Repository: UIHistories Project: Dedication - Home Economics - Challenge of Home Economics [PAGE 33]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

predominate in a home, whether comic books or idea magazines, might reflect its contributions to the community. These various vehicles of mass information and entertainment are effecting a profound transformation in the American home. Without minimizing professional knowledge and skills, it is patently obvious that in the education of homemakers, more adequate provision must be made for liberal studies designed to elevate taste, to cultivate a sense of values, and to develop the capacity for logical thinking. A third challenge to home economics in our universities stems from the vast increase in knowledge developed through prodigious research undertaken in recent years in the social sciences. The behavioral sciences in particular can now contribute more significantly than ever to the education of homemakers and of professional workers in several specialized areas of home economics. It is interesting to observe the unusual awareness of the general public of developments in these areas. Dr. Gesell, for example, has become a household word, and over a half million copies have been sold on news stands of a paperback edition of Ruth Benedict's Patterns of Culture. Professional home economists, of course, are aware of many other studies that provide the basis for enrichment of the curriculum. Even the exhaustive investigations into the nature of human relations in industry have produced findings which are relevant to the problem of human relations within the home and family. One encouraging development of recent years has been the increasing emphasis upon the vital role of the home and family in the life of the community. Increasingly the community in this respect is considered in its broadest sense to encompass not only its immediate environment but the nation and the world as well. The ideal homemaker today interests herself in public affairs and works energetically in behalf of a better community. To equip her for active and enlightened citizenship, the home economics curriculum must draw more heavily upon the social sciences as well as the humanities. Despite new emphases, this is by no means a new concept of the central function of the family. Confucius once observed: "The men of old, when they wished their virtues to shine throughout the land, first had to govern their states well. To govern their states well, they first had to establish harmony in their families. To establish harmony in their families, they first had to discipline themselves. To discipline themselves, they first had to set their minds in order. To set their minds in order, they first had to make their purpose sincere. To make their purpose

33