Chapter 1. Home Economics History

• Home Economics (HE)


  The profession and field of study that deals with the economics and management of the home and community
• Topics in Home Economics

  • Consumer education
  • Institutional management
  • Interior design
  • Home furnishing
  • Cleaning
  • Handicrafts
  • Sewing
  • Clothing and textiles
  • Cooking
  • Nutrition
  • Food preservation
  • Hygiene
  • Child development
  • Family relationships
• Home Economics


  Prepares students for homemaking or professional careers
• This Chapter will give you a review about Home Economics as one of the areas in the technical-vocational track specifically in the Junior and Senior High
• This course will give you a complete overview of HE and be able to appreciate the importance it brings to the lives of future homemakers
• This Chapter includes the concepts, principles, and philosophy of home economics, its importance in the lives of people, the major changes brought about by home economics, and the different careers or job opportunities it brings to individuals
• This Chapter will help you become an effective and efficient HE teacher with the required competences that you can share and transfer to the learners
• Catherine Beecher


  First to champion the economics of running a house
• Harriet Beecher Stowe


  American abolitionist and author, best known for her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin
• Catherine and Harriet Beecher were leaders in mid-19th century North America in talking about domestic science
• Morrill Act of 1862


  Established land-grant colleges and universities to educate farm wives in running their households
• In the last decades of the nineteenth century, the land-grant schools along with a few private institutions, established courses of instruction in what was generally called "domestic Science"
• Ellen Swalllow Richards


  First woman to attend the Massachusetts of Technology and became the first woman Instructor in the same school, instrumental in getting her own space during the World's Fair in 1893 called the Rumford Kitchen
• Ellen Richards and her contemporaries explored the latest in this line of profession and their goal was to form an education and scientific association as an important component in formalizing the profession
• American Home Economics Association (AHEA)


  Formed in January 1909, effectively lobbied federal and state governments to provide funding for home economics research and teaching
• American Home Economics Association changed to American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences during Scottsdale Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona


  1993
• Home Economics in the Philippines

  Attributed to the late Dr. Helena Zoila Tirona Benitez, who founded the Philippine Home Economics Association in 1948
• Significant changes or stages of development in Home Economics in the Philippines

  • 1901 - American methods of instruction were ensured by bringing in hundreds of American teachers called Thomasites
  • 1913 - Elvessa Ann Stewardt, a graduate of the University of Nebraska, went to the Philippines as a teacher in Home Economics
  • 1920 - Girls in grade 5 to 7 were required to devote 80 minutes a day to home economics activities
  • 1929 - Elvessa Ann Stewart became the Superintendent of Home Economics in the Bureau of Education in Manila
  • 1941 - Every secondary girl was required to have at least one year of home economics before graduation
• For 20 years, domestic training had flourished in Filipino schools starting with sewing, cooking and housekeeping
• Today, Home Economics continues to be practiced by professionals in many venues including secondary teaching, college and university teaching and research and outreach through cooperative extension programs. It has been given emphasis in the K-12 curriculum
• Home Economics subjects included nutrition and child care
• Teachers of Intermediate Home Economics were required to be graduates of the Philippine Normal School or the equivalent which required 3 years of study beyond secondary level
• Today, Home Economics continues to be practiced by professionals in many venues including secondary teaching, college and university teaching and research and outreach through cooperative extension programs
• Home Economics has been given emphasis in the K-12 curriculum
• Curriculum development and changes relate to Home Economics education at all levels, elementary through adult and professional, and in all aspects of the Home Economics program--prevocational, home and family living, occupational, pre-professional, and teacher education
• Comprehensive and detailed training is required for every important profession and career that serve human life and well-being
• Home management and nutrition science are clearly important
• Home Economics education has many opportunities to develop a visionary approach to education for sustainable development and for improving the quality of life of every individual
• Obesity has become the most common nutritional disorder in the industrialized world
• Poor eating habits and improper diet are notoriously serious causes of disease
• Careful detailed planning is important and, with this, Home Economics will make an important contribution to counteracting such a development