New required High School Course!!...LOL!

[norgeway]

I think the US should have a new course in all high schools for ALL KIDS, REQUIRED 1 month coures...Havent figured out the name, but, All girls must live in a house with a wood cook stove, And cook three hot meals a day in summer, must draw water up from a well, and learn to wash on a gas powered wringer washer, must learn to kill chickens and hogs, must learn to can, and work a garden, all boys must learn to plow with a mule, handle livestock,and also learn how to butcher and cure fresh meat.....No electricity, no cell phones no computer!! Wouldnt it be fun to watch, I wonder how few would graduate!!

 

[polkanut]

Oh I can hear all the whining already!  I swear some kids have that damn cell phone glued to their hands and/or ears.

 

[arbilab]

People I see in the market can't buy a case of soda without 'consulting' on a cellphone. It giggled me so much that once I walked around the store with a potato held up to my head, making fun of them. (I was buying a potato anyway.)

 

[ronhic]

I be happy...

...to see them try and cook something that is remotely healthy....but rather than have them turn back the clock to my grandparents era, I think the following may be good...

 

- plan 5 days worth of meals for 4 and one dinner for 6.

- shop within a budget with no more than 1 take-out dinner and lunch per week

- cook a 3 course dinner for 6 without burning anything or resorting to a 'packet mix'

- correctly launder mixed loads of washing by sorting into relevant piles (they can choose a front or top load machine....and we'll let them have a modern detergent and access to bleach and softener)

- walk to the shops if under 2 miles or catch the bus....

- wash dishes by hand

- see how clean they can get the house using no more than 2 additional products other than dishwashing liquid.

 

Most will fail just with shopping on a budget and menu planning.

 

[whirlcool]

Chris:

I am willing to bet that most early twenty somethings couldn't do what you listed and would desperately need that course! Of course they would have to do it without consulting a mobile or texting.

My sisters daughter is now 26 and she has never ever taken any interest in cooking when my sister tried to show her how years ago. She would just say "Not Interested" and walk away. I asked her once if she learned how to cook and she just said that since everything is provided to her why should she learn how?

For Karen & I, we find cooking to be one of the most enjoyable experiences we do together. I couldn't imagine not knowing how to cook.

 

[ronhic]

I couldn't imagine not knowing how to cook.

I agree.

 

In high school, I took cooking as an elective in years 8-10 and loved it.....it wasn't even a challenge to be honest as I'd always been interested and wanted to be a chef until I was 14 when it hit me I'd have minimal social life as well as possibly losing why I enjoyed it so much - to relax.

 

To top it off, when I went to 'college', which in Canberra is years 11-12....you turn 18 in year 12, I chose to do 'elective units', that is, cooking for fun at lunch times. At one point, I was cooking 3 lunch times a week....

 

[re563]

Wait ??!?!?!?!?!!--It gets better

I think my sister that lives in the littlton area of Denver told me this (don't beat me up if I'm wrong), In grade school there, they have decided to stop teaching cursive handwriting. The reason for this is that since because everything is become electronic, there was no need. Now, I know that I maybe behind the times a bit, but even today, don't most important documents still require a signature???

 

[countryguy]

They should also go back to teaching manners, respect, courteousness, grammar, spelling, and many more basic things that were taught 40 years ago (when I went to school). 

 

Gary

 

[maytagbear]

I am (nearly) speechless!

Why should the already overburdened public (state) schools be made to teach these things which should be taught AT HOME?

Especially one of the most crucial things to ever be taught, character!

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[jaxsunst]

My 13 year old daughter will text me (sometimes from the next room). If there are abbreviations or misspellings, I will send if back and tell her that I only read complete sentences.

I am fortunate to be able to put my kids in private school where the traditional values are still being taught.

 

[countryguy]

Well yes of course they SHOULD be taught at home but obviously that is not happening.  Children tend to emulate their parents or whomever they are raised by.  So if you have parents with no manners, etc. then the chldren will most likely be the same.  Teaching this in school is not that much more of a burden IMHO and is just as important as the 3 Rs. 

 

Gary

 

[whirlcool]

So if you have parents with no manners, etc. then the children will most likely be the same.

No truer words were spoken!
My sister is married to a joe pro sports jock. His best manners would be just barely good enough for a baseball stadium concession stand. "(Hey You! Give me one of dose!") My sister used to have good manners as taught by our parents, not no more. She's just as bad as her husband is. She never sends thank you cards for gifts, holidays, birthdays, etc. She says when you do that all you are doing is making the greeting card companies rich.

And guess what? Their daughter has developed the same kind of manners. She's a self centered, overindulged spoiled brat.

 

[maytagbear]

Gary-

Do you KNOW teachers? Have you ever taught?

Have you ever had 35 students either for an entire day, or for a short, short 45 minute period?

The public schools have been forced to teach things that some modern parents are too lazy or weak or both to teach at home. Many school administrators do not support their staffs, and bow to ill-informed public sniping and parents who blindly believe every thing their little darling says, even if it is not true.

My mother was a teacher. Many of my friends are teachers. I have lead seminars in undergraduate school, in graduate school, and in different settings like church and a local cooking school.

Things may well be different in Canada, in Ontario. I hope so.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[mixfinder]

Dept of Ecology

We wouldn't be allowed to build a wood fire in periods when emission are high and the fire danger is extreme.  The stove would need to be the only source of heat in the house to be used and it would need a catalytic convertor and steel lined chimney.  Moreover one needs a burn permit and can only burn vegetation in its original form (trees).  Chicken slaughter would fall right in with cock and dog fighting for brutality and the SPCA would have you by the gonads.  Besides, the cost of fruit, sugar and jars puts home canning out of the running for cost efficiencies.

I taught for 12 years.  I loved the kids, tolerated the parents and loathed the administration.  If anyone becomes teacher now it is understood your job has little to do with teaching and a lot to do with identifing the broken parts and using tools to put children back together in the hope they can understand learning and use it as they move forward in life.

 

[norgeway]

Well!

What didnt hurt us 50 years ago ..wont hurt us now!! A wood cookstove never hurt nothing!! LOL! The EPA can STAY AWAY!!

 

[countryguy]

Lawrence,

I have friends that are teachers and my sister was a teacher. I've heard it all and I know what they have to put up with and I know that they get little support from their principals and school board. Teachers are practically powerless when it comes to discipline. In an ideal world, it would be the parents that discipline, teach manners, respect, etc. but the reality is, that is not happening. And it is the kids that are suffering. And when these kids grow up their kids will carry on the same way or worse. We all see it happening. Kids spend more of their waking hours with teachers than they do with their parents. It is only logical that kids can learn manners, respect, etc. from their teachers. Geesh, I have a colleague, in his early 20s, that addresses his correspondence to me and everyone else with a salutation of 'Hey', not 'Hi Gary' or 'Hello Gary' or just 'Hi' but 'Hey'!!! And that is to both colleagues as well as customers outside the company! I know this is a more casual world but in the business world 'hey' just does not cut it.

Gary

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

I agree, today's generation is spoiled!

Or maybe "too evolution-ed" because we get to BUY our own food & our homes are BUILT for us--well that stuff DOES come from SOMEWHERE! (SOMEONE!)

We are getting to a point where less and less and fewer people are going to be w/o that "Great American Know-How"!!!!

Of course there is also a procedure for "Kashering" meat that should probably be offered, too... (As an alternative to the "standard" butchering/slaughtering course) And let's not forget HUNTING, as well!

-- Dave

 

[rapunzel]

Coursive handwriting

Isn't taught in Australian schools, everything is printed. Very few people here seem to be able to do the 'running writing' let alone read it.