1. If you were a girl in the 70s in the U.S., you were expected to take Home Ec. in high school. Did you and what did you take from the class, if anything? If you are a guy, would you have liked to have had the option of taking it?
In 8th grade, they offered Homec for boys, and for one quarter, it was basic cooking, and for another quarter, it was sewing, and we all made down vests from a kit we had to buy. I still have many of those skills taught.
2. How were your school lunches?
Up through 6th grade, the home lunch program was run by my grandmother, and she ran a scratch kitchen. It was pretty good. Homemade rolls, hamburger buns, and homemade donuts. It’s not a bad way to grow up.
3. Did you walk, take a bus, or have someone drive you to school?
Through my junior year of high school, I walked to school (It was a small rural town, and we were “townies). In my junior year, I drove myself, and in my senior year, the new high school was farther away, so I drove myself as well. I also rode my bike to school quite often.
4. Were any classes off-limits to you because of your sex?
Not really. We had co-ed PE, women in FAA raising cows alongside the men. Men’s and women’s sports were competitive, but otherwise, it was all co-ed.
5. Looking back on it now, what was the biggest life lesson you took from high school?
Small-town America can be broad-minded – sometimes, but then again, this was in the late 70s and early 80s, and that town has gone full-on Trump these days and probably not the fun time it was back then during the coal boom.
1. In high school, Home Economics was an elective course open to anyone. The teacher, Mrs. Olsen mostly taught baking and sewing. In a one-hour course, there’s only so much one can practice. I recall that any bread-making was done after the fact and you could pick up your creations after school.
2. Horrific. Occasionally my mom would pack my lunch, but they got mundane or so huge that I couldn’t finish them. The cafeteria in elementary school was terrible. “Mystery meat” was a weekly treat. From what I could discern, it was essentially runza made out of roadkill antelope. I’m not making that up.
Later, in High School, we were able to select a la carte items. Lunches were some combination of bad burgers, bad fries, sopapillas, or cinnamon rolls. Carb heavy.
3. My parents generally took me. My dad taught in my high school so I rode with him. We arrived 30 minutes early and left at least 30 minutes after. I would sit in his classroom and start homework at the end of the day.
4. No. We were only segregated by gender once–for scoliosis screenings.
5. Jocks are bullies. Cowboys are insular. Mormons are extremely weird–and competitive.
1) I took some sort of version of home-ec. We made a pillow and some food stuffs pretty dumb.
2) Absolute rubbish. Until sophomore year then it was open campus so I ate out / fast-food way to often.
3) Until I was old enough dad dropped me off on his way to work then I would walk home after sports. But as soon as I had a license I drive myself.
4) No classes just certain sports.
5) 99% of the things I thought were important weren’t and the things I should have focused in but didn’t were.