Missouri Housekeepers' Conference Association. 465 



years' course, when women from other schools get positions with 

 less training. If the schoolmen will co-operate with those of us 

 who demand the four years' of training, and raise the standards de- 

 manded of their teachers, the other schools will have to follow suit, 

 and we will have better prepared teachers as a whole, instead of 

 having to lower the type of work given. 



HOME ECONOMICS, WHY IT SHOULD BE TAUGHT IN THE 

 SCHOOLS, AND WHAT IT INCLUDES IN THE UNI- 

 VERSITY OF MISSOURI. 



(Dr. Edna D. Day, in charge of the Department of Home Economics at the 



University of Missouri.) 



In the olden days all girls were trained at home in household 

 pursuits. This practice is no longer as common as it was, nor is 

 it, under present-day conditions, as efficient a means of training 

 for home-making as it was in the past. The old training was given 

 not so much for the sake of the training, but because the daughters' 

 help was needed by the mother in her work. Now, that the factory 

 has taken from the home many of its former industries, it is no 

 longer necessary that the girls, as well as the mother, should give 

 their time to the housework. As a consequence, many other in- 

 terests have developed that claim the time and energy of the grow- 

 ing daughters, and although some mothers still, by effort, arrange 

 to give their girls household training, it is not so easily done as 

 formerly. 



However, although the necessary housework is less, the knowl- 

 edge needed in the proper management of the home has increased. 



Formerly almost everything needed in the home was produced 

 in the home, or on the estate. This meant on the part of the home- 

 makers, skill in doing many things; still, the whole process went 

 on under their eyes and the eyes of their growing children, and the 

 process and product were known. The food served on the table was 

 grown in the garden and prepared in the kitchen and it didn't take 

 long to learn the methods of preparation and the general digestive 

 qualities of the few foods available. Now the world is our garden, 

 and it is necessary to know the nature and value and methods of 

 preparation of many more foods. They may be bought fresh or 

 dried, salted or pickled, preserved in formaldehyde or boracic acid. 



A— SO 



