What We Lost When We Lost Home Ec | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a. production [music] of iHeartRadio. >> [music]. >> Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm. Josh, and there's Chuck, and it's us. today. We got our aprons on. [music] We. have our spatulas in hand. We've been. spanking each other with them, and it's. time to go to class with Stuff You. Should Know. Hey, everybody. Just so you know, there's construction happening next. door, so. if you hear a saw or a hammer banging,

it's not me. No, it's not Chuck. Sometimes you just. got to live with the sounds of life. Yeah, I mean, we recorded for a while. and every time we recorded, a fire truck. would go by like clockwork. Do you. remember? >> Yeah, yeah, in the old Buckhead office. It was I think we were near a fire. station. Yeah, but it was like the exact same. time. It was really bizarre. It was the radio lab guys pulling fire. alarms all over Atlanta. Uh so, Chuck, we're talking about home.

ec today. Did you ever take a home ec. class? I sure did, buddy. How about you? I did. I have very vague recollections. of it. I remember the room and. everything, but I don't remember. anything I did. It's also possible I'm conflating it. with an episode of Saved by the Bell. Uh yeah, I took it, you know, we had the. full kitchen situation in our high. school. back then, and I took it because. I don't know why I took it. I think I. needed an elective, and you know, I knew there'd be cute.

girls in there. And maybe I had a friend or two that. took it. Was probably my reasoning. I. could see that. I think both of us are. the types of dudes who would not have. been like, "Oh, I can't take home ec. I'm a boy." No, no, of course not. There. And there were plenty of dudes in the. class. Yeah. Yeah, because Gen X is. enlightened. That's right. Um the thing is is we were really in the. minority, though. All the dudes in your. class were in the minority that from. what I read, that was pretty uncommon. even even at that time.

And we were among like the last age. group who could elect for home ec. pretty much across the country. Like. this was a time This was about the end. of the time where you could find a home. ec classroom in most high schools or. middle schools, but that is not the case. anymore. Although it's still around, it's just not everywhere like it used to. be. Yeah, and in fact, I can confirm. when I went back to my high school a. couple years ago when they had me back. to talk to students as a, you know, interesting professional. I remember. that. Yeah, it was fun. I I took a walk.

around, and I even remember going by. where the home ec room was, and it was. definitely not the kitchen anymore. No, I remember you told me they filled in. all the sinks with cement. Yeah, it was. it was called the cement class. So, uh. class could really boring really fast. Yeah, we should probably say home ec. stands for home economics just in case. that's foreign to your tongue. True, true. I understand that it's called home. ec or home economics in Australia, and I. think maybe Canada, and in the UK they.

call it food sciences, I think. Yeah. It's all the same thing, and essentially. what it is, for those of you who don't. know, it was a class. in high school. where you would learn basic life skills. that had a lot to do with being at home. You would learn sewing. You would learn. to bake a cake. As time wore on, you would learn to take. care of a child. Maybe learn to to balance a checkbook. Just basic life skills as a class in. high school or middle school.

And that is it turns out I didn't quite. realize the extent of home ec. One little slice of the whole home ec. pie, which is delicious because it was. made by home economists. That's right. Um and there's a whole history to it, and it's actually pretty feminist in. nature, too. Yeah, you know, as we'll see, there was. a bit of a push-pull at a at a certain. time, and. which way. feminism would that have been? The dose. The dose? Yeah, where, you know, there.

were certain people saying like, "No, this is. you know, you shouldn't be teaching. women to stay at home and stay in the. kitchen." And other people were like, "We're not teaching them saying you have. to do that, but we're saying, you know, there are viable careers that. you can gain. and, you know, industrial engineering. and statistics, and as we'll see, you. know, plenty of science careers came out. of. home economics and food science, cuz it. is a science." Right, and that was. actually one of the initial points of. it. But if you were a home ec proponent.

and you were arguing with a feminist, you might start by saying, "Let me give. you a little picture of what life used. to be like for the average woman in the. United States before we came along.". And you would start in about the 19th. century, say around the turn of it. So, they're still wearing tricorned hats, but they were looking forward to trains. Mhm. Um. and if you were a farm woman at this. time, you worked yourself to the bone.

Yeah, I mean, what we know as home ec was not early. home ec because early home ec was like, you might have. seven or eight kids that all worked on. the farm, and you might have farmhands. that you also have to kind of care for. and feed. So, you're feeding these huge. families. from stuff that you're growing probably. on your land and processing and canning. and churning butter, and you're. hand-making clothes and doing laundry by. hand, and it's it's it's a lot. Yeah, and like you would say, that.

that's not even home economics. That's. just home terribleness, right? When home. economics came along, it was based on. this idea that, "Okay, all of these. people are working really hard. There. has to be ways to improve this, to make. it more efficient." I I suspect that I'm. pretty sure we talked about it that this. all grew out of Taylorism, that. obsession with getting things as. efficient as possible. Um and I think that that kind of grew. out of that same vein. And there were. actually a few things that kind of came.

together to to make. the fertile soil that home ec grew from. One of them, the big one, was literacy. started to spread in the the mid-19th. century. And so, when literacy spreads, you got more books and home like. domestic tips and householding was a. whole genre of books. So, were. cookbooks. And then part and parcel of. that was this kind of the very. beginnings of this idea that maybe women. can be educated, too, but just in women. stuff. Yeah, for sure. And, you know,

the books were important because. previous to that, it was everything was. sort of handed down from. you know, parent to child as far as any. kind of wisdom goes about how to do. anything. Right. So, if you had books. and you had classes, you didn't depend. on like your grandmother necessarily. being good at, you know, baking a cake. or something like that. Like what if. your grandmother was a dipstick, right? Yeah, exactly. So, cooking schools also emerged, and.

this was important because your. grandmother might also, in addition to. being a dipstick, might not have been. that great of a cook. Now there's a. place you can go to learn to cook well. and nutritiously. That was a big one, too. And then also, this was a new career. path that a woman could take to become a. cook in like, say, a wealthy household. So, they were training now people to. work outside of the house doing domestic. stuff. Yeah, for sure. And then one of. the biggest ones was the Morrill Act of. 1862, and that's when land-grant.

colleges were established, and all of a. sudden, there were schools that said, "Hey, maybe we should offer, you know, it was kind of the beginnings. of trade schools like, you know, teach. people how to work in agriculture and. industry and things like that, and not. necessarily just sit around with your. nose in the air reading the classics.". Exactly. And women were open or these. colleges were open to women as well, too. So, these three things come. together, and one of the other reasons.

that really made home ec kind of come to. life, start sprouting from that fertile. soil, was the transition that America. was going through with. industrialization. All of a sudden, you. weren't on the farm with your mother and. grandmother who were telling you how to. do things. Like you were in the city now. surrounded by people you've not really. ever met before, with a husband who now. works in the factory rather than the. farm, and you're like, "I have no idea. what I'm doing." And so, home ec kind of. came in to fill that break that had.

happened, the intergenerational passage. of knowledge from mother to daughter, home ec said, "Hey, forget mothers. We're going to tell you how to do this, and we're going to tell you how to do it. better." They didn't really say forget. mothers. That wasn't the sentiment. That. was me being a smart aleck. Yeah, and you know, initially it was it. not in high school. It was a college. level thing, and there is a PhD named. Nancy Darling. who kind of backs up this idea that it. was a feminist movement to begin with. with this quote. She said it developed, home ec that is,

from something radical, the idea that. the traditional work of women is. important, meaningful, and and here's. the key for me, economically significant. And it was. economics. They didn't just call it that. to make it seem fancy. The the running of a household is is big. time economics, and if you're not good. at that, as we'll see with, you know, younger generations, it can spell. trouble. For sure. Yeah, yeah, for yeah, there's. a whole. a whole washout that's happened that.

we'll cover, for sure. But one of the. people that you have to tip your top hat. to is Ellen Swallow Richards, who's. probably the most important person in. the history or the early history, at. least, of home economics. Now, let's. just say it, the entire history of home. economics. She was a pretty impressive sort. She. studied chemistry. She got a bachelor's. and a master's from Vassar, and then. became the first woman to get a degree. from MIT, and then became the first. woman instructor at MIT and set up a. sanitary chemistry lab that was for.

women only. And this was not really. domestic work. It was figuring out a. water quality and air quality tests. Like essentially the the foundations of. environmental protection and consumer. protection, too. That's what this lab. was doing. And the reason why you. associated with home ec is because one. of the reasons home ec existed also, you. said that it started at the college. level, was it as a way for women almost. a back door, a work around, a loophole.

for women to become scientists. It was. okay as long as there was enough of a. whiff of woman's work. Like clean water, that's woman's work. That that academia could put up with it. That was one of the big ways home ec. started funneling women into education. and into the sciences. Yeah, I mean she. was trying to improve. the United States. And she thought, and. she was, you know, right on the money, she was like, if I'm going to try to. improve, you know, the United States and.

civilization, then I have to start at. what what she considered and, you know, I think most people agree is the basic. unit, which is a family, the family. unit. And if I can each if I can get. each household one at a time to. practice, you know, more efficient. practices, more sanitary practices, safer practices, you know, where you're. not, you know, burning kitchens down and. things like that, >> Right. then it'll, you know, all boats. will rise. And it started to become a. movement. And, you know, this is like. the the late 1800s, early 1900s. Yeah,

remember also there was a big emphasis. on this work is important. Like this is. unpaid labor, but it produces a lot of. dividends for any family and hence. building upward for civilization, for a. nation's civilization, all that. So like. you said, this is starting to become a. movement and they had a series of. conferences called the Lake Placid. conferences starting right at the turn. of the century. And at one of these. meetings they chose the term home. economics. Like you said, to basically.

point out, not to kind of latch their. field on the economics, to point out. that domestic work was a huge part of. economics. And up to this point, economists had basically just been. looking at production. They weren't. looking at the demand side. And one one. of the things home ec introduced was the. idea of consumer sciences. Like studying. consumption as well as part of the. larger economy, which is you can't do. economics without that now, but that's. what one of the things home ec.

introduced. Yeah, and they. they came up with the name home ec at. one of those conferences after debating. domestic science and they said, "No, that that doesn't sound like it's. studying consumerism. That's a big part. of this.". I think household arts was put forward. And they said, "No, that sounds too. artsy-fartsy and not academic enough.". So they landed on home economics. And. and then an ironic twist that kind of. takes it back home because the word. economics or economics comes from, I.

love this word, oikonomia. Oikonomia. I inserted an extra I there. Mhm. Which. is ancient Greek for household. management. So there you have it. Yeah. They dropped the the old-timey mic. at this point. Yeah, for sure. And then. in 1908 at that same conference, the. Lake Placid conference, they founded the. American Home Economics Association, really got the ball rolling, and then. shortly after in 1917 the Hughes Act.

started funding vocational education. like shop class and home ec, and it was. off to the races. Yep. So you want to take a break and come. back and talk about how, like you said, home ec starts to take off? Let's do it. >> [music]. [music].

[music]. [music]. >> Word up, Jerry. Okay, so when we left off, home ec was. starting to take off. And by the 1920s, the USDA, the Department of Agriculture, had created the Bureau of Home. Economics. And when you create a bureau dedicated. to a new field, that's that's when the. field has arrived. If you're a band and.

Weird Al has done a cover of your song, that's how you know you've arrived. If. you're a field of study and someone. opens a bureau dedicated to it, that's. how you know your field's arrived. But. it became the country's biggest employer. of women scientists, which is pretty. significant at the time. That's right. Their mission, of course, was education. And it wasn't just, you know, how to. cook, obviously. It was meal planning, it was budgeting. There was a lot of. science behind it because they got into,

you know, nutritional values. Like in. any, you know, nutritional. tag that you read, in in fact, any like. clothing tag that you read, I'll go. ahead and get ahead of that one. That. all was born out of the science of this. new bureau that was founded. They were. testing mildew proofing for fabrics. They were servicing military service. members. Like, you know, trying to come. up with better things for the US. military to eat. And and of course, school lunch programs all over the. country were dependent on this science.

Yeah, this is where the square pizza was. invented, I suspect. Mhm. They should. have a monument to that. Well, one of. the I agree. One of the other things. about that though, in addition to the. square pizza, the square pizza is. actually an excellent example of this. The pizza, it comes from Italy. And if. you've ever seen an actual like. Neapolitan pizza, it does not resemble. the square pizza. The square pizza at. lunch is the Midwestern Americanized, much blander version of it. Although I. agree with you, it's quite good. And.

this is where American food, as we think. of it today, was founded. All the ethnic. food got pushed out as the immigrants. were kind of brought into the home ec. world and that bland Midwestern American. food took over. That's where that came. from. And this also coincided with the. birth of radio that we seems like we've. talked a lot about that lately, but. because of that, of course, you're going. to have shows on the radio about this. kind of thing. The Bureau of Home. Economics in the '20s. had a show called Housekeeper's Chat.

that ran for a couple of decades. starting in 1926. Not Uncle Sam, but. Aunt Sammy was the host of that one. Or. I guess not the host, but it featured. her. And she would have like household tips. and recipes and stuff like that. A lot. of the brands got in the game. General. Mills and Betty Crocker Cooking School. of the Air. You know, it's another radio. show sponsored by General Mills. And. again, the bureau was like helping to. get all of these things launched on the. airwaves. One of the other examples of.

the what the Bureau of Home Economics. was doing that had a huge sweeping. impact in addition to founding. like the the mass-produced food. movement, was they came up with the. poverty line. In fact, Molly Orshansky. did. She was a statistician who studied. how much a house spent to come up with a. basic nutritious diet that could keep. you alive. They multiplied that by three. and they came up with the federal. poverty line that's still in use today.

Yeah, and if you've ever seen, you know, astronauts eating lasagna out of a what. looks like a. toothpaste tube or something like that, you can thank home economics and science. for that because a woman named Bee. Finkelstein, great name, she was getting. food together for the very first. astronauts in the Mercury project, which. is pretty great. That's right. And then one of the other. things that struck me, too, that I. didn't realize was that a lot of those. recipes that you find on like a food. label, one of the more famous ones is.

Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup labels. have a. green bean casserole recipe. And it that. was created by a home economist who. worked for Campbell's, Dorcas Riley. And. she's a good example of what was. happening at this time starting in the. '20s, '30s, '40s and continuing on. These companies like General Mills and. Campbell's were setting up. home economics departments. And one of. the things that these home economists. were being paid to do was to figure out.

new uses for the products. made by the companies they worked for so. that people would buy more of that stuff. and then they put those recipes on the. label. Yeah, I mean if you love Rice Krispy. Treats, you can thank the home economics. program. and Matilda Jensen and Mildred Day at. Kellogg's there for that. And Chex Mix, this wasn't an sort of an internal team, but Chex Mix was actually a contest. And. it was in, I believe, the 1950s when.

they just had a contest like what can. you do with Chex cereal? And someone. submitted Chex Mix. And like it's the. same recipe basically that everyone. enjoys today. Like all of these are. Did. did your family make Chex Mix around the. holidays? Not a ton. That Emily's family. really did though, so she still makes, you know, that same recipe, that Chex. Mix recipe. Then it must be so Ohio then. cuz my family did as well. Yeah. But. that's a good example of how like these. companies farmed out the task of coming.

up with stuff because home ec had become. so widespread, the average homemaker out. there could do the same thing in a lot. of ways that some of the. home ec workers working for the company. could do, too. I think that's pretty. neat. Talk about efficiencies. Like if. if you're baking a cake from scratch or. making pancakes or something like that. or a gravy from scratch. Uh there were. women in home ec home ec departments at. companies saying like, "Hey, we can make. this. you know, there's a lot to do. So, what. if it what if this stuff was all kind of.

pre-mixed in a box and you could sell. them like well, I was about to say like. hotcakes. >> [laughter]. >> Uh and they did and you know, that this. these were things that were real. time-savers in the kitchen. For sure. And that was the point. remember of home ec is saving time, being more efficient and then as food. companies were concerned making tons of. money off of this stuff, too. Um so, that's kind of going on in the corporate. world, the government world. Simultaneously, there's that whole. thread of home ec being taught in high.

school and middle school. And there was a time in the 20th century. up into the '80s and '90s um and I I'm. sure beyond. Again, these these classes. are still out there, but not nothing. like they used to be. Um or you could go. into a high school or middle school and. there was a simulated kitchen in one of. the rooms with a bunch of different. stoves and ovens and refrigerators and. people would be in there cooking and. learning to sew and maybe taking care of. a fake baby. Um and in some cases taking.

care of a real baby, too, because. this stuff got intense sometimes. Yeah, that that baby thing, I don't remember. our high school class ever delving into. that. Uh I do remember the um the egg. babies. Mhm. Uh like where you would I. never had to take part, but I saw other. kids in school carrying around the egg. and this is a sort of in the '70s and. '80s, they would give you a a raw egg. Um you know, in the shell. And cuz some people would be like, "What. the heck is he even talking about?" Uh.

they would give you an egg and the whole. idea was you have to care for that egg. without breaking it for a couple of. weeks. You got to carry this thing. around. Uh it sounds easy. just to not get that egg broken, but. it's really not. Um you know, you have. to. really think ahead about everything and. that's the whole idea is that when you. have a baby, you can't just make. decisions on the spur of the moment. You. have to kind of pre-plan everything and. the egg came along after they'd used. real babies from orphanages. Yeah, apparently at some of the colleges. that were teaching home ec, they would.

borrow babies from orphanages for the. the um. the students to just basically practice. on. And apparently um there's a. writer historian named Danielle. Dreilinger who wrote a book The Secret. History of Home Economics and she said. that um for adoptive parents who would. go to a foster home, they'd show up and. be like, "You got any one of them babies. that's been in the home economic. classes?". >> man. Because the reasoning is these. babies spent some of their earliest days. being cared for. just [clears throat and snorts]. with complete attention and care by um.

women who were working in like the. cutting edge of child rearing. So, um. they were much more desirable than the. non home ec babies, it turns out. Yeah, for sure. I mean, the before I even read. that part of this, I was thinking in my. head like, "Oh man, you want that baby, for sure." For sure. Um apparently those eggs would uh get on. custodians' nerves enough that they. switched to flour or sugar. Which also had the um added benefit of. heft. And I saw in the like a some educational.

magazine, I can't remember, but they. would um put pantyhose of different. colors to simulate multicultural skin. tones over the flour or sugar. And that. sometimes um if you forgot like your. kid, whether it was an egg or sack of. flour or something in your locker, you. might be forced to like write a paper on. child abuse or something like that. So, the whole point was to just teach high. school kids you don't want to have a. baby at this period in your life, maybe. ever. Like if the class was hard enough,

maybe they're like, "I'm never having a. kid, but certainly not through my teen. years." That was the point. Yeah. It's kind of funny. I think they kind of. sold it to you as. like here it'll it'll teach you like how. to kind of care for a baby and how much. goes into that. But what they were really saying is, "Please don't have sex.". Kind of. Kind of. >> Well, I mean, one of them in the '90s. that came along with a a more of a like. a baby simulator, it was called Baby. Think It Over. I mean, they they flat. out said it at that point.

>> Yeah. Uh like. I think we all know what think it over. means. Sure. And I I don't know if it. worked or not, but it was a great. attempt at the very least. For sure. So, by the middle of the 20th century, I. think 1959, half of all American girls, half of all the girls in America were. taking home ec courses in school. And then just suddenly, it just dried. up. It wasn't like a faucet got turned. off or a light switch was turned, but it. started to to go downhill pretty fast in.

about the early '60s. And um let's take. a break and we'll come back and talk. about where home ec went after well, the. break. >> [music]. [music].

[music]. >> Word up, Jerry. All right, so home ec is. on the decline and there's a bunch of. reasons for this uh that kind of all. kind of steamrolled together at a. certain point. But one of the biggest. ones was when the United States really. got into standardized testing, uh which. came along mostly with the No Child Left. Behind Act because all of a sudden a. school's funding was tied to test scores. and. uh if if there aren't any home ec. questions on these tests uh and the.

testing is tied to funding, then what's. the point of even teaching that stuff? Um I don't agree with that, obviously, but that was sort of the thought and so. a lot of those classes started to just. slowly go away. Yeah, and there was an. article on Fatherly written by a guy. named Cameron LeBlanc and he traced it. back even further. He traced the origin. of where the emphasis on STEM came from. to the '80s in the Vocational and. Technical Education Act that Ronald. Reagan signed where it said, "Educators,

colleges, it you're no longer. responsible for figuring out what we. want to teach our kids. We're going to. hand this over to business and industry. so they can tell us what they want us to. teach so that we can basically train. workers.". That was the point from that point on. for school, train workers as much as you. can and then eventually universities got. in on the act like, "Let's also make. these like pipelines to colleges. So, like that's the point of high school is. to get into college and we're going to. charge them out the yin yang." So, standardization of testing.

was a huge part of it, but that was not. the only part. Like you kind of touched. on earlier, um Betty Friedan's Feminine. Mystique which kicked off the second. wave of feminism is is very often cited. as a huge chilling effect or having a. huge chilling effect on home ec classes. being taught in high school. Yeah, for sure. Uh a lot of people. started dropping those classes saying it. was you know, sort of symbolic of a. woman's confinement to the home and the. kitchen. Uh the Vocational Education Act of 1963.

all of a sudden gutted or at least. reduced funding. uh that that Smith-Hughes Act had. brought about. >> Mhm. So, uh it was you know, shop class. suffered kind of the same fate around. the same time for the same reasons. Um we didn't have shop at my school. Uh we had industrial arts which I took. Uh and I bet you anything those have. kind of lessened over the years as well, now that I think about it. Isn't. industrial arts the same thing as shop? Is it different? No, shop is like uh. like auto shop class. Oh, no, I think.

that's different. I think shop is like. drill presses and lathes and stuff like. that. >> Well, it depends on your school. A lot. of schools had auto shop class. >> Yeah. Like where they taught you how to. change oil and work on your carburetor. For sure. My high school had that. My. middle school had shop class and home. ec. What did they call the auto shop. class? Uh. I don't remember. I don't remember, but I saw it um. written somewhere as like automotive. arts or something like that. Really? Yeah, somewhere.

>> Um somebody said it, so I get to repeat. it. The art of changing oil. Exactly. Um. but no, I knew a couple of kids who were. like, "I'm going to be a mechanic. Uh. that's what I want to do after after. school. I'm not going to go to college, so it's great I'm getting this education. starting now in in high school." Like it. would give them a huge leg up to either. becoming apprentices or going and taking. like um classes at a technical trade. school, right? That went away.

Um. vocational education just really took a. huge hit and again, high school became a. pipeline. um for college. Home ec still kind of. stayed around. It saw the writing on the. wall, um but it rebranded itself as. Family and Consumer Sciences, I think. because home ec just had such a. folksy old-timey name that seemed to. reinforce gendered stereotypes. Family. and Consumer Sciences, it's new. It's. fresh. It's '90s, right? And they had a. bigger emphasis on careers helping.

people start careers outside the home. like interior design, uh nutrition, elder care, culinary arts. Like you. could become a chef or get a huge leg up. taking high school classes about that. So, that's still around today. But one. of the biggest problems that Family and. Consumer Science classes still have that. started around this time is finding. qualified teachers to actually teach the. Family and Consumer Science classes that. are still around in the US.

Yeah, for sure. I mean, if you didn't. have uh. you know, if these classes started to go. away, then kids aren't going to be. interested in that. They're not going to. you know, develop those uh. skills and take those classes in. college. And so, without universities. training these teachers, uh you're just. going to have a shortage of. professionals teaching it at the high. school level and that, you know, that's. still going on. Yeah. And apparently, the like enrollment rates are very. difficult to find. Um Livia helped us. with this and she dug up a 2013 report.

that said about 3 and 1/2 million high. school kids took family and consumer. science classes. classes in the 2011 to 2012 school year. And that still sounds kind of impressive. to me. That was a 40%. drop from just the decade earlier, the. aughts, the 2000s. Um and that they were. still pretty much divided among gender. lines, 65% girls and 35% boys. They're. still out there. They're still around. They've just taken such a massive hit.

And yet, there's a lot of people who are. like, okay. I get why home ec, you know, took a. massive hit. It needed to regroup. It's. regrouped now and we're also seeing the. fallout from what happens when you don't. teach middle and high school kids basic. life skills. They grow up to be adults. who don't know how to do basic life. skills and that seems to be happening. before our very eyes. Yeah, especially, you know, when it. comes to uh any any kind of like home.

finance. Um like passing basic um. sort of home financial literacy uh or. even financial literacy, it's really. declining. I think there was a study. from the World Economic Forum in 2024. that found that the majority of. Americans can't pass a test of financial. literacy. Mhm. So, if you ask your. average you know, recent high school. graduate uh and even college graduate. sometimes uh like, you know, tell me about interest rates. What do. you know about inflation or investing or.

compound interest or or home loans? You. might get that Gen Z stare back in your. face. Uh and you know, this is the stuff that. home ec was teaching. I you know, I. don't I don't remember so much learning. sort of the nitty-gritty of that stuff. But I certainly learned about, you know, banks and how to get a bank loan and how. to balance your checkbook and how to. kind of keep up with personal finances. Exactly. Um or maybe even do learn how. to do basic taxes, like a simple 1040. form. Again, life stuff. And in addition.

to finance stuff, they would learn. things like, you know, how to tell if a. chicken breast was under done or maybe a. few recipes to cook. Um so and if you. don't teach people even basic stuff like. how to cook, you can't really blame them. for eating takeout constantly or eating. nothing but prepackaged foods, right? So, some people say that this has led to. the obesity epidemic that the United. States is facing at least in part. Uh. it's probably a little full-blown to. say, yep, that's what happened. We did.

away with home ec and now that's the. problem. The biggest problem is that's. the food that's out there. But the the. some people are saying like we're not. these people don't have any idea how to. cook at all. The parents didn't take up. the slack when the home ec classes went. away. And so, that's part of the problem. that came from doing away with home ec. Yeah, for sure. Uh and there are people. who are saying that we we now have. generations coming up that don't know. how to adult properly. Um just sort of basic chores and.

you know, ironing and doing laundry and. just sort of the the things that you. need to do to survive on your own, um. they found that younger generations. just, you know, they weren't taught that. stuff as much, partially from home ec, um partially because they weren't made. to do chores like we were. Uh there was. a study from 2014 from Braun Research. that said 82% of parents. did chores as children, but uh only 28%. have their children doing chores. Uh and I think a lot of that is just. I don't know. We we had to do a lot of.

chores and I think like I I don't make. Ruby do as many chores as I should just. because I remember what a drag chores. were. Okay. But I'm also trying to think. ahead of like, no, I need to teach her. these life skills as well. So, maybe try. and make some more of that stuff in. would be a good idea. I was wondering. where that what what the cause was of. that disconnect. Um. Yeah, so is that as as simple as that? You just don't want to make your kid. unhappy? Uh I mean, not not that. We're perfectly.

fine with uh unhappiness. Uh so, yeah, it's definitely not that. But that's. what I'm saying. Like and I'm not asking. you to just speak for yourself, but. speak for. parents today. >> speaking for myself. No, it's very important that kids. experience all the full range of. emotions. So, that's that's definitely. not it. It's just um. I don't know. For me, I think it's just. like chores were such a drag and. you know, and she's like, you know, 9. and now 10 years old. So, I think chores will get a little more. ramped up here in the tween and teen.

years. You should buy her a straw hat. and some overalls for Christmas and be. like, this is the year you get started. >> [laughter]. >> So, um one of the other things you might. be saying is like there's an app for. everything. Like like if you can't cook, it doesn't matter. Get DoorDash. Or um. somebody's going to make. food for you and will bring it to you. You just have to give them money. And. it's that you just have to give them. money thing that's kind of a problem. right now because um wages haven't kept.

up and debt has just continued to. increase. And the second quarter of. 2025, America had $1.21 trillion of. credit card debt. The average American. had almost $6,500 of credit card debt on. their card at the time. Um so, it's not. like there's just some some easy. solution. Like maybe there will be as. stuff like that becomes cheaper, but. right now, there's just a whole grab bag. of of problems that you can trace back. to if not.

coming from home ec not being taught, home ec being taught could have solved. them or could solve or prevent them in. the future. Yeah, I mean, I guess a good thing about. these days is, you know, there's a. YouTube tutorial. There's a thousand of. them for every single task you could. ever want to accomplish in life. >> Yeah. So, uh and in that case, it's good to have. an app for that cuz I don't I don't. think necessarily younger generations. are like, uh I don't know how to plug in. an iron. So, you know, I think they'll. they'd look that stuff up on YouTube and. teach themselves. But you know, it's.

it's also good to learn that in a. classroom setting, you know? Yeah, I'm. really glad you said that because this. could so easily slide into, well, when. we were in school, we learned all this. stuff and look at how great we turned. out. It could just be people who are. proponents of home ec not understanding. where where the country's going, where. the culture is going and it's going away. from home ec in a different direction. that will take care of itself. Um it's. not like home ec is the solution to. every problem. So, that's a really good.

argument against it. There's others, too. Um. like do we if we bring back like. vocational education, do does the US. need um jobs like that? Uh and you can. make an argument against that argument. and that yeah, we we do, especially. hands-on jobs like uh trade skills, like. plumbing and electricians. Uh Jensen. Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, said the next. generation of millionaires are going to. be plumbers and electricians cuz it's so. hard to replace that with AI. So, there's like arguments.

one way or another, but it's you have. you just have to be really careful not. to slip into the back in my day, things. were better kind of mentality. Oh, yeah. I mean, cuz that will and rightfully get. smacked back in your face. If you're. like, well, how'd you learn to steam a. shirt? You didn't take home ec and. they're like, Tik Tok, bro. Like get out. of my face. Yeah. We do we do things. differently now and. uh we don't have to do it the way you. did it. That's right. Like I can't set a. table properly in like the the exact way. it's supposed to be, but our parents'.

generation probably learned how to do. that. It doesn't matter because the. culture uh evolved in a way that didn't. need that anymore. Yeah, just put the soup bowl down, cup. your hands, and go to town. There you go. >> [laughter]. >> Uh yeah, I don't think we can do any. better than ending on that, Chuck. Oof. Thank you. Uh so, if you want to learn. more about home ec, go find a home ec. class and take it. And then let us know. what you think about it. If you take. home ec now, get in touch and tell us. what's going on there cuz we want to. hear uh if you got your finger on the.

pulse of home ec. And since I mentioned. pulse, that means it's time for listener. mail. Yeah, we're like, what are you using for. babies these days? And they're like, we're just using the babies that we've. had. >> [laughter]. >> Just bring them into school. >> get to us in time. Uh this is a Rockettes thing. I think we. ran our Rockettes episode as a select. recently. Mhm. Uh cuz 'tis the season. And we heard from uh Santa Claus, you. guys. Uh hey, just wanted uh we I didn't know.

Santa was a listener, but it turns out. he is. Uh just listened to the selects on the. Rockettes. You did a wonderful job. I. heard you say you hope a Rockette. [music] writes in, which by the way did. happen back when we first released it. >> Mhm. Uh I may not be a Rockette, but I'm. lucky enough to work very closely with. these ladies six days a week. I've been. Santa Claus in the Christmas Spectacular. for the past 4 years. Neat. Uh to say. these women are the greatest stage. athletes would be an understatement. Not. only are they uh the best in their. field, but even off stage, they are. gracious, intelligent individuals.

>> [music]. >> and uh many have other unique passions. outside of dance. Uh this year is quite. special as it marks the 100th. anniversary of the Rockettes. Uh not the Christmas Spectacular, that'll be in 2033. But if you guys want. to come see a show, let me know. I'll. give you my Santa schedule and get you. some tickets. Uh my wife and I, Mrs. Claus, uh adore. Stuff You Should Know and were at your. last New York City live show. Uh thanks. for everything. And that is from uh. Santa Claus. Adam. That's sweet. [music] Thank you, Santa.

Adam. That was a really great one. And. thanks for the offer, too. We're going. to have to take him up on it, Chuck. I've always wanted to see that show. So, maybe [music] maybe we'll do that one. day. That's pretty great. And thanks. again, Santa. Um and before we sign off, Chuck, this episode comes out on Yumi's. birthday. So, I want to say happy. birthday, Yumi. Uh, when's her birthday? The 30th. Ah, I thought it was the 31st. No. No. wonder I'm always a day late. >> [laughter]. >> But, you're not a dollar short, Chuck. You always come through. All right. Well, happy birthday, Yumi. Thanks. Uh,

and if you want to get in touch with us. like Santa did, you can send us an. email, too. It's. stuffpodcast@iheartradio.com. Stuff You Should Know is a production of. iHeart Radio. >> [music]. >> For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple. Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your. favorite shows.