Repository: UIHistories Project: Dedication - Home Economics - Challenge of Home Economics [PAGE 50]

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You've heard it said that the most important word in the English language is "I." It is a thrilling fact that to each of the nearly twoand-a-half billion souls on this earth the center — the focus of all being — is in himself — myself, to be explicit We just don't do any creative growing unless we feel it will "mean" something to us and somehow fulfill our individual goals. And so I ask questions of myself* Am I accepting the challenges that home economics puts to me as a woman in business? More than that, am I not only taking on obvious challenges, but am I looking around for more? It is a simple fact that no one can greatly help anyone else. We must do our own growing — master the simple, then go on from there- Luckily, everything we have to do in life is related to something we have learned to do in the past. My little red-headed grandson David, at the proud age of one year, is learning to walk. Hell soon run, too, but it will take time to learn to stop in the midst of a run. We know he will struggle on — even though the struggle is joyous. In any case his strength lies in single-handedly working out his own problems so he will be able to shoulder the next His four-year-old brother Stevie can even ride a bike, and he's trying to read, too. Another strength — and this to me as an HEIB — is that if Fve prepared myself to meet the problems that can be expected to come up in my job, I'll be set to take on new and unexpected responsibilities. I flew here in a DC-7. I'll never in the wide world be able to operate even a tiny plane, and the deepest secrets about other fields — atomic energy, for instance — could be whispered to me and Fd not have the slightest idea they were secrets, much less understand them. But I do have formal background for my work in home economics, both from the University of Illinois and the University of Chicago — with a bit from other universities thrown in. The question for me is: Do I "keep up" in subject matter essential to my work so that my mind will be ready to take on the new? Most HEIBs don't have formal training for all the work they'll do in business. But they'll learn by doing because their basic understanding is well developed. They'll learn to write and edit copy, take pictures, work on layouts, test and develop recipes, and be nutritionists and idea-raisers for telling people about their company's products. Actually, don't you feel that scientists have great optimism and courage that springs from a partial knowledge. They seem to gain much patience from knowing that as yet their knowledge is anything but complete. Certainly an HEIB must be well-trained, seasoned, experienced,

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