standard in the quality and quantity of her food, she will be intelligent in cooperating with the physician in planning a diet in cases of illness.
It is most important that girls should be taught to under- stand the need for expert advice on many of the problems of the home and to know where to go for such opinions. Experience in working with scientific problems should arouse the desire for accurate information and unwilling- ness to accept unauthoritative statements or advice. It is one of the functions of home economics courses to stimulate such a scientific method of thinking and to help students to discriminate between inaccurate and authoritative sources of information rather than to attempt to give an encyclo- pedic treatment of all topics. The need for such teaching is particularly great in food courses, for the popular inter- est in health problems has resulted in widespread dissemi- nation, in newspapers and advertising matter, of much indiscriminate advice and information about foods and their values and uses.
io2 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
PROBLEMS
1. Discuss the value of posting in the lunchroom the fuel value of the dishes that are served. To what extent will this create interest in food selection? To what extent will it influence food habits?
2. What facts in regard to the food value of meat, milk, vegetables, fruits, and cereals would you teach in a seventh grade food course? What statements would you make in this same course in regard to the com- parative value of the different vegetables?
3. A course in food selection may be offered in the sixth, ninth, or twelfth grades. What are the advantages and disadvantages of giving the course in each of these grades? What methods of studying the amount of food needed would you use in each case and how much time would you allow for this problem?
4. Outline a series of lessons on meal planning to be used in a tenth grade class. Designate the laboratory prob- lems and illustrative material that should be used and the points to be brought out in discussion.
5. In a short rural school course would you emphasize food selection or food preparation ? How could you organize the rural school lunch in order to make it most useful in your teaching? Would you offer the food course to both boys and girls ?
6. In what course or courses is nutritional physiology taught in your school system? Make a survey of sec- ondary school science text-books, and outline the sub- ject matter in nutritional physiology that you would recommend for the science course that should be pre- requisite for an advanced dietary course.
7. Outline the content of a half-unit course in dietaries or dietetics to be offered in the eleventh or twelfth grade. What conditions as to the extent of the home economics course, the amount of required science work, and pre- requisite work in foods would you think advisable as a basis for the use of this course ?
FOOD SELECTION 103
Supplementary References
Food and the War, Chapter XIV. U. S. Food Administration.
Houghton Mifflin Co.
Mary S. Rose. Feeding the Family. Macmillan Co. A Quick Method of Calculating Food Values. C. L. Hunt, Journal
of Home Economics, May, 1918. What to Teach the Public Regarding Food Values. E. V. Mc-
Cullum, Journal of Home Economics, May, 1918. Nutrition Classes for Children. M. A. Harper, Journal of Home
Economics, November, 1919.
CHAPTER V SEWING COURSES
OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTER METHODS USED IN SEWING COURSES. HAND SEWING AND MACHINE WORK.
The teaching of stitches.
Machine work. GARMENT CONSTRUCTION.
Repair of clothing. PATTERNS.
Use and selection of patterns.
Pattern making.
Drafting. FITTING. HANDWORK.
The main objective of all sewing courses is to give stu- dents ability to sew or to make their clothing. Many courses that emphasize practical sewing include, also, some work on textiles, costume design, and similar related topics. In most of these courses, this material is tatfght quite incidentally, as the class needs general information about the practical problem on which they are working. This represents much the same situation as the use of food selection problems in cooking courses, though related material is usually given much less emphasis and time in sewing classes.
The power to make clothes, which should result from the training given in sewing courses, includes five types of abilities: (i) skill in the control of hand and machine technic and in the handling of materials; (2) knowledge of constructive processes and skill and judgment in their use; (3) ability to use or to make patterns and to cut eco-
104
SEWING COURSES 105
nomically; (4) ability to fit garments; (5) appreciation of good color and texture combinations, good proportions, and all other aspects of design that must be considered in any constructive activity. With the exception of the last, which is a problem of selection, all of these types of abilities re- quire training that emphasizes the acquisition of skill.
Sewing courses vary greatly in the importance given to the training in any of these five types of work and in the methods used to secure power in each of them. Teachers usually emphasize the type of training that they feel is needed by their particular group. It is easily seen that such needs will vary with different localities and with the gradual changes in the ready-to-wear industry that are affecting the type and extent of home sewing. Since sew- ing is one of the household activities which shows a wage return for time spent, it is probable that it will be retained in some form in many homes as long as the homemaker makes her contribution to the income through home work rather than through outside employment. While the most desirable training should give power in all aspects of the making of clothes, it is difficult to secure this in the short time allowed for such training in school. The effective course should give the quality and degree of skill which will make sewing most profitable to the homemaker. Whether this should take the form of increasing emphasis on the higher wage-earning work of designing and fitting, on in- creasing speed and facility in the more elementary con- structive processes, or on giving ability to do a specialized type of sewing, such as making infants* and children's clothing, should depend upon the group and the demon- strated needs of the homes.
Methods Used in Sewing Courses. A clothing topic such as the making of a piece of underwear or a dress may require a great many lessons for its completion. Because
io6 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
of the danger of keeping a problem on hand so long that the class will lose interest, class discussions after one or two introductory lessons are generally concerned with the problems involved in the making of the article. Since dis- cussions are centered around practical situations rather than on the study of principles or of selection problems, sewing courses generally make no formal division between labora- tory and recitation periods. Laboratory work may be pre- ceded by a ten or fifteen-minute discussion, or a class may start immediately upon laboratory work, continuing a prob- lem which has been discussed in a previous lesson. As the development of skill in handling materials and in construc- tive processes is the primary aim of most sewing courses, this emphasis on laboratory work is the logical method. The weakness of most sewing courses has not been the use of this intensive method of studying the practical problems, but the failure to include as an integral part of the course more complete study of other topics, such as textiles, cos- tume design, patterns and pattern making, etc.
The type of work done in sewing classes during the period devoted to the consideration or study of problems can more often be described as teaching by demonstration and dictation rather than discussion. Most technical methods are based upon reason as well as upon knack, and there is no reason why a class cannot work out by discussion and laboratory experiment the methods of making such con- structive processes as seams, plackets, finishes for raw edges, etc., and their adaptation to the requirements of different fabrics and garments. It is only through such working out of methods that a class can gain power to solve the many problems of this kind that will arise in the making of their own clothes.
Another marked characteristic of sewing classes is the general use of individual rather than class teaching. Stu-
SEWING COURSES 107
dents in sewing classes exhibit not only the individual dif- ferences seen in all school work, but they also bring to the class varying degrees of hand skill. This has made it ex- tremely difficult to keep a class together and to have all members equally ready for class discussions of construction problems. To meet this problem various devices have been used, such as the making of more elaborate articles or of additional articles by the more skilled members of the class, the use of make-up periods in which the slow mem- bers of the class can receive individual instruction, or the use of group instruction rather than class instruction, the groups being divided on the basis of their stage of advance- ment in the completion of the article. Individual teaching represents an extravagant use of the teacher's time and a loss of the stimulation and suggestion that should come from class discussions. One of the evidences of better teaching methods in sewing classes is the increasing use of group and class teaching.
Hand Sewing and Machine Work. The relative im- portance given to hand and machine technic in sewing courses has steadily changed to greater emphasis on ma- chine work. The increased use of machines in courses for beginners is one of the evidences of this change, for in the earlier sewing courses no machine work was attempted until a class had complete control of all hand sewing processes. The relative simplicity of machine technic makes it possi- ble for a girl to start immediately on garment construction, which brings her more rapidly to an understanding of the constructive processes used in making clothes. This means not only an increase in the practical value of the course, but a marked increase in the number of problem-solving situa- tions that can be developed, since the time required for the mechanical work of sewing is much decreased and that spent on constructive processes increased.
io8 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
One of the problems connected with the selection of hand or machine work for beginning courses is the possible necessity for skill in either of these types of work as pre- requisite to the acquisition of skill in the other. Though hand sewing and machine sewing technics are somewhat dif- ferent in character, they are undoubtedly contributory to each other. The judgment of the distance from the edge of the cloth or seam to the presser-foot of the machine re- quired in straight stitching can be carried over directly into spacing a hand-made seam. The control of the fabric at the machine which necessitates firm but delicate handling is an equally valuable ability in hand sewing. Careful analysis would probably show minor technics acquired in hand sewing which are used in machine sewing. There is little evidence, however, of any necessity of requiring hand sewing as a prerequisite for machine sewing. The fact that the muscular coordinations required by handwork are more complex and finer than those used in machine sewing is suggestive of the possible value of learning machine control first, with a gradual acquisition of the hand stitches needed for the different garments.
The amount of hand sewing required in the making of clothes varies greatly with the type of sewing. Underwear and plain dresses and waists are usually made by machine, and the only hand stitches that are used are basting, gather- ing, buttonhole making, and possibly hemming and over- handing. In the making of elaborate costumes or in fine sewing, handwork is more essential. Should beginning courses include the making of all hand stitches, or should only those stitches be used that are actually needed by the garments that are made? While knowledge how to make all stitches should give greater ability to select the stitch best adapted to the various situations met in sewing, the possible need for some stitches is so slight that there seems
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little justification for requiring ability to make them from all children. In the gradual evolution of modern methods of construction, many of the stitches that were essential when hand sewing was the universal method of sewing are almost never used at present. The back stitch and overcast- ing illustrate two stitches that are largely displaced by machine methods. The form of hemming required by wash fabrics is seldom used in the making of garments, for hems in cotton fabrics are usually machine stitched. The slip stitch hemming used on wool and silk garments requires an entirely different handling from plain hemming.
The requirement of hand sewing and hand problems before starting on machine work creates another problem which should be carefully considered by home economics teachers. The slowing down of power to produce which results from hand sewing undoubtedly has some effect in reducing interest in clothing courses and in creating the leisurely and pleasant but unstimulating atmosphere of many sewing classes. A girl who knows that her entire class hour is to be spent in sewing a hem has no incentive or motive for constructive thinking. This slowing down is especially marked when hand problems are required in upper grades or secondary school courses.
Machine work is used in some schools as early as the third grade, while in other places it is not undertaken before the eighth or ninth grades. Lack of equipment is the reason for the failure to use machine work in many schools rather than conviction on the part of the teacher that it is unde- sirable. Hand sewing can be taught in a regular classroom with only individual equipment, whereas machine sewing requires special equipment and more space. Furthermore, the making of small hand sewing problems is taught by the grade teachers in many schools where garment construction would require a special teacher.
no HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
The teaching of stitches. The muscular control in- volved in hand sewing is quite complex. It requires control in the use of each hand and coordination in the movements of both hands to make a stitch well. The directions for making stitches given in most sewing books emphasize the appearance, use, and methods of beginning and ending the stitch, but give little idea of the movements involved in making it. The positions and movements of the right and left hands are so interrelated in the teaching of a particular stitch that many teachers do not distinguish between them or analyze the successive steps by which control can be secured most easily. The great gain in skill and in the time required to secure this skill, which is demonstrated whenever attention in teaching stitches is given to the posi- tions and movements of each hand, shows the need for more careful consideration of this problem.
Stitches are generally taught by showing illustrations of the positions of the hands and the appearance of the stitches in the various stages of making and by demonstrations by the teacher of the positions and the method of making. Such methods of teaching may depend on imitation without any analysis of the movements involved, and the attention of the children may be largely concerned with the size and shape of the stitches rather than in making adjustments in position or movement that will secure better results. The hemming and running stitches illustrate stitches that can be taught with far greater ease if some study and experience in the movements of each hand precede attempts to make the stitches. As hemming is usually taught, even spacing between stitches is secured by judgment of the space be- tween the last stitch and the projected stitch and by rotating the left hand to bring the place for the new stitch into a convenient position. Observation of a skilled worker will show that the spacing between stitches in her case is en^
SEWING COURSES in
tirely controlled by the amount of material that is allowed to slip between the forefinger and thumb of the left hand. This slipping of material between the forefinger and thumb of the left hand is an important element in the making of most stitches. If a child is taught to control this movement, it will greatly simplify the teaching of the individual stitches.
There is probably nothing which so affects the size and shape of a stitch as the maintenance of a taut surface on which to work. In the making of some stitches this is con- trolled by the left hand alone, while in others it involves the use of both hands. To hold material in the left hand so that it is taut, and, at the same time, constantly to adjust it so that the working surface changes as the sewing pro- gresses, is a most difficult problem. Yet the plain hand hemming stitch, which is one of the few stitches requiring this complex muscular control in the left hand, is one of the first stitches taught in hand sewing courses. Basting as taught in many hand sewing courses is another illustra- tion of the use of this same difficult hand motion. An inter- esting fact in regard to basting is that this method of mak- ing, laboriously learned, is seldom used in garment making. The skilled worker uses the running motion for even bast- ing, and for uneven basting she holds the material by brac- ing with the right hand on a table or on her knee.
A thorough study of the movements used in making hand stitches should not only greatly decrease the time required to teach effective muscular control, but it should also prevent the acquisition of the many wasteful hand habits seen in sewing classes. Experiments in training mature persons to use the left hand in sewing have demon- strated the value of careful analysis of the movements re- quired by each hand and of the use of short drills or exer- cises to secure muscular control. These experiments show
H2 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
also the advantages in the selection of a sequence in the teaching of stitches which will demand a gradual control of the more difficult movements. These results agree with those secured from a study of hand writing, another activity which involves fine muscular coordinations.
The influence of the texture of fabrics on the ease of teaching different stitches is another point which should be noted. Fine stitches, such as running, should be taught on sheer, firm fabrics ; buttonholes on a non-fraying material, such as flannel ; hemming on soft, thin fabrics which do not resist the needle. Sleazy, bulky, or stiff fabrics involve special problems in the handling of materials which should not be allowed to confuse the problems of the beginner. As soon as possible, however, a student should have experi- ence with a variety of materials, for the handling of every new material requires somewhat different control. Good handwork requires not only muscular control, but training in noting accurate spacing, evenness in size of stitch, and straightness in the lines of sewing or edges of materials. Striped or checked fabrics, such as dimity, and coarse tex- tured materials which show the threads of the fabric easily both are useful in assisting judgment of space and size of stitch.
Machine work. One of the most important factors in the making of clothes is good machine control. Stitching can make or mar the appearance of a garment, and speed and facility in using a machine will greatly increase a girl's productive power. In most schools, the only machine work is that required on the garments made in the class. As a result, emphasis is placed entirely upon good, straight stitching, and little time is spent on learning the type of machine control involved in stitching without basting and in the use of machine attachments. Skill and speed in the use of the machine requires extended practice, which is
SEWING COURSES 113
difficult to secure for a class with the small number of machines found in most classrooms.
It is possible, however, to extend the experience of the class by the requirement of machine technic problems for home work. In the case of students having no machines in their homes, this would mean that some provision should be made for the use of the school machines outside of class time. Technic problems are of two types : ( I ) exercises in the use of attachments or in the making of construction problems, such as illustrations of different plackets, samples of seams, samples of different ways of using trimmings, etc.; or (2) the making of articles or garments entirely by machine without basting — the articles or garments to be so planned that they will require progressive skill in construc- tion and machine control.
The first type of problem not only gives experience in handling the machine, but may also serve as a form of ex- perimental work in construction; as, for example, when a class is given the problem of working out different methods of making a finished seam by machine or different methods of putting on a ruffle. The most serious objections to the use of technical problems of this type are : that they do not give training in handling constructive problems under the same conditions as in a garment; that the cost of using materials for such an unproductive purpose makes this type of work prohibitive ; and that time spent in this way could be more profitably spent in actual garment making. In spite of these objections, the judicious use of machine technic problems at different points in a garment construc- tion course is most valuable. The acquisition of any form of manual skill requires time and experience. While ma- chine control may result as a by-product of garment mak- ing, the centering of the attention of the class on standards of machine stitching and on methods of securing effects
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by machine should result in a marked decrease in the time spent on doing over poor work and in unnecessary pre- paratory processes, such as basting long, straight seams.
In power operating classes, training in machine technic is usually given in the making of garments. The object of using this type of work is to give not only ability to use a machine well, but also skill in machine construction. Ma- chine construction is done without basting or other hand processes generally used in sewing classes, and the problems must be arranged in such a sequence as to give a gradual approach to the more complex methods of construction. In this way the students are able to secure gradual control of the machine, and, at the same time, they can produce usable articles. Another element which enters into the train- ing in machine control in power operating classes is the opportunity for numerous repetitions of a constructive process which results from the use of the " factory system " of making garments. This means that a girl will carry through one constructive process several times ; for example, stitching the seams of many sleeves before attempting the more complicated problem of putting on a cuff.
Both of these methods of teaching machine technic — the making of garments by machine construction and the use of the " factory " method — can be carried into classes using foot or small motor-driven machines, if skill in ma- chine construction and control seems a desirable aim in sewing courses. Work of this kind requires not only a large number of sewing machines, but also some motive for making a large number of simple garments and some method of securing materials for them. The making of garments for institutions or relief organizations is the most usual method of providing for the latter requirement. The mak- ing of children's garments to be sold at the school or in the shops has been carried out quite successfully in several high schools.
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Garment Construction. Descriptions or instructions how to make different seams, finishes of edges, plackets, methods of putting on trimmings, and similar problems con- stitute a large part of the subject matter considered in sew- ing courses and in text-books on garment making. The analysis and decision on the form of construction and on the method of making that is best adapted to a particular fabric or situation are the types of problems which are constantly arising in clothing courses. Since garment construction is so important an element in sewing courses, the methods used in teaching this topic are most important.
The fabrics and the methods of construction used in clothing are being changed constantly. This means that a girl must not only know and be able to carry out a number of constructive processes, but she must be trained to ob- serve and discriminate slight differences in construction and to select or devise the methods of construction that should be used in a particular situation. Instruction in garment construction, therefore, should be of a type that will give her experiences of this kind in the classroom. A class that has worked out the different methods of making plackets through a study of those found in their own clothing will be far more intelligent about placket making than a group that has been " given directions " for making different plackets. Even when a class has too little experience to handle a problem requiring comparative analysis, the methods of making the seam or placket selected by the teacher should be developed by the class itself rather than by directions given to them. The practice of planning a definite method of construction to be used on a particular garment and of requiring all the class to use the same method results in uniformity in class work, but loss in prob- lem solving. If a class has had experience in working out different methods of construction, there seems little value
Ii6 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
in a rigid requirement of a single method when selection should be based on variations in the quality and kind of fabrics and trimmings that are being used by the class.
Many of the forms of construction found in sewing classes are seldom seen in ready-made clothing, and many forms of ready-made construction are not taught in sewing classes. Ready-made construction is machine construction. It represents generally the quickest methods. Many of these methods can be carried out on a household sewing machine by the use of machine attachments, while others, such as hemstitching, require a special machine. The survival of methods of construction that are difficult or time consuming is certainly not justified unless they add greatly to the ap- pearance or durability of a garment. Short cuts and quick methods must be used by the home seamstress or dressmaker if she is to assign a fair wage value for her time.
The methods of construction that will be used by a class are largely controlled by the garments that are being made. Construction in dressmaking is quite different from plain sewing, and construction used on a plain shirt waist is quite different from that used on a sheer waist. In the desire to give a class experience with all types of construc- tion, some clothing teachers require the making of garments that have no relation to the desires or use of the students. Rigid adherence to a particular sequence in the garments that are made is another way in which the selection of garments may be unadapted to the needs of a class. An illustration of the latter practice is seen in the requirement of underwear making before waists and skirts are attempted in secondary school courses. The experience of many teachers has been that the increased interest of the class when the course started with a plain waist resulted in a rate of progress that could not be secured by the more con- ventional sequence of garments.
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Repair of clothing. The repair of clothing is included in some courses and not in others. This difference in emphasis is due to the realization that darning and patch- ing offer less opportunity than the making or remodeling of clothing for planning and working out problems and, also, that they often require a good deal of hand skill. The earlier sewing courses gave much importance to this problem and included many methods of repair that required skilled handwork, such as the overhand, seamed, and napery patches, as well as the simpler mending prob- lems of stocking darning, cloth darning, and hemmed patch. The chief difficulties encountered in teaching mending and darning are the lack of interest on the part of the children and inability to obtain garments which require the amount and kinds of mending suited to the skill of the class. This inability has resulted in the use of a formal method of teaching mending on samplers. Though such a method gives knowledge of mending processes, no study is made of the different ways in which a torn garment would be repaired under various circumstances, which is essential if mending is to be made a practical problem.
Patterns. The amount and type of pattern study will vary greatly in sewing courses of different length and differ- ent types. In short courses, the making of patterns should be subordinated to a study of patterns, while in a longer course students should have experience in all methods of pattern making. In courses that aim to give training in the higher wage-earning abilities of fitting and designing, pattern study should assume greater importance than in courses that are emphasizing skill in the making of simple garments.
In most schools the study of patterns is not undertaken as a special problem. As each garment is made, a short time is given to the study of the commercial patterns that
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are being used or to the making of a pattern. If pattern study is to result in ability to make original patterns or to understand the principles that govern the shape of patterns, it should be taught as a special topic and the attention of the class should be centered on these problems.
Use and selection of patterns. The use and selection of patterns are important problems in sewing courses. It is comparatively simple to teach the use of patterns. This topic includes: (i) the study of such general problems as the proper position of warp and weft threads in the dif- ferent pieces of which a garment is made, the influence of the nap and pattern of a fabric on the placing of a pattern on the cloth, etc. ; (2) some experience in the placing of patterns on cloths of different widths and kinds; (3) ex- perience in reading and interpreting the directions given on commercial patterns; (4) some study of the shapes of the different pieces used in the construction of garments; and (5) the different ways of changing patterns to suit different measurements. The use of patterns is an elemen- tary problem, and a study of this topic should precede any attempts at pattern making.
The basis for intelligent selection and adaptation of pat- terns is an understanding of the essentials of a good pattern for any garment and the modifications of patterns that are needed for persons with different types of figures. These are problems that may be studied either through the making of patterns or through a comparative study of commercial patterns. Though the making of patterns gives greater emphasis to such a study, it is possible to illustrate most of the points that must be considered in selecting a pattern by demonstrating on a form or on different members of the class the effects produced by modifications in the shape of patterns.
Pattern making. Pattern making is a secondary school
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problem ; it should not be undertaken until after a class has had some experience in the use of patterns for different gar- ments. Though pattern making of some kind is found in most sewing courses, its purpose has not always been under- stood. To many teachers, it is merely a means of securing patterns for a class to use in their sewing. Because of this attitude, pattern making in many courses has become a mechanical exercise that gives students no ability to make original patterns and no understanding of the fundamental characteristics of patterns. In the making of clothing of unusual or special design, the ability to make patterns is essential. Commercial pattern makers offer great variety in designs, but the distinctive touch or the unusual detail must always be given by the dressmaker or designer. Experience in pattern making should give students more freedom in costume designing and more certainty of carrying out a design accurately.
Patterns are made by drafting, by free-hand cutting, by modeling and draping, and some experience in all of these methods should be included in a complete course in pattern making, as each method requires quite different technic. These different ways of making patterns are necessitated by the characteristics of fabrics and by the effects required by different garments. Garments of conventional design, such as underwear and simple dresses and tailor made suits, which need firm fabrics and accurately placed seams, are usually made from drafted patterns ; cloth and silk costumes which show a wider variation in design are generally mod- eled ; and costumes of soft clinging fabrics are draped.
Pattern making has been interpreted narrowly in most secondary school courses, and drafting is the only type of work that is used universally. While the making of pat- terns by modeling with paper or cloth on a dress form is found in a few courses, modeling has not been given the
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emphasis that it deserves. This has been caused both by lack of equipment and by failure to appreciate its value. Though the expense of equipping a clothing laboratory with standard dress forms for each girl is great, it is always possible to require each girl to provide her own dress form. Methods can be devised for making these at small cost. If the practical uses of dress forms are emphasized, students will be more interested in making a well-constructed form that can be used for class work in pattern making and in fitting and then kept for home use. Draping is a form of pattern making used only in advanced dressmaking. It is a laboratory exercise of costume design rather than of sew- ing courses.
In most schools each method of pattern making is taught in a different course. This isolation of the various ways of making patterns is unfortunate. Modeling and drafting are mutually helpful, and students who have had an oppor- tunity to make and compare drafted and modeled patterns for skirts and waists will have a better understanding of the need for accurate and carefully placed lines in a pat- tern and of the relation of lines drawn on a flat paper to the seams placed on a figure. The ability to cut free-hand patterns should be an outgrowth of drafting, and some ex- perience in making patterns for sleeves, collars, pockets, etc., by this quicker method should be included in all draft- ing courses.
Drafting. Drafting is the drawing of patterns on paper or cloth from measurements taken from the figure. There is almost no other form of work in sewing classes about the value of which there is so much disagreement. It is used in some schools for all garments made in the elementary and secondary school grades, while in others all garments are made from commercial patterns. These represent the extremes, while between them lies the more usual practice
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of giving two or three drafting problems in the ninth or tenth grade. The discussion of the value of drafting should be based on its usefulness to the girl in her home sewing and on its economy or value as a teaching method as con- trasted with other ways of teaching the same facts or principles.
The practical value of drafting as a method of making patterns has been much over-estimated. Because of its com- plexity, it allows little flexibility in the design of garments unless used by a person who has had wide experience in making and using patterns. As a result, only such basic patterns as shirt waist, plain skirt, and underwear are drafted in sewing classes. These can be used with only minor modifications through several years. This means that the highly specialized technic of drafting patterns will be so seldom needed in home sewing that few girls will remember clearly enough the details of making them ever to use this ability.
Another practical value claimed for drafting is that its use will enable a girl to make patterns for unusual figures. Unless the drafting system that is taught uses actual meas- urements for both the position and the length of the lines of the pattern, drafted patterns will be as conventional in outline as commercial patterns. An examination of the drafting systems used in schools will show that in most of them the drawings are based on " average " variations, and many of the measurements that are used are proportions of a limited number of basic measures, such as the length of the back, bust, chest, and neck measurements.
It is as a method of teaching the shape of the parts of a pattern and its variations that the use of drafting in school work should be justified. Though it is possible to study patterns without requiring drafting, the making of draw- ings gives a motive for a more detailed study, and furthers
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exact observations of small variations in shape. A girl who has had to draw a neck curve should be more critical of the shape of necks in patterns than if she had not had this experience. If drafting is to be most valuable, it should be so taught that the principles underlying the shape of the parts of patterns are emphasized rather than the drawing itself. Unfortunately, in most of the drafting taught in the schools, the attention of the students is centered entirely on the details of making the drawing, and no explanation is given of the reason for using a particular measurement or for drawing the lines of a pattern in a certain way. This may be due to the use of an inadequate drafting system which cannot be explained or to the use of a dictation method of teaching. The use of letters and numbers to designate lines and the points from which lines are drawn also tends to center attention on the mechanics of drawing.
Fitting. Fitting and pattern making are very closely related, as modeling and draping are both fitting processes. Many of the problems that must be considered in fitting, such as the position of seams, ways of adjusting material to counteract defects of figure and of handling various fabrics, etc., can be demonstrated by the teacher, but the most important element of the acquisition of skill in fitting is to give the class experience in fitting with a variety of materials and a number of different figures. It is easy to give such training if a class has dress forms on which to work.
In many schools the only fitting done by the class is on the waists and dresses that they are making. This allows not only very limited experience in adjusting materials to a figure, but it also usually results in individual rather than class teaching. When fitting is studied as a special topic, it is made a class problem. This means great economy of the instructor's time and more assurance that each member
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of the class will understand all of the principles of fitting. Furthermore, the students will really have experience in fitting, which is not always the case in sewing courses. The necessity of turning out a usable product makes it a con- stant temptation to a skilled instructor to do the fitting herself rather than to let the girls experiment, for this often results in getting the materials in bad shape. An- other difficulty in doing the first work in fitting on actual garments is that a certain amount of this fitting must be done on the person for whom the garment is being made. This means that a girl must fit her neighbor rather than herself, and her lack of skill makes a difficult problem.
Handwork. Domestic art, household art, or sewing courses, as they are variously called, include not only the making and selection of clothing, but also experience in doing various types of handwork, such as weaving, knitting, crocheting, cord work, basketry, and decorative needle-work. These activities, with others, such as woodworking and card- board construction, generally called manual training, and clay modeling, usually associated with the art department, constitute the industrial arts activities that are used in the early grades in order to give children acquaintance with constructive materials and processes, to stimulate thinking along constructive lines, and to teach good structural and decorative designs. The value of any one of these types of handwork is in direct proportion to the practical value of the activity, its similarity to the adult activities of the com- munity, its relation to the interests of the children, and the degree to which it requires constructive thinking and plan- ning. Measured by these standards, the value of a par- ticular hand problem will vary greatly under different cir- cumstances. Many teachers of handwork give undue importance to the acquisition of a special technic or to a particular form of handwork. This is seen in the over-
I24 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
emphasis given to cord work, basketry, and weaving in various localities, for in many cases their use has no relation to the interest or needs of the particular group. Construc- tive activities related to classroom or group interests or to such problems as the construction of illustrative material to be used in other classes, such as properties for a dramatic class, buildings and costumes for history courses, or equip- ment for science courses, have a vitality not to be secured by the formal completion of a problem in embroidery, woodworking, or clay modeling, prescribed and developed by the instructor.
Several of the types of handwork are more definitely related to the technic of sewing than are others. The use of applied design problems in needle-work in the early grades is valuable not only because of the opportunity that such work offers to carry out a design with actual materials, but also because it starts the use of the needle and thread under the most favorable conditions. The large stitch and the mechanical advantages of the coarse textured materials, generally used for these problems, are both elements that make for ease in muscular control of the needle and thread and for judgment of even and uneven spacing of stitches. The necessity for studying good spacing and making work- ing plans for these problems are other elements which make decorative needle- work an effective form of handwork.
Weaving on small or large looms is another type of handwork that is supposed to offer a special contribution to sewing courses. While weaving may be as valuable as any other form of handwork for securing muscular control and acquaintance with and interest in materials, its specific contribution to clothing courses seems to be in its ability to illustrate the interlacing of threads in a woven fabric as a basis for the explanation of warp, weft, and selvedge, and to give some experience in the technic of making a
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woven darn. Since a knowledge of warp and weft can be secured far less laboriously through raveling a sample of cloth, or by using paper mats or other illustrative material, the use of weaving for this purpose seems hardly justified. Furthermore, it seems to make little difference in the ease of teaching mending whether a class has had weaving or not. Both large and small loom weaving give an oppor- tunity to study good spacing in border design and give experience in the adaptation of designs to the limitations prescribed by the nature of the weaving process and of the mechanical appliances used in weaving.
Knitting and crocheting are forms of handwork that are often used in sewing courses. They represent two hand technics that offer very little opportunity for constructive planning. After a short period of making muscular adjust- ments, these processes become mechanical and their value as educational material decreases. While the value of learn- ing to knit and crochet may be great enough under some conditions to make these school problems, the use of school time for extended practice in knitting and crocheting is distinctly undesirable. The teaching of knitting during the war when ability to knit represented not only an achieve- ment that had a definite value in the community, but that also gave to the children an opportunity to express their patriotic interest illustrates a legitimate use of handwork of this type. Crocheting is used in some secondary school courses as an applied design problem. Under these circum- stances the value of the activity should be judged on its effectiveness as a medium for the application of design rather than on the educational value of the activity itself.
These handwork problems may be offered in special courses as part of the manual arts, or they may be given as special topics throughout the sewing course. The use of one or more problems in decorative needle- work in each
126 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
year of the elementary school sewing course is a usual practice. The design for these problems may be developed in the art department and constitute the practical application of the principle of design that is being studied in the grade. Unfortunately, some home economics teachers are more concerned with the teaching of embroidery stitches than with application of designs, and many of the needle-work problems are decorated rather than designed. This is a serious loss of an opportunity to train students away from over-elaboration.
PROBLEMS
1. What kind of material should be given in a sewing
text-book to be used by a class in which knowledge of all methods of construction is developed through ex- periment and discussion?
2. Outline all the arguments for starting a sewing class on
hand problems rather than on machine problems. What sequence would you use in presenting the different stitches ?
3. What machine technic problems would you use in an
elementary sewing course of 144 lessons offered in the sixth and seventh grades and in a half-unit course in sewing in the ninth grade? How much ready-made construction would you teach in this last course?
4. What conditions in a school would make you spend the
maximum amount of time on clothing repair? Dis- cuss clothing repair as a secondary school problem.
5. What type of work in sewing will be most profitable
for classes in the following schools?
(a) Elementary school in poorer section of a large city.
(b) A rural school.
(c) An elective course in a general high school.
6. Outline the subject matter that would be included in
making fitting a special topic. How much time would you allow for such a study?
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7. What type of pattern making should be used and how much time should be given to it in the following cases ? (a) Ninth grade sewing course, consisting of 90 les- sons.
(&) Beginning and advanced sewing courses, ninth and tenth grades, 360 lessons.
8. How would you plan a drafting lesson in order to use a problem method in teaching it?
9. Explain the purpose and value of teaching embroidery stitches in sewing classes. What types of learning are involved in this problem ?
10. Which forms of handwork used in home economics courses present the greatest opportunity for construc- tive thinking?
Supplementary References
W. W. Charters. The Teaching of the Common Branches. Handi- crafts, Chapter VIII. Houghton Mifflin Co.
F. N. Freeman. How Children Learn, Chapter X. Houghton Mifflin Co.
A. K. Hanna. Pattern Making. Introduction. Macmillan Co.
K. Murdock. The Measurement of Certain Elements of Hand Sew- ing. Contributions to Education, No. 103. Teachers College* Columbia University.
Home Economics in American Schools. Supplementary Educa- tional Monographs, Vol. II, No. 6. Chicago: University of Chicago.
CHAPTER VI THE SELECTION OF CLOTHING
OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTER
TEACHING PROBLEMS.
Laboratory exercises. TEXTILES.
Textile laboratory exercises. COSTUME DESIGN.
Color and design in costume.
Style and historic costume.
Original designs. HYGIENE OF CLOTHING. THE CLOTHING BUDGET. MILLINERY.
Clothing selection has received much less attention in home economics courses than sewing or the making of clothing. In most schools selection problems are consid- ered in the study of textiles, costume design, and the cloth- ing budget, topics that are included with practical sewing in what is known as a clothing course. Unfortunately, many teachers do not emphasize selection in these courses. The study of textiles is often only a study of fibers and textile manufacturing processes, not of textile values, and the emphasis in costume design is on the making of designs rather than on the design problems involved in the selection of clothing. This has been due to failure to recognize that ability to select clothing may be as desirable an objective of clothing courses as ability to make clothing. With the steady expansion of the ready-made clothing industry and the continual improvement in its products, it would seem
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that for some if not for all groups of students instruction in clothing should emphasize clothing selection.
Intelligent selection of clothing involves three factors: (i) knowledge and appreciation of clothing values, such as knowledge of quality in fabrics and of standards of workmanship in construction; (2) appreciation of color, good design and cut in garments, and ability to select cloth- ing adapted to the characteristics of a particular person; (3) realization of the social and economic problems in- volved in clothing expenditures. Since much of the subject matter used in giving training in clothing selection is found in textiles, costume design, and clothing costs and budgets, these constitute the three main divisions of clothing selec- tion. This material should be so taught, however, that it is seen in, relation to such practical problems as the selection of hats, suits, coats, and other articles, study of the suit- ability of clothes for different purposes, study of style in clothing, study of standards of dressing, etc.
Teaching Problems. The extent to v|Jiich the making of clothes is an essential element of efficient selection of clothes is an interesting question about which there is a great variety of opinion. It is evident that the mere acts of cutting, sewing, and putting together a garment do not give a magical insight into the principles of garment selection. It is only through centering the attention of the class on the special points essential to good selection that results can be secured. The real issue is whether these points can be taught without the use of laboratory experi- ence in making garments or whether such experience will give greater vitality to the study and keener insight into the problems.
Experience in garment making should contribute to knowledge of good workmanship in construction, but it is possible to make a critical study of the construction of
i3o HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
different grades- of ready-made garments without requiring the actual making of seams, plackets, hems, tucks, etc. While a study of the lines, cut, and fit of garments can also be carried out as an observation problem, the type of appreciations involved here is far more complex than that required for the simpler problem of appreciating good con- struction. A greater variety of illustrative material and some form of laboratory experience are required In order to show the significance of small variations in lines or cut. Ability to fit a garment and to recognize good lines and cut are such specialized problems that they may be taught as a special topic isolated from the complete making of a gar- ment. Modeling and draping with paper and cloth on a form, combined with experience in refitting and altering stock sizes in ready-made clothes to suit the different needs of the members of the class, illustrate laboratory methods which do not require the making of a complete garment or skill in a great variety of constructive and hand processes. Yet the making of garments necessitates discrimination in the choice of fabrics, in the selection of good proportions for seams, hems, etc., and in making plans for trimmings and finishings, and such experience should contribute to appreciation of good value and design in clothing.
Another point that should be noted in regard to the re- lation of making and selection of clothing is that the under- wear and plain waists and skirts made in most sewing classes do not furnish a type of laboratory experience that is of great value in the selection of tailor-made suits, coats, wraps, silk dresses, hats, shoes, etc. A study of clothing values should be broad enough to include all of these articles.
Laboratory exercises. The teaching of clothing selec- tion, like the teaching of food selection, necessitates actual experience in making choices as well as study of the ele- ments of good choice. This creates a difficult problem, for,
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while it is comparatively simple to secure illustrative ma- terial from which choices may be made from the lunchroom or cooking classes, good illustrative material for clothing courses is not so easy to find. The following laboratory and observation problems illustrate some of the ways in which students may be given an opportunity to form judg- ments on clothing values :
1. Knowledge and judgment of qualities in fabrics and of good color and fabric combinations should be secured from actual materials. The pieces of cloth used for this purpose must be large enough to show the characteristics of the material easily and to admit draping on a form to illustrate the possibility of combining with other fabrics. A collection of such lengths of a great variety of fabrics should be part of the equipment of all clothing laboratories, and in order to include the newer fabrics, it should be augmented constantly by gifts or purchases. A class study- ing color and fabric combinations should be given practical problems, such as the selection of fabrics for a special gar- ment for a particular member of the class, or the selection of materials to use in combination with other fabrics. In most sewing classes such choices are made individual rather than class problems, with consequent loss of the diversity of suggestions that will come when a number of girls are working intelligently on the same problem.
2. In most clothing classes little use is made of the girls' own clothing in teaching appreciation and understand- ing of becomingness and the adaptation or lack of adaptation of designs to different individuals. Since each girl gener- ally wears what she or her mother thinks is becoming to her, it is always difficult to study and criticize the clothes that she wears. It is possible, however, to use different girls as models and try on them hats, coats, and even dresses and waists belonging to several other members of
132 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
the class. In this way it is possible to illustrate why a particular shaped brim or a certain size of crown is more becoming to a girl or why certain colors are effective on one person and unattractive on another.
3. Where field trips or observation and report projects can be arranged, the study of clothing exhibits in the shops is most valuable. Since many of the decisions as to what a girl does or does not want in her new dress, suit, or coat are formed from what she sees on people or in the shops, some study under direction of the clothes seen in the shops should lead to more intelligent judgments.
4. Carefully organized experiments to decide on the wearing quality of different grades in articles of clothing should also be included in clothing selection courses. The experiment itself would be carried out in the homes of the girls after class discussion of the problems involved and selection of the articles to be tested. The particular form of the experiment might be made a class or an individual problem. Classroom laboratory work in the testing of textiles should be made a part of this project.
Textiles. Textiles may be taught in a separate course, as a major topic in a general clothing course, or inciden- tally as a minor topic in a sewing course. The last of these is the most usual plan, and textile lessons are based on materials being used by the class. A not uncommon but a most ineffective practice is to study each fiber (cotton, wool, silk, linen) in a different year. An intensive study of textiles with laboratory exercises and observation and re- port problems is a more effective method to use for sec- ondary school courses, especially when ability to select fabrics is the purpose of the study. In many schools work in textiles is limited to a study of the dress and underwear materials used in sewing classes. Since these constitute but a portion of the fabrics used in clothing, some consideration
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of the special values to be noted in the purchase of hand- kerchiefs, stockings, hats, coats, etc., should be included in all courses that emphasize clothing selection.
The subject matter consists of four general divisions: (i) the study of textile fibers and of the manufacturing processes by which textiles are made; (2) textile values; (3) textile designs, color, dyes, and dyeing; (4) the effects on fabrics of cleansing agents. Manufacturing processes have been more emphasized in textile courses than a study of textile values. This has been due largely to a greater amount of available material on this aspect, which has increased the ease of giving accurate information, and to the comparative simplicity of teaching facts in regard to the making of fabrics as compared with developing dis- crimination in the selection of fabrics. While the study of manufacturing processes has involved in some cases merely the consideration of the primitive processes used in the preparation of textile fibers and in the making of yarn and fabrics, in other cases it consists of a detailed study of modern methods of yarn making and fabric weaving and finishing.
It is evident that the purpose of teaching manufacturing processes must vary in different courses. In the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades textile topics consist mainly of a study of the textile fibers and of the fundamental processes involved in the making of fabrics. The selection of this aspect for these grades is based on children's interest in manufacturing processes, on the ease of correlation with the history and geography of these grades, and on the opportunity that it offers for working out the principles underlying the processes used in one of the fundamental industrial activities — the making of cloth. Such a study of textiles has many characteristics in common with the study of other industrial activities, such as paper, glass,
134 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
and concrete making. The fact that most of the processes in making yarn and fabrics are mechanical rather than chemical has made it possible to use this material for chil- dren in the lower grades. This study of industrial processes serves its chief purpose in increasing interest and intelligent thinking about the materials of daily life.
In the upper grades, the study of manufacturing proc- esses is included in textiles for a more practical purpose — to assist in the discrimination of textile values. Appreci- ation of quality in fabrics may be increased by knowledge of the manufacturing processes through which the fabric passes, if the attention of the class is directed to the par- ticular problems in manufacturing which affect value, such as those that influence the evenness, gloss, strength, and fineness of yarns or the durability of fabrics, rather than to the mere acquisition of facts in regard to the processes in making yarn, and the mechanics of weaving. Modern textile machinery is so complex that it is extremely difficult to give a study of machine processes any meaning. Fur- thermore, it is quite possible to understand such problems as the distinction between cotton and lisle thread and woolen and worsted yarns without going into all the details of the processes of carding, combing, and spinning.
In the study of textiles, manufacturing processes may be approached from two standpoints. The first begins with the preparation of fibers, followed by a study of the prin- ciples of yarn making and weaving, and last a study of fabrics and fabric finishes. This method, while it presents a logical development of the making of materials, requires some consideration of many processes which have little sig- nificance to the purchaser of fabrics. The second method starts with the finished material. In the analysis of good and poor quality in different types of fabrics and in the study of fabrics used by the students that have or have not
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worn well, the points in their making that influence value can be easily demonstrated, such as the influence of quality and length of fibers, tightness of twist in yarns, or type of weave. This method of approach not only emphasizes textile values, but also greatly increases the interest of stu- dents. Another advantage of starting from the finished fabrics is that greater emphasis will be put on the weave and finish, for knowledge of these two processes has much more value to a purchaser of materials than knowledge of fiber and yarn preparation.
In order that the study of textiles shall result in more intelligent purchasing, it should include some study of the grades of each material to be found in the shops and some analysis of their value in terms of cost as related to wear- ing qualities and appearance. It is difficult to make the study of the cost of materials interesting. If this topic is made one of the problems included in the analysis of the cost of ready-made clothing, it will have some significance. To look up and report on the prices of dimity, lawn, and barred muslin has little interest as compared with making a study of the relation of the cost of the materials to the price of different ready-made summer dresses. There is a motive for studying prices in one case and there is none in the other.
Textile laboratory exercises. The identification of the fibers found in different materials is one of the laboratory problems used in most textile courses. In some cases, this includes only the simple physical tests of burning, breaking, and resistance to crushing, whHe in other courses identifica- tion with chemical tests and the compound microscope are required. The physical tests are not only simple to use, but they are the methods of identification used by a pur- chaser of fabrics. Students should have enough classroom experience in using these tests to identify at once the fibers
136 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
in almost any material submitted to them. Chemical tests are often used because they are spectacular and increase in- terest. They can be most valuable, however, if used to prove or disprove decisions reached by less exact methods, such as the " feel " of a fabric or of judgments formed from the general appearance of the fabric. Such points as the percentage of cotton in a mixed fabric or the identifi- cation of tussah or artificial silks can be more profitably shown by chemical tests. Other laboratory exercises are:
(1) the analysis of the weave or other methods of making the pattern of fabrics from a large assortment of samples ;
(2) tests for the action of cleansing agents; (3) tests for fading, tensile strength, and wear under different conditions ; and (4) experience in making choices for certain specified purposes from samples of different kinds and grades of materials.
Costume Design. In many schools no attempt is made to group into a special topic or course all the problems that have to do with the design and color of clothing. Such problems are included in the sewing courses. A certain amount of teaching of good design in fabrics and trim- mings, good color combinations, the best lines to use for certain figures, shapes of necks, collars, and similar prob- lems must be part of an effective and intelligently taught sewing course. This illustrates the incidental use of cos- tume design topics that is found in both elementary and secondary school courses. Though such work is suggestive and valuable, it does not give students a fundamental under- standing of the problems of costume design such as can be given in an intensive study of costume carried through a number of weeks.
Half-unit courses in costume design are offered in a few high schools. These are generally given as art rather than as clothing courses, though in a few cases teachers of
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clothing have organized costume design courses of this length. When the work in clothing is too limited to allow for such an extensive study, the most significant problems in costume design may be organized into a major topic covering three to nine weeks' work.
The content of costume design courses and the methods of teaching these courses have been influenced in a large measure by the fact that they have been so generally taught as art courses. Their aims have been identical with those of general design courses: to increase appreciation and knowledge of what is intrinsically good in clothing as judged by art standards, and to give some experience in the creation of original designs that will illustrate the prin- ciples which are taught. The identification of costume de- sign with the art department has emphasized the use of drawing and water color as mediums for illustrating cos- tume problems rather than the more logical and practical method of using fabrics draped and modeled on a figure. Another characteristic of these courses is that the organiza- tion of topics is based on the study of the principles of design and color rather than on such concrete problems as the selection of a coat, hat, or dress, or the study of style. As in other subjects when principles are emphasized rather than applications, the practical results of such a course are disappointing unless it is given as a basis for the study of practical selection or designing problems in a later course.
While the main purpose of all costume design courses is to develop appreciation of good design in clothes, they are expected also to give ability in a variety of activities: ability to select a coat, hat, or dress that has good design and color, and lines adapted to the individual; ability to create designs to be used in the making of gowns, suits, etc. ; ability to make usable working drawings and sketches of costumes. It is evident that in the short time given to
138 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
costume design in the schools it is impossible to give power in all of these, and the most important problem in the organization of such courses is to decide which of these activities will be of greatest value to the class in order to select the most effective type of class work.
Costume design includes four different kinds of work: (i) study of color and design in costume and their adapta- tion to the individual; (2) study of style and historic cos- tume; (3) making original designs for different garments; (4) analysis of designs in ready-made garments and the choosing of clothing. All of these types of work may not be included in every study of costume design. Many courses emphasize the making of designs for use in the dressmaking classes, while others give greater attention to the study of ready-made clothing and its selection. All courses include some work in color, design as applied to costume, adaptation of designs to the individual, and historic costume.
Color and design in costume. Water colors are used in many costume design courses to illustrate values in color and color combinations. Though such work is most sug- gestive, and gives an opportunity to show quickly the pro- portions of different colors that are most effective in a com- plete design, the impossibility of actually representing the intensity and value of the colors in fabrics limits the use- fulness of this medium. Discrimination in the analysis of color and in the influence of texture on color combinations can be secured only by a study of color in fabrics, for the identical color mixture in chiffon, satin, and velvet produces the effect of a different color value. This is a most sig- nificant factor in making a design for a gown. An oppor- tunity to analyze the color of many materials on a color wheel and to select the amount and quality of color that will be most effective with different materials should be part of the laboratory work of all costume design courses.
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One of the most difficult problems to teach is the analysis of the individual coloring of the members of a class, and the selection of colors that are becoming and that will enhance any attractive feature of their coloring. Unfortunately, in many courses the emphasis in this type of work has been placed on the prohibition of certain colors for special types of coloring rather than on making a study of the particular value and quality of each color that can be used most effectively by each individual. This has inhibited rather than extended intelligent use of color. In the desire to teach the selection of colors that are becoming, the pictorial value of color in clothes seen at a distance and against different backgrounds is not given the consideration that this problem should have.
A well-planned and harmonious costume illustrates the general principles of design as effectively as any other form of constructive work. The study of costume design may be used as a means of introducing students to these prin- ciples, or this course may follow one in general design. The growth of appreciation of art values is slow, and unless the costume design course is extensive enough to allow a fairly comprehensive study of design, it is almost essential that students should have some experience in working with color and design before attempting to study their applica- tions in costume. A strong elementary school art course should give the basis for study of costume topics in the eighth grade and in the high school.
Illustrations of good and poor examples of space divi- sion, proportion in different parts of a garment, dominat- ing lines, balance, and similar principles can be seen in drawings in fashion books, in clothing worn by members of the class, and in the shops and on the street. The most usual method of studying these problems in the classroom is through class study of exhibit material accumulated by
140 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
the teacher or by the class, and individual work in analyzing drawings in fashion books or in making drawings. To teach a class to make well-proportioned and lifelike draw- ings of full face or three-quarters face figures takes so much time and skill with a pencil that there seems little justification for the requirement of ability to make such drawings in most costume design courses. If it seems de- sirable or necessary for a class to illustrate different design problems by drawings, they can be given mimeographed copies of a satisfactory standard figure on which to repre- sent the problem that they are studying. Figures traced from shadow silhouettes of the members of the class are most useful in studying the adaptation of designs to dif- ferent types of figures.
Style and historic costume. In the selection of ready- made clothing there are three elements which mainly influ- ence choices : color, kind and quality of material, and what is known as the style of the garment. This last term is used rather loosely to designate both the distinction of the design on which the garment is planned and its concurrence with the type of designs that are elected as the current fashion. Both of these elements must be considered in the study of style, for with the quick response of the ready-made cloth- ing industry to every vagary of fashion, good selection is based on ability to discriminate what constitutes a good de- sign in the " latest thing," as well as on general appreciation of good design in clothing.
The study of the designs of the prevailing fashion should be based on an analysis of the fashions of several successive years. This should include study of the silhouettes and of the characteristic lines, cut, fabrics, types of decoration, and center of interest in different garments. It should also include a study of the basis of typical costume styles, his- toric, national, and occupational. Historic and national cos-
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tume is made a much more interesting topic when ap- proached through a study of adaptations of these styles in present costumes, rather than through a chronological study of the costumes of different periods. Study of modern adaptations of historic costume and of current styles re- quires much carefully selected illustrative material and a large assortment of fashion books. These should be used not merely to illustrate the points brought out in class work, but as laboratory material for the use of the individual mem- bers of the class in selecting illustrations of particular prob- lems, such as examples of extreme styles, styles controlled by the principles of design, styles adapted to different types of figures, etc.
Original designs. The extent to which the making of original designs for dresses and waists should be required in costume design courses depends upon the opportunity that is given to carry out these designs in the actual making of clothes. It is almost impossible to show actual effects with a drawing, and even modeled designs are often modi- fied in tfie making of the garment. Unless a girl is really going to make clothes, she has no need for ability to make original designs, and when she does make them, she should have the opportunity to judge of the practicability or im- practicability of her own design.
The value of drawings in the making of original de- signs has been much over-estimated. When skill in repre- sentation is made an element of a costume design course, much time must be spent in learning the technic of repre- senting texture, folds, gathers, tucks, and other trimming details, as well as in the drawing of the figure in correct proportions. This is a highly specialized type of work, and its purposes should be clearly understood before its use is emphasized in secondary school courses. The power to make sketches to express ideas is most useful, especially
142 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
if such ability is constantly exercised through the demands of a vocation. There is comparatively little need for the making of drawings by the home dressmaker, but she does need to be able to interpret the drawings in fashion books.
In all costume design courses that are expected to con- tribute to ability to make clothes, some study of drawings in fashion books should be made. This should include con- sideration of the proportions of the figures used in different books and the effect of reproducing the same designs on the normal figures of the class. In order to reduce to the mini- mum the time spent by the class on making drawings, fig- ures traced from shadow silhouettes of the members of the class may be used as the foundation on which designs are to be reproduced. Some experience should be given also in reproducing characteristic drawings in paper or cloth modeled on a figure in order to see whether they are practi- cal working drawings or merely suggestive pictures. Any one who attempts to reproduce in fabrics a design from any of the standard fashion books finds that it is almost impossible to reproduce the effect that is pictured because the proportions of the drawn figure are wrong and many essential structural seams are eliminated in the drawing.
The most effective practical costume designing is that done on a dress form with fabrics. This is the only way to see the influence of the design, color, and texture of materials on the design or plan 'of the costume. In actual dressmaking most people select a general style or design that is adapted both to the individual and to the character of the materials that are to be used, and work out the de- tailed design on a form as they work with the material. If students can be given experience in designing with ma- terials on a form in a costume design course before they undertake an advanced dressmaking course, it will con- tribute greatly to their skill and originality in the latter course.
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It is somewhat difficult to plan for work of this type because it requires so much material of many varieties and grades. This should not be allowed to interfere with the use of this problem, however, as, in addition to class ma- terial that can be continuously reused, students are always interested enough in this work to bring many things from home to be designed in the class. Clothes that are to be remade offer a particularly valuable designing problem.
Hygiene of Clothing. The hygiene of clothing is one of the topics of clothing selection, though it may also be included in the study of family health and child care. As part of clothing selection, most of the hygiene problems may be discussed under textiles and under the study of style and suitability of clothing, though all this material may be grouped together as a special topic. The teaching of this topic consists usually of talks by the teacher and some ref- erence work. When it is studied in connection with the care of infants and children, exhibits of desirable types of clothing and demonstrations of the proper methods of dress- ing a baby are also used.
The most interesting part of this topic is the study of the relative desirability from the standpoint of health of the various fibers and types of materials used for different gar- ments. The interest of the students will be much increased by the use of a few experiments to show the physical char- acteristics of different materials, such as their power to absorb moisture, their permeability to air and moisture, their power to conserve or conduct heat, etc.
The Clothing Budget. The cost of clothing, the cloth- ing budget, and standards of dressing are topics that receive increasing emphasis in clothing courses. The study of the clothing budget has been rather perfunctory in many courses, and has been more concerned with the accumulation of data on the amount of money spent by the students for
144 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
different garments and the number of garments purchased each year than with the explanation of the social factors that influence expenditures. Information about actual ex- penditures by members of the class should be the basis for discussion of clothing costs and standards, since discussions based on these facts have more vitality than a theoretical study alone. It is often difficult to secure exact data, for false pride or vanity usually will lead to padding of budgets. This is not a serious problem, however, as class discussion should emphasize intelligent expenditure and should lead to the establishment of reasonable standards for clothing allow- ances of different sizes.
One of the most difficult topics to teach in clothing selec- tion is the establishment of standards of dressing — stand- ards in regard to reasonable and profitable expenditures for different types of garments and standards of appropriate- ness and beauty in clothing. Standards of dressing cannot be imposed. They are too closely related to the social standards and activities of different groups; yet every girl will consciously and intelligently or unthinkingly and imi- tatively establish her own standard of dressing. If during the period when clothes become a real interest of girls they are led to consider some of the social and economic prob- lems involved in the selection of their own clothing, it will give them the basis for establishing an intelligent standard for themselves. When all the members of the class come from families of about the same economic level, the study of clothing costs is much simplified, since class decisions on reasonable expenditure for hats, coats, dresses, and other articles will then represent usable standards for most of the class.
The discussion of the budget should include the two problems, the clothing budget for the family and the cloth- ing budget for the individual. When only a short time can
THE SELECTION OF CLOTHING 145
be given to this topic, an instructor should select the aspects that will have most significance to the girls with whom she is working. The following outline shows the different topics that should be considered in a comprehensive study of the clothing budget.
The Clothing Budget I. Clothes for the family.
A. Percentage of total family budget spent for clothes.
1. Standard allowance for different income groups.
2. Variations.
a. Climate: protection from weather.
b. Locality: city, town, country.
(1) Needs of the life.
(2) Emulation of other members of social group.
c. Size of family and age of members.
B. Division of budget within family group.
1. Ages and activities of different members of the family.
2. Changes in relative expenditures of father and mother in
different income groups ; reasons for this.
II. Clothes for the individual.
A. Percentage of wage to be used for clothes by girls in differ-
ent wage-earning activities: stenographer, clerk, bundle wrapper, etc.
1. Requirements of the job.
a. Actual needs.
b. Influence of good standards of dressing in getting a
job.
c. Social pressure of standards of other girls similarly
employed : wrong valuation, extravagances.
2. Relation of clothing expenditure to that for food, lodg-
ing, recreation, etc., at different wage levels.
3. Amount of time that a wage-earning girl can spend
profitably on purchasing, repairing, and making clothes.
B. Basis for expenditure for different articles.
i. Percentage of clothing budget to be spent for various
articles.
a. Division on basis of outside garments, underwear, accessories, and sundries.1
1 Clothing for the Family. Federal Board for Vocational Edu- cation, Bulletin No. 23, page 34.
146 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
b. Division on basis of dresses, coats, shoes, hats, etc. 2. Factors to be considered in deciding price of articles.
a. Standards of buying.
(1) Initial cost high, fabric good, style conservative on basis of two or three years' use.
(2) Initial cost low, style more extreme, fabric less good, to be used only for a single season.
(3) Initial cost high, style extreme, fabric good, a season's wear and then discarded.
b. Number of times articles are worn, and estimated price per wearing.
c. Relative price of ready-made and home-made gar- ments.
(1) Wage earned by home dressmaker.
(2) Extent of use of home-made clothing by the class and its influence on clothes allowance.
Articles always home-made. Articles often home-made. Articles always ready-made.
d. Other factors to be included in price paid.
(1) Cleaning and repairing.
(2) Cost of remodeling when bought for several seasons' wear.
(3) Cost of accessories to be worn with garment
C. Standards of expenditure of the class.
1. Adoption of reasonable budget for a schoolgirl.
2. Distribution of purchases through two or three years.
3. Establishment of the range of prices that should be used
by the class in buying different articles of clothing during the current year.
Study of the clothing budget to be effective must be given enough time to include well-planned observation prob- lems and reference reading. The accumulation of data in regard to the amounts and cost of clothing worn by the girls can be helped greatly by the use of carefully prepared blanks for recording all of the facts needed in the study. A formal record will not only make it easier to compare specific points in each budget, but it also will increase the importance given to the problem by the girls themselves,
THE SELECTION OF CLOTHING 147
particularly if the facts to be recorded and the character of the blank are decided upon by the class.
The study of the economic factors underlying the estab- lishment of the prices of clothing is another topic that is often included in clothing courses, though it seems more logical to include this in a general study of the cost of household commodities such as would be included in a study of purchasing.
Millinery. Millinery is almost universally given as a specialized course ; in most schools, in two short unit courses, summer millinery and winter millinery. It is offered with much less frequency than plain sewing or dressmaking; in the study1 made by Andrews it was found in the elementary schools one-tenth as often as plain sewing and one-sixth as often as dressmaking, and in the high schools one-seventh as often as plain sewing and one-fourth as often as dress- making.
Most of the millinery courses in the schools emphasize hat making rather than hat selection. These courses may include four or five different types of work: the making of hat shapes of wire or buckram with coverings of different materials; technical exercises in practice materials to show other methods of construction; the making of trimmings; the trimming of hats; a study of millinery materials and their care and renovation ; a study of art problems involved in hat design. The emphasis that is given to each of these varies greatly in different courses, but in most cases the technic of constructive processes and hand skill are the ele- ments emphasized rather than the more general problems of hat design.
There are several criticisms that may be made of milli- nery courses of the type outlined in the last paragraph. The most important is that such a course is better adapted to
1 Education for the Home. Bureau of Education, Bulletin 1914, No. 37.
148 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
the needs of a trade worker or to the girl with native ability in hat designing than to the needs of the average girl, who has never analyzed the shape and proportions of hats or observed the way various effects are obtained. Will not the girl who understands the problems of hat design be more apt to remodel her old hat or make a new one, even though she has less skill and must use commercial trim- mings and commercial shapes, than the girl whose training has emphasized constructive processes and hand skill ? The most effective millinery course for elementary and sec- ondary school classes would seem to be one which empha- sizes hat selection and designing with some experience in the most commonly used processes of hat making.
Another disadvantage of a millinery course that places its main emphasis on technical skill is that the inclusion of a large number of technical processes in a course generally results in the elimination of problem-solving methods of teaching and the use of explicit dictated directions for all work, with a consequent loss in the educational value of the course. Though it is possible to use a problem method of teaching constructive processes, as was noted on page 106, there are more problems involved in the study of the char- acteristics of different hat shapes, a selection topic, or in working out the best method of making an original hat shape, an advanced problem, than are to be found in the making of a plain wire frame, such as is found in millinery courses for beginners. Problem solving and hand skill may both be objectives of a course, but there can be only a limited accomplishment in each of them in the short time given to millinery courses, and as a result the teacher who is interested in technical skill usually emphasizes hand training.
Hat selection may be taught separately from hat mak- ing as part of a clothing selection or costume design course.
THE SELECTION OF CLOTHING 149
A fairly comprehensive study of hat selection is usually in- cluded in millinery courses planned for students who are specializing in millinery in the technical high schools. There is evidently need, however, for greater use of hat selection in all millinery courses. This topic, like other selection topics, is undoubtedly made more significant through some experience in working with materials. The analysis of the hats belonging to the students, the selection of shapes for different girls; the placing of trimming to show how dif- ferent effects can be produced, all are valuable. The fol- lowing outline gives the main sub-topics that should be included under hat selection :
1. Study of outlines, proportions, color, and lines of trimmed and untrimmed hats to show applications of good and poor design.
2. Study of the values of millinery textiles and trimmings as related to durability and cost.
3. Analysis of adaptation of hats to the individual.
4. The relation of the hat to the rest of the costume.
5. Study of the characteristics of current style and that of pre- ceding seasons.
PROBLEMS
1. For what groups of students would you advise giving a clothing course with the main emphasis on clothing selection ?
2. Outline the topics of a clothing selection course. How much time would you give to such a course and in what grade would you offer it ? What relation should it have to the sewing courses ?
3. Select some town or city in which you are thoroughly acquainted with the shopping facilities, and outline the methods that you would use to provide an opportunity for your class to see and study clothing for sale in the shops,
4. Outline some concrete textile problems that will be in- teresting enough to an eighth grade class so that they
ISO HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
will be led to look up manufacturing processes in order to solve the problems.
5. How much class time should be allowed for a compre- hensive study of the clothing budget? What methods of introducing this topic will assist in giving the right attitude towards the collection of data from the home and will enlist the cooperation of the mother?
6. Outline the topics of costume design that you would in- clude in a dressmaking course if no other work in cos- tume design were possible. How much work in drawing and water colors will you use ?
7. How much time does it require for a study of historic costume ?
8. How much work in millinery would you include in a ninth grade general clothing course ? What type of work would you use?
9. Is it possible to use a problem method in the study of the hygiene of clothing?
CHAPTER VII
THE HOUSE AND ITS SELECTION, PLANNING, DECORATION, AND CARE
OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTER
HOUSING.
House planning and selection.
Housing standards.
House plans and building construction.
Domestic architecture.
Cost of housing. HOUSE DECORATION.
Design in household furnishings.
Room plans and designs.
Quality and cost of furnishings. HOUSEWIFERY.
Cleaning processes.
Study of time value.
Repair of furnishings.
Laundry work.
Household mechanics.
Housing. House planning and house selection may be made major topics in a housing course, or the aesthetic, scientific, or social economic aspects of these topics may be studied separately in courses on house decoration, house sanitation, or household management. The selection of the site of the house and the heating, lighting, venti- lating, and plumbing are housing topics included in all house sanitation courses. Household management courses usually include a study of the business aspects of house selection, such as rentals, leases, advantages of ownership, etc. The architectural study of the house is often coordinated with the related art problems of furnishing and decorating the
152 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
home in a house decoration course. A comprehensive course on the house should consider all these aspects.
House planning and selection. The distinction between house planning and house selection is not clearly drawn in most courses, for some study of both of these is generally included. Such a distinction is valuable, however, as a means for defining more clearly the content of a course and as a basis for the choice of the topics that will be of most value to a particular group of students or for short courses. House selection is concerned with a study of housing stand- ards and values. Its purpose is to give practical assistance in the selection of a house or an apartment and to give an understanding of community housing problems and condi- tions. House selection places more emphasis on the estab- lishment of standards of health fulness, comfort, and con- venience as related to the rental that is paid than upon the establishment of art standards. House planning places greater emphasis on the architectural aspects; the study of plans and their making and the materials used in construc- tion. While this study serves its chief purpose in giving practical suggestions to the students who will undertake the building of a home, it should lead also to an interest in and appreciation of the good architecture of the com- munity and of the value of plans for beautifying the town or city.
Courses on the house have in many cases given much more emphasis to the study of plans than to the problems of selection. This has been due to the fact that the draw- ing of plans furnishes a practical laboratory problem which is always of interest to the students, and as a result the teaching has centered around this interest. House selection does not furnish so ready-made an interest, but a careful survey of the housing problems of the community will show many concrete problems that may serve as the basis for en-
THE HOUSE 153
thusiastic investigation and study. Emphasis on house se- lection, furthermore, does not mean the elimination of all drawing of plans, for a study of room arrangement is as vital a problem in the selection of a house as in the making of the original plan. The drawing of floor plans and ele- vations in a house planning course furnishes the concrete problems for the study of household architecture, while in a house selection course the drawing of plans becomes merely a laboratory exercise in the study of a smaller topic.
The extent to which house selection or house planning will dominate a course should depend on community needs and the purpose of the course. In rural, suburban, or small town communities where most of the families own their homes, quite a different situation is seen from that of a city where most of the students live in rented houses or apartments. While some experience in making plans that may be used for a new home or in remodeling the old home may be most valuable for the first group, a study of the problems to be considered in renting a house and of the essentials of good housing under city conditions are more important aspects for the urban group.
Housing standards. A course on the house should in- clude study of community housing problems and of the standards that are desirable for the particular locality. This means that field trips and individual investigations should be made an integral part of the course and that the projects and problems undertaken must be concerned with actual housing conditions. Observation of the sanitary condition of houses or apartments in different localities or a trip with a sanitary inspector will give real significance to a study of housing ordinances. A study of the actual rental paid in different parts of a town will show the influence of civic improvements and social evaluation on rents and the stand- ards of comfort and health fulness that can be secured for a specified amount.
154 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
The efficiency of a community is so closely associated with the sanitary conditions of dwelling places that the establishment of sanitary standards should be one of the main problems of housing courses. It is obvious that the type of work will vary greatly with the group that is being taught. The care and sanitary use of the house may be the point of emphasis needed by some groups, while a study of drainage, water supply, methods of disposal of waste, and similar topics may be of greater value to a rural group. Where sanitary standards are high and well defined in the minds of the girls, the work on this problem should emphasize community needs and standards in order to increase the civic interest of the class.
Courses in general science, biology, and hygiene gener- ally include a study of the scientific principles underlying good ventilation, the need of sunlight and a sanitary water supply, and the proper disposal of waste. The function of the housing course is to interpret these principles in terms of the size and position of windows, the use of ventilating devices, the relation of the heating plant to ventilation, the maintenance of dry, well- ventilated cellars, types of plumb- ing appliances, etc. When a study of these scientific prin- ciples is not included in other courses, it should be incor- porated in the housing course. The homes of members of the class and buildings in the process of construction or for rent should offer the concrete illustrations of different heating, plumbing, or ventilating systems.
House plans and building construction. The study of the size and arrangement of rooms, the arrangement of closet and storage space, the position of porches and en- trances, and similar problems is an important aspect of a housing course. The drawing of floor plans to illustrate an ideal arrangement is the method most often used in studying these problems. If house selection is emphasized,
THE HOUSE 155
the study of the floor plans of actual houses and of the various ways in which minor alterations might make them more comfortable and convenient furnishes a more profit- able method. Such problems as the drawing of detailed plans for built-in bookcases and china closets or for re- shelving closets or storage space give practical experience in a type of house planning that most homemakers use.
The size of the family and the activities of its mem- bers are important factors in the selection of a house. Study of the housing requirements of a family is often undertaken through the selection of an apartment or house at a certain rental that will fulfill the needs of a typical family decided upon by the class. This will necessitate field trips to in- vestigate available houses or apartments. The drawing of house plans that will meet the special requirements of dif- ferent families is another way of emphasizing this problem.
There are some points about building construction, such as weather-tight doors and windows, sound-proof and well- laid floors, substantial rails and supports on porches, quality of woodwork, etc., that should be considered by any one renting or buying a house. Such points should always be noted whenever a class is studying the actual value of various houses, but there seems to be no real need of making the study of building construction one of the major topics in a housing course.
Domestic architecture. A trip through almost any city, town, or country side will show the need of creating more general interest in architectural design. A study of domes- tic architecture may be made a logical part of the general work of the art department, or it may be associated with other housing problems in a house course. The average house illustrates two deficiencies : lack of distinction in the general design, and poor design in the details, such as size and shape of doors and windows, treatment of porches,
156 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
proportions of the roof, etc. A study of the types of archi- tecture used for houses, and of the principles of design that are the basis of good detail, must be included in any effec- tive course on domestic architecture.
Types or styles of architecture are generally studied from an historical approach. There is a wealth of illus- trative material in picture form which shows historic build- ings and modern adaptations of these types, and in many towns and cities there are excellent examples of period architecture. If the purpose of such work is merely to stimulate an interest in civic beauty, it may consist of one or two well-illustrated talks, in which as many local illus- trations as possible are used. More extended work, includ- ing the making of original plans for houses based on historic types and a thorough study of the characteristic details of each period, is undertaken in some courses. In many places the student will have practically no opportunity to see or judge buildings based on period architecture. It is evident that under such circumstances, information of this type, while it may be of interest to individual members of the class, will not be of great enough significance to most of them to make it a live problem. Historic architecture should not be studied just for information, but as a means for judging the excellence and beauty of buildings, and its chief purpose in secondary school courses is to stimulate interest and intelligent observation of good types of domes- tic architecture.
Both the exterior and interior of houses furnish illus- trations of the good and poor use of principles of design. Exercises in selecting and sketching examples of good de- sign that will make students analyze the architectural de- signs in their own houses are most valuable, for realization of what is really good among one's possessions or surround- ings is indispensable in developing aesthetic appreciation^
THE HOUSE 157
The cost of housing. The study of housing costs has not been emphasized in many courses. The reason is that such a study has no vitality unless it deals with actual costs, and it is more difficult for a class to secure information about the cost of house construction than about clothing or food costs. In some courses emphasizing house planning an attempt has been made to study the cost of building con- struction, such as the relative cost of frame, brick, concrete, and stucco houses, different heating systems, etc. The value of such work is very doubtful. It is a type of information which is useful only to the person who is actually going to build, and, furthermore, it necessitates a much more de- tailed study of building construction than is profitable for secondary school students.
The standards of housing that may be secured at definite rentals in different parts of the town or city and a study of the factors entering into the actual rent paid for a home are the cost topics that are likely to have the most value to all the students in a class. This last topic should include a study of the " rent " paid by the house owner, such as interest on investment, taxes, deterioration of buildings, changes in land values, etc., and of the factors which should be included by the householder in rent, such as janitor service, heating, water rates, essential transportation, etc. The rent costs in the girls' own homes and the cost of houses in their neighborhoods that are for sale or for rent should furnish the practical problems for these topics.
House Decoration. House decoration courses present many problems in common with costume design courses. There is the same need for appreciation and understanding of the principles of design as a basis for the judgment of good design in furnishings as in costumes, and there is the same need for working with practical problems and actual materials. The course in house decoration in many places
158 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
is offered by the art department rather than by the home economics department. In such a case it may be given as a special course in the secondary school or illustrations of the application of design in household furnishings may be used throughout the general design work of the elementary and secondary schools.
House decoration courses which are to be of practical value to the homemaker must give not only the basis for judgment of what is intrinsically good, but they should also give training and experience in choosing and arranging fur- nishings and selecting decorations. The selection of fur- nishings for a house or a room may mean either the selec- tion of all furnishing, in which case each element (walls, furniture, curtains, etc.) is related to a well-conceived plan for the whole, or it may mean the selection of an individual piece of furniture, new wall paper, curtains, etc., to be fitted into the more or less haphazard furnishings of the average house. The latter type of selection is found in most homes, though the refitting of a new house for the family or the establishment of their own homes will give many girls an opportunity to carry out a complete decorative plan.
Since the replacement and the arrangement of furnish- ings are the most common house decoration problems, prac- tical exercises should be planned in the form of individual home projects or class projects which will give this type of experience. The greatest difficulty associated with such projects is that the art standards of many homes differ widely from those of the classroom, and even from those of the girls themselves. In most localities, however, it should be possible to find a few homes in which the selec- tion of new wall paper, new curtains, or new rugs could be made a class project. Practical selection problems not only give an opportunity to carry out a plan in actual ma- terials, but they also serve as a means for studying the
THE HOUSE 159
grades and qualities of household furnishings that are to be found in the shops and as a basis for the study of fur- nishing costs.
The arrangement of furniture and rugs in a room and of pictures and other minor decorative features is a prob- lem that can be carried out in almost any home if real co- operation between the school and the homes of the class has been established.
Design in household furnishings. The study of stand- ards of design in household furnishings is the major topic in house decoration courses. When a house decoration course is offered without the requirement of general design in the previous art courses, time must be allowed for a study of the principles of design. By this is not meant that a part of the course should become a conventional general design course, but that the principles of proportion, balance, sym- metry, rhythm, subordination, accent, etc., should be con- stantly illustrated and emphasized in the study of good and poor design in rugs, lamps, wall paper, hangings, furniture, and other decorative features.
The making of original designs for household furnish- ings is seldom included in house decoration courses. This is a recognition of the fact that ability to select a good design does not necessitate training in making designs. Training in analyzing the design of all articles used for house furnishing or decoration and experience in making selections are the two requisites of training which aims to establish standards of selection. Illustrative material should be accumulated by students from catalogues, magazines, and tracings from books. Exhibits of wall paper, draperies, rugs, etc., may be borrowed or rented from various shops to augment any illustrative material that may be the perma- nent equipment of the house decoration classroom. Class field trips or individual or group investigations should be
160 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
used to study the standards of design to be found in the shops of the community.
Examples of good designs can be found in the shops or in pictures of historic or period furnishings. Almost any discussion of good lines in furniture will include ex- amples of some historic types, since these represent the sur- vival of the best designs of each period. How exhaustive the discussion of historic designs will be should depend upon the group and upon the opportunity that the community affords for seeing historic furnishings or their reproduc- tions. A study of period furniture is included in many secondary school courses, but less attention has been paid to historic designs of other furnishings. The designs used in household fabrics — rugs, hangings, upholstery, etc. — and in decorative needle- work of various forms is a topic which is given much more interest by a study of national and period types.
Needle-work has always assumed an important place in household decoration, and many homes are filled with evi- dences of an undisciplined desire to enrich household tex- tiles. Decorative needle-work is usually taught in clothing courses rather than in house decoration, and emphasis is given to training in handwork rather than to the design. Some study of effective use of needle- work in house decora- tion and of good needle-work designs is a topic that should more often be included in house decoration courses.
Room plans and designs. In planning the furnishings for a room or a group of rooms, it is necessary, not only to have ability to choose good designs in rugs, hangings, furniture, etc., but also to have power to combine the wealth of detailed design into a harmonious whole. The design of a particular piece of upholstery material may be beautiful in itself, but the scale of the design may not fit into that of the room; or a color combination may be delightful yet of
THE HOUSE 161
the wrong value to be harmonious with adjacent fur- nishings. To bring harmony into a room means that the grouping of furnishings, the combinations of color and of detailed designs must be planned or designed. Such plan- ning or designing is a most important part of a house decoration course.
To give students experience in room designing that will be of practical value to them, the study of this problem should include projects of decorating or re-decorating some particular room as well as the making of designs for an ideal room. Laboratory work in room designing consists of: (i) selecting the furnishings of the room from ex- hibits; (2) drawing floor plans to show the positions of rugs and furniture, and wall plans to show the arrangement of pictures, curtains, etc., on wall spaces; and (3) the mak- ing of a color plan.
It is desirable»to have a class project in room planning precede any attempt at individual projects. While it is most valuable for a class to undertake the actual decoration of a room, this requires so much time and represents such an outlay of money that the complete carrying out of a room design project is not often feasible unless a school is planning to furnish a practice house. It is often possible, however, to find some home where the class could work out several suggestive plans for redesigning a room, and, later, study and criticize the result as carried out by the owner. Such a project would require a class trip to study the room and a few visits by groups or individuals to try out various materials or colors, but most of the work of this project could be carried out in the classroom, if photo- graphs and measurements of the room and its furnishings are taken.
As in the teaching of costume design, water colors have only a limited value in the study of color in house decora-
162 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
tion. Water color sketches may be suggestive in planning color schemes for rooms, but they must be supplemented by work with materials. The study of color combinations in house decoration is strengthened by the use of actual fur- nishing problems, for these usually require the harmonizing of a number of different colors, which is a much more difficult problem than the making of a color scheme in which different values of one color predominate. Just as an Orien- tal rug illustrates the combination of a wealth of detailed design and many colors into a harmonious whole, so may a room contain great variety in color and design. In the desire to simplify the decoration of the home, many teachers emphasize the making of color schemes in which a single color predominates, and the more common and more diffi- cult problem of harmonizing a variety of colors is not undertaken.
The quality and cost of furnishings. Knowledge of fur- nishing costs serves two purposes : ( i ) it gives an appreci- ation of the cost of equipping a house and of the standards of furnishing that can be secured for a specified amount; and (2) it will help in deciding upon the amount of money that should be allowed in the yearly budget for the repair and replacement of furnishings. The study of furnishing costs may be undertaken as part of a project of selecting new furnishings for the girls' own homes, or it may be made a part of the school problem of furnishing an ideal house or apartment.
For a study of costs, the assignment of a special room or a type of furnishings, such as bedding and napery, cur- tains, rugs, etc., to a group of girls, is one of the most satis- factory methods, since group conferences stimulate interest. The accumulation of data in regard to furnishing costs should not be the main purpose of these assignments. Each group should have one or two clearly defined problems in
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the solution of which they will need information in regard to the cost of furnishings. The following are illustrations of problems of this type :
GROUP I.
Problem I. Select the type of floor coverings for all the rooms of a house which will give the maximum wearing quality according to the use of the rooms.
Problem 2. What difference in type or grade of rug or floor covering would you make in each room when cost must be de- creased? What would be the minimum cost of your first selec- tion and the lowest allowance that will assure good quality?
GROUP II.
Problem I. Select the grade and quantity of furnishings necessary for the complete furnishing of a bedroom with an allowance of $150.
Problem 2. If your allowance is reduced to $70 will it pay to maintain the same quality in any articles of furnishing?
Housewifery. Housewifery, or the care of the house and its furnishings, may be taught in the elementary and secondary schools as a special subject, or various house care topics may be given in courses on food or household management. In most schools, housewifery consists of a study of cleaning agents and equipment and of the methods of cleaning that should be used in the care of the house and for each of the materials used in furnishings, such as dif- ferent woods, glass, metals, fabrics, etc. When greater emphasis is given to housewifery, it may also include: (i) study of the time that must be spent in the care of the house and of the labor saving appliances or commercialized agen- cies for caring for or cleaning household furnishings that may be used by the housekeeper; and (2) the establishment of standards of daily, weekly, and monthly care, such as can be maintained with different amounts of service.
The effectiveness of a course in housewifery is condi- tioned largely by the opportunity offered for studying these
164 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
problems under actual living conditions. This means that home projects are an essential element and that a practice house furnishes the best laboratory conditions for class work. Few secondary schools are equipped with a practice house in which a group of students can live ; the most usual equipment is a model apartment. While such an apartment is valuable for illustrating house care problems, it does not furnish as many of the practical situations found in a real home as does a practice house, and its use should always be supplemented by home projects.
Cleaning processes. The study of cleaning agents and equipment and of such processes as the cleaning of wood, windows, silver, brass and other materials, the care of the icebox, cleaning closets, and similar problems can be car- ried out successfully in a cooking laboratory. In order to extend the laboratory opportunities of the classroom, special equipment for laundry work and bed making is also in- cluded in many schools. Classroom laboratory work in housewifery problems, except in laundry work and the care of the kitchen that is associated with food courses, con- sists of experiments to discover the efficiency of cleaning agents or equipment, and demonstrations of methods of working in cleaning processes. The acquisition of skill in these processes and the development of judgment as to the type of care to be given under different circumstances are objectives which need extended practice under normal home conditions. The outline of an elementary home project on page 49 illustrates the interrelation of classroom work and home projects in housewifery courses.
Skill in house care means skill both in manipulation and in organizing a piece of work. The study of effective and waste motions in performing a job and of effective planning or routing of the work should be part of all housewifery courses. This should include observation problems of work
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being done in cooking laboratories and in the homes of the girls, class analysis of the organization of a piece of work, and individual experimentation under home conditions with different methods of working. One of the greatest diffi- culties with motion studies is that a change in the method of doing a familiar act will always reduce the speed of the worker, and it requires a scientific interest on the part of the students to assure persistence in the use of the new method. The chief value of such studies is that they give a method of analysis which should assist students in con- trolling the conditions of a new problem.
Study of time value. Courses in housewifery have been more concerned with the giving of information about clean- ing materials and equipment and cleaning methods than with the study of the cost of cleaning as expressed in the time required to maintain different standards of house care. In fact, many of the cleaning methods and standards of house care used in these courses are unnecessarily time con- suming. Daily washing of the icebox and the removal of all covers and turning of the mattress daily in bed making are examples of extreme standards. The study of the value of the housekeeper's time and the cost of different house- keeping activities is one of the most suggestive and valuable problems. Knowledge of the actual cost of keeping a scrubbed floor clean in a kitchen will reconcile any home manager to the initial expense of linoleum. Knowledge of the cost of keeping a silver service on display in a dining room will help in simplifying housekeeping standards. One of the reasons for the slow increase of the use of labor- saving appliances in the home has been the failure of women to estimate the value of their time.
The study of the time required to perform different pieces of work and the investigation of the cost of employ- ing different grades of labor or commercial agencies to do
166 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
similar work within or outside the home are problems which should assist in giving proper valuation to the time the housekeeper spends in caring for the house. Time records should be kept by students in all home projects in order that the class may have data for deciding upon a reasonable time allowance for each type of work. It is evident that the time that will be required to clean a room, polish silver, wash and put away dishes will depend upon many factors : the skill of the worker, the amount of cleaning which the room needs or the number of dishes, the conditions under which the job is done — labor-saving appliances, convenient equipment, etc. — and the standards of work which will be accepted as a completed job. In spite of the difficulty of establishing exact time standards, the study of this topic should assist a girl in deciding upon the standards of house care which can be maintained where all the work must be done by the homemaker or where paid service can be used ; it should also demonstrate the burden that useless furnish- ings and decorations add to the housekeeper's work.
Repair of furnishings. The repair of furniture is an- other topic often considered in housewifery courses. This topic usually includes a study of woods and wood finishes and some classroom experience in painting, refinishing, 01 patching mars on oiled, shellacked, or varnished furniture or woodwork. Knowledge of woods and wood finishes is valuable both as a basis for an understanding of the proper care of woodwork and furniture and as assistance in the selection of furniture. Laboratory work in the repair of furniture is seldom satisfactory, unless very simple prob- lems are undertaken. The refinishing or the patching of the finish of good furniture is not only a job requiring skilled work, but many of the processes, such as frenching and rubbing down shellac or varnish, require muscular strength.
THE HOUSE 167
The renovation of furniture, the repair and cleaning of carpets and rugs, the cleaning of wall paper, the dry clean- ing of clothing, etc., are illustrations of household activities which because of the difficulty of the work or the need of specialized skill or special equipment have become commer- cialized activities. The extent to which a housekeeper will use commercial agencies for such work will depend upon their availability, the value which she puts upon her own time and strength, and the amount that she can spend for outside service in the care of her house. It is evident that the emphasis given to the study of these activities in home economics courses should be influenced by the needs of the group.
Laundry work. Laundry work, or the cleaning of house- hold fabrics and wearing apparel, is another type of house- hold work that is assuming increasing importance as a commercial activity, though it is still retained in part or wholly in many households. In the schools, laundry work has been given more emphasis than other housewifery prob- lems. This is due largely to the fact that it is compara- tively easy to adapt laundry work to the conditions of a school laboratory, which is not true of many other house- wifery problems.
Laundry courses are generally divided into three main topics: (i) the study of cleansing agents and their action upon different fabrics; (2) laboratory work in the technics of washing and ironing; (3) study of laundry equipment and the comparative cost of laundry work done in the home and by commercial laundries.
The first of these topics is often included in textile courses in schools where laundry work is not emphasized. Such an organization is quite logical, for intelligent use of cleansing agents is dependent upon some knowledge of the different textile fibers. Experiments with different chemi-
168 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
cals and other cleansing agents on trial pieces of cloth and practical work in the removal of stains from wearing ap- parel or household textiles are the types of laboratory prob- lems used in studying this topic, in both textile and laundry courses. Emphasis is given to this topic in laundry courses because of the interest of the girls, and because it presents problems that require definite information and accurate thinking.
Washing and ironing, the two practical activities of laundry work, differ somewhat in their demands upon the worker. Washing operations require rather easily acquired movements, but they necessitate the use of a good deal of muscular effort unless labor-saving appliances are used. It is because of this that many housekeepers are using the commercial wet or rough dry wash or are acquiring wash- ing machines. Under these circumstances, the purpose of instruction in washing should be to demonstrate the special handling of woolens, fine fabrics, the special cleaning of parts of garments having the most wear, and similar prob- lems, and to emphasize the value of using labor-saving methods. Ironing is a more highly skilled type of work than washing, and to secure skill it needs extensive practice. The requirement of home practice will reduce the amount of time that must be spent in class on developing skill in these two activities.
Laundry courses are given primarily to develop judg- ment as to the best methods of handling different fabrics in the cleansing process and to give classroom experience which will lead to ability to do laundry work skillfully. If these courses are to be of the greatest benefit to a group, however, they should include in addition a study of the cost of laundry work to the housekeeper in effort and time and of the value of employing commercial agencies for all or part of the family washing. The stimulation of interest in
THE HOUSE 169
the establishment of a cooperative laundry in a rural com- munity may be the most valuable contribution of a laundry course in a county high school. The study of the different types of commercial work that can be found in the locality, such as the wet and dry wash, flat work, or family wash- ing, and of the standards of work and cost of using such agencies, should stimulate intelligent use of time-saving agencies in a group of an urban high school.
Household mechanics. Household mechanics or house- hold physics courses should be closely coordinated with house and housewifery courses, for they include a study of the principles of mechanics, light, heat, electricity, water and air pressure, and similar topics, which give the basis for the intelligent selection and use of house equipment and labor-saving appliances. A household physics course may include so comprehensive a study of the lighting, heating, and ventilating systems of the home that these topics can be eliminated from the house course.
Where household physics or mechanics is not offered as a separate course, house and house care courses should sup- plement the general science course and include enough study of the principles of physics and their practical application to assure intelligent practices in the use of equipment and appliances. Physics topics should be introduced into the house or house care courses when the needs of a project necessitate an intensive study of some problem that involves an application of physical laws. Assignments for reading in standard household physics or general physics texts and demonstration experiments and discussion in the classroom are the most effective methods for studying these problems.
PROBLEMS
I. Outline the points in regard to local housing conditions that should be investigated before deciding on the con- tent of a house selection course. With what agencies
170 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
would you need to cooperate in your own community in order to secure accurate information as to housing con- ditions ?
2. What are the purpose and the value of a study of build- ing construction in secondary school housing courses? What methods would you use to make this topic of inter- est to students and to provide problem-solving situations ?
3. What methods and problems would you use to create interest in a study of good designs for tables and chairs? What points would you develop in a study of needlework in home decoration?
4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of having house decoration taught in art courses?
5. Explain the emphasis given to metal cleaning in most housewifery courses.
6. Outline the methods that you would use to teach bed making in order to secure high standards, skill, and speed from all the members of a class,
7. Observe a class cleaning in a food laboratory and make a list of the most common causes of time wastage in such classes. Compare the methods of working of the slow- est member of the class with the fastest. Taking one of the operations performed by the class, outline the best arrangement of equipment and position of the worker and the best sequence of motions required in the operation.
8. Under what circumstances would you eliminate laundry work in the outline of home economics courses for a secondary school? What laundry problems would you include in elementary school courses ?
9. Outline the work in housewifery that you would do if the purpose of your course is to stimulate intelligent thinking about house care rather than to give training in the technic of house care.
Supplementary References
Publications of the National Housing Association, 105 East 22nd Street, New York.
U. S. Department of Commerce, Circulars of the Bureau of Stand- ards.
Articles in the Journal of Home Economics.
Articles in the Industrial Arts Magazine.
CHAPTER VIII
HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT, AND THE FAMILY AND ITS CARE
OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTER
HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT. CONTENT AND AIMS OF COURSES. THE MANAGEMENT OF LABOR.
Value of time.
The use of the paid worker in the home. THE INCOME AND THE BUDGET.
The income.
Personal and family budgets.
Household accounts.
Banking, credit, spending, and saving. PURCHASING.
FAMILY HEALTH AND CHILD CARE. HOME NURSING. CHILD CARE.
THE FAMILY.
HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT
The methods of teaching household management are less clearly denned by text-books or by tradition than those of teaching foods and clothing. This is due to several factors. The lack of a clear definition as to the content of household management courses has prevented any uniformity in the subject matter included in these courses, with the conse- quent difficulty of comparing and standardizing methods. The fact that household management is offered with much less frequency than food or clothing courses has resulted in fewer text-books being written on this subject. Probably
171
172 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
the most important factor, however, has been that the ob- jectives of household management courses are less concrete than those of food and clothing courses. This has made the teaching of the household management courses a more difficult problem.
Content and Aims of Courses. Household manage- ment courses may be divided into three types: (i) those that are concerned with the management of the material re- sources and of the financial and labor problems of the home, and with the study of the economic and the social conditions that will influence or control such management; (2) those that give less emphasis to the study of social economic prin- ciples and include instead a limited study of the methods of management used in the home and a detailed considera- tion of such preliminary topics as the selection of household equipment and housewifery; (3) those that include any aspect of homemaking activities that may not be included under cooking and sewing courses — 'housewifery, planning and serving meals, laundry work, home nursing, care of children, etc.
Good management in a home, in a business, or in any other form of social or economic organization must be based upon some fundamental knowledge of the resources and activities of the institution or organization. It is evident that a discussion of the management of household labor will be much more effective if all of the class have definite knowledge of the cost of home care activities in terms of the effort and time required to perform them. Similarly any real study of budget planning must be based on knowl- edge of the cost of rent, food, and clothing. If these topics have not been studied in food, clothing, and housing courses, it seems almost essential to include them in the household management course. The danger of this is that housewifery, laundry work, and home furnishings usually become the
HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT 173
major aspect of the course, and the problems of manage- ment and training of the manager are quite subordinated. For this reason the first of the courses outlined in the last paragraph is the type that is most accurately described as a household management course, since it emphasizes the managerial aspects. It is evident that courses of this type should be offered in the senior high school, where the stu- dents have more maturity and ability to understand social and economic relationships. The household management courses as usually offered in the elementary school or junior high school are illustrated by types 2 and 3.
The managerial or supervisory activities of the home- maker include different aspects of management, such as: (i) the management of the family income in such a way as to secure the maximum satisfaction and efficiency for the family; (2) the management of the work of the house in order to maintain a high standard of housekeeping with least labor and time expenditure; (3) the management of children — their care and training; (4) the creation and con- trol of the social relationships of the family — recreation, hospitality, etc. Household management courses offered in the secondary school usually include a study of the income and its expenditure and the organization of house- hold labor. The management of children and the social relationships of the family are topics that belong in a study of family life which may be offered as a separate course.
The primary purpose of household management courses is to give training that will help to develop social ideals as to the economic relations of the home and society, and judgment in the use of the material resources and in the control of the financial and service problems of the home. Such an aim means that instruction in these courses should not be confined to the mere giving of information or to theoretical study of principles, but that it should be organ-
174 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
ized around the study of actual situations, and that some opportunity should be given to carry out problems of man- agement in a practice house or through home projects. Another requirement of this aim is that in the study oi the specific problems students should be led to see not only the best solution of the problem for that particular household, but also to see its relation to economic and social laws.
Many household management courses have been weak in that the problems undertaken are studied in such a limited way that they are of little help in solving the social and economic problems of the home. The problems of domestic service are due primarily to the failure of homemakers to appreciate or consider the conditions of work and of time and the forms of payment accorded to other labor groups, and to false social standards. Efficient purchasing means not only knowledge of the intrinsic values of different articles, but a fundamental understanding of the laws con- trolling price, and appreciation of the economic and social force of intelligent demand. The planning of a budget is not an accounting problem, but a study of social values. It is evident that an effective household management course must include some study of these basic elements.
Food, clothing, laundry, and housewifery courses can be organized in such a way that ability to cook, sew, or clean may be the primary objectives of the course. Ability to perform these direct labor activities requires skill of hand, understanding of the characteristics of the materials that are used or of equipment, realization of the scientific or artistic basis of the processes, and organizing skill in plan- ning the job. While the degree of skill that can be attained in these activities by secondary school students will vary with the methods of teaching that are used, with the time allowed for training, and with the emphasis given to the acquisition of skill, ability to perform is an attainable ob-
HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT 175
j active for courses in food, clothing, laundry, and house- wifery. Ability in the management of the household is not an attainable objective of secondary school work. The lack of experience and immaturity of the students and the com- plexity of the problems make it essential that the study of management problems rather than the training of the home manager must be the purpose for these courses. Home and school projects that require the organization and complete carrying out of a job furnish an excellent method of giving students experience in the management of special problems, and such experience should contribute to the development of general managerial ability.
The Management of Labor. The problems of the man- agement of labor and time in the home can be studied best through the assignment of problems for investigation by the class, with discussions based on the information that has been secured by personal investigation and from assigned references. The character of the problems or projects used in the study of time and labor should be defined by the standards and activities of the households from which the girls come. While the purpose in the study of this topic is to broaden the girls' understanding of efficient use of time and to give them experience in analyzing different ways of reducing labor in the home, it is most important that the conclusions reached by the class discussions are workable solutions for the problems and represent the best experience of the homes of the class.
Value of time. The ability to estimate the value of her own time is one of the essential qualities of an efficient homemaker. Such valuation can be expressed in two ways : in monetary terms of her actual contribution to the income of the family, and in terms of satisfaction to the family. The popular conception that a good mother and homemaker is above price has ignored the fact that failure in home-
176 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
making is in many instances the result of wasteful methods in the use of the income and the time and ability of the homemaker. While it may not be possible to place the same exact valuation on the time of the home worker that is placed on the time of a worker in commercial and industrial activities, the fact that many home activities are performed by commercial agencies or by paid workers makes it possi- ble, with a fair degree of accuracy, to place a money value on time spent in these direct labor activities. It is far more difficult to estimate the value of time spent on the manage- ment or supervisory activities of the home. It is evident, however, that such activities bring a high return to the home, both in terms of satisfaction to the family and in saving of income, and therefore they should represent greater earning power just as the wages paid to the man- ager, superintendent, or purchaser of a manufacturing con- cern are greater than those paid to the direct labor.
Household work may be classified as follows: super- visory activities — purchasing, planning, and directing work, planning expenditures, etc.; producing activities — cooking, sewing, cleaning; service activities — answering the door or telephone, waiting on table, personal service, minding a baby. Observation and records of the time spent in the homes of the students by the homemaker or by paid workers on each of these types of work will illustrate many interesting points in regard to the effective or ineffective use of time. A small amount of time spent on training children to put away and care for their belongings may greatly reduce time spent in personal service or in straightening a room. Time spent in looking up and buying self-service equipment for a dining room will reduce the necessity for table service. Illustra- tions of similar methods in reducing service in each form of household work may easily be found.
The study of the cost and value of employing different
HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT 177
commercial agencies is a most suggestive method of show- ing the contribution which the homemaker makes to the income by different types of work and the necessity for intelligent use of these time and labor-saving agencies. The accumulation of data in regard to the agencies that are avail- able in the community, the cost of their service, and the extent of the use of these agencies in the homes of the class may be secured by group assignments. In some schools, the relative cost of home prepared and commercially prepared foods of the same grade, of home-made and ready-made clothing, and of different laundry agencies, are studied in the food, clothing, and housewifery courses. If the value of the time spent in the home preparation has been included in the cost of home-made articles, such studies give the basis for an intelligent discussion of the best use of commercial agencies under different household conditions and of the forms of household work which, if done by the homemaker, will represent the greatest addition to the income.
The use of the paid worker in the home. As an em- ployer, the homemaker should be intelligent about labor problems and understand the most effective way of using paid labor in her own home. This topic should be intro- duced by a general survey of labor problems — hours of labor, wages and forms of payment, conditions under which labor is performed, etc. Material on these topics can be found in several of the social economic text-books that are planned for secondary school students. The comparison of the economic and social conditions of two girls, one of whom works in an industrial activity and the other in domestic service, offers a concrete problem for the study of the problems of domestic service. There is so much prejudice, misinformation, and misunderstanding in regard to the needs and demands of household workers and of the causes that are creating a scarcity in the supply of such
i;8 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
workers, that one of the most important contributions of the home economics teacher is to help her classes to acquire a social point of view in regard to household labor.
The use of part-time workers or of specialized workers doing job rather than hour work is the solution of the labor problems of individual housekeepers in many localities. The accumulation of information as to the existing or desirable agencies for securing specialized or part-time workers, as to the type of part-time workers most needed by the com- munity, and as to the best methods of stimulating a demand for such workers among the housekeepers, can be most profitably made a joint project of a senior high school class and of some local women's organization that is interested in furthering the efficiency of the home.
The Income and the Budget. The management of the family income and its division among the various items of expenditure constitutes one of the most important topics in all household management courses. Unfortunately, many teachers present this material in so theoretical a way that their classes are left with a little general information and rather vague ideas how to make this information of prac- tical use. The purpose of a study of the income and the family budget in the secondary school is to help stu- dents to appreciate the meaning of an efficient standard of living and the need for conscious control of their own standards through intelligent apportionment of their own allowances or possible wages, or of the family income. A budget is a general financial plan, the efficiency of which can be judged only through the actual return to the family or the individual in terms of physical efficiency, of satisfaction, and of social usefulness. The study of budget making should include not only a study of the standard divisions of the income and of the technic of planning and recording expenditures, but, if it is to be of practical value, it must
HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT 179
require also the making of a budget that will actually be used in order to give the students an opportunity to test the adequacy of their plans.
There are two difficulties associated with a practical budget problem: first, that such plans must be based on knowledge of the actual cost of necessities; and second, that of finding projects that are within the power of the students to carry out and that will help them to see the dis- tinction between wants and needs. The following class, group, or individual projects illustrate problems of varying degrees of complexity:
1. Make a monthly or yearly plan for the expenditure of a personal allowance.
2. Make out a budget for an acquaintance or friend who is earning her living and compare it with her actual expenditure.
3. Make a monthly plan of expenditures for a practice house and after one or two months' experience revise into the form of a yearly budget.
4. In cooperation with a visiting housekeeper, plan the budget of a dependent family. This will require investigation of costs in the locality in which the family lives and study of the minimum essentials of an adequate standard of living.
5. Home projects — making a food budget, clothing budget, or income budget for the family.
When a study of costs has not been included in the food, clothing, and housing courses, it must be included in the study of the income and its expenditure, since knowledge of the value and the cost of maintaining different standards of food, clothing, housing, and furnishings must be the basis of intelligent planning of the expenditures of a family. A budget is an expression in monetary terms of the standard of living of a family; the decision as to whether $500 or $1,000 must be allowed for the food of the family can only be reached if the person who is planning the budget realizes
i8o HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
the kind of table that can be provided for the different amounts.
The income. In most of the secondary school text-books dealing with this topic there is little discussion of the mean- ing of income, yet intelligent apportionment must be based on an understanding of the factors that this term repre- sents. An income of $1,800 earned outside of the home by work of both husband and wife represents quite a difference in real income from $1,800 earned by the husband alone. In the first case, the activities that are normally carried out in the home by the wife must be paid for out of the earn- ings. Real income consists of all money or its equivalent received by the family, and of the time or labor spent on household activities by its members. Before attempting to work out a budget for a particular family, some study of the general problems of income should be undertaken, such as : the minimum cost of living and its influence on wages ; the management of the irregular or seasonal income; the analysis of real income in some of the different occupations that are found in the community (the farm home, the apart- ment janitor, the shopkeeper, etc.).
Personal and family budgets. The apportionment of the family income will vary with the size of the income, the cost of commodities at a given time, the locality as it influences social standards and costs, the size of the family, the age, physical condition and activities of the members of the family and their social standards and ideals. The study and making of a family budget is so complex a problem that it should be approached through the study of the simpler budget problems — personal budgets and food and clothing budgets. The following sequence of problems illustrates a method which will introduce a class gradually to the prin- ciples of budget making :
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1. Study of the use of a personal allowance (not including neces- sities, food, clothing, etc.).
Points to be developed.
a. Standards of using resources.
(1) Present desires versus future needs.
(2) Advantages of planning ahead.
b. Types of expenditures that represent needs or desires of
girls : personal adornment, sociability, amusements, recre- ation, gifts, charities, etc.
c. Meaning of efficient standards in expenditure.
2. Study of clothing budget. Points to be developed.
a. Cost of different standards of dressing.
b. Conditions which will influence the standards of dressing of
a family.
c. Necessity for considering time spent by members of the fam-
ily in making clothing when deciding on clothing allow- ance.
3. Study of food budget of the family. Points to be developed.
a. Cost of different standards in the food used by a family —
minimum, comfortable, extravagant.
b. Estimating the efficiency of expenditures by comparison with
standard percentage divisions of the food budget. C. Variability of standard percentages with the size of the budget.
4. Study of budget of wage-earning girl. Points to be developed.
a. Influence of the cost of necessities on the division of an
income.
b. Influence of increase in income on apportionment for dif-
ferent items.
5. Study of the family budget.
Suggestions as to the methods of teaching food and clothing budgets have been given in the chapters on food and clothing. The most satisfactory organization of sub- ject matter would include these topics as part of the food
182 HOME ECONOMICS IN THE SCHOOLS
and clothing courses, since the study of costs on which budget making is based can be more effectively carried out when the class is actually working with the concrete ma- terials. If the study of the food and