User:AzlynPorter/Home economics

Article Draft
[AZLYN, NATALIE, BECKY AND BEN]

 Lead 

Our focus will be on how home economics has changed into Family Consumer Sciences over the years. We will research topics related to FCS and dive deeper into how they apply to the department as a whole.

Article body
Practice homes were added to American universities in the early 1900s in order to model a living situation, with the first facility built for home management practice constructed in the early 1920's at North Dakota Agricultural College. The all-women ‘team’ model used for students was different from prevailing expectations of housewives. For example, women were graded on collaboration, while households at the time assumed that women would be working independently. Nevertheless, the practice homes were valued. These practicum courses took place in a variety of environments including single-family homes, apartments, and student dorm-style blocks. For a duration of a number of weeks, students lived together while taking on different roles and responsibilities, such as cooking, cleaning, interior decoration, hosting, and budgeting. Some classes also involved caring for young infants, temporarily adopted from orphanages. Children's service organizations helped supply the babies who were awaiting adoption. '''At Cornell University, the first practice baby was called Dicky Domecon, named after the phrase “domestic economy”. Dicky was borrowed by Cornell in 1920 when he was three weeks old. Practice babies belonged to the students and to the department and were considered central to the proper training and development of home economics students. Many fields of high acuity use simulation to enhance training in complicated situations.''' Childcare practicums were often included at the same time as other classwork, requiring students to configure their intellectual and home lives as compatible with one another. '''Home economics programs were using practice babies nationwide, however by 1959 less than one percent of programs still ran full-time operations. The practice was discontinued altogether by the early 1970’s. '''

According to Megan Elias, "in the ideal, domestic work was as important as work done outside the home and it was performed by teams of equals who rotated roles. Each member of the team was able to live a life outside the home as well as inside the home, ideally, one that both informed her domestic work and was informed by it. This balance between home and the wider world was basic to the movement."

[MELISSA]

History
Despite many secondary education establishments still referring to these enrichment classes as "home economics", the name was officially changed in 1994 to "family and consumer sciences" to more accurately represent the profession and field as a whole. As society changed overtime, so did the needs of students in these classes. Topics such as nutrition, family finance, and other social justice issues have transformed home economics into FCS to adapt to a new society.

In its early years, home economics began with the goal of professionalizing domestic labor for women whilst also uplifting the idea of "women's work"

[HAYLIE]

Domestic Sciences at Bradley Polytechnic Institute

Ideas:

- Nellie Kedzie being invited to Lake Placid Conferences- add a link to her page (possibly highlight some of her contributions, near HBS)

- Early 1800s programs- what kind of classes were taught, which universities, tie into Morrill Act

Beginning in the early to mid-nineteenth century, the field of home economics was largely centered on educating women. Private schools such as the Hartford Female Seminary established by Catherine Beecher, offered practical courses as a means to obtain education.

Pioneers of the field included numerous female figures, such as Nellie Kedzie and Ellen Richards, who had profound impacts on the home economics profession