464 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



only those dishes taken in class, the student is able to prepare all 

 those belonging to the groups of which these are types. 



Lastly, are standard recipes desirable? People's standards 

 and ideals vary, and so must the recipe. We can not say this is 

 better than that, for personal whims play too large a part. But 

 even granting that they are, we can not approach to them now on 

 account of our lack of control of the exact composition of our food 

 materials and of our operations. It seems better, then, to have 

 a definite idea of the changes which varying proportions will bring 

 about, than to be perfected in just one of these. 



In closing, let us look for a moment at the change this will 

 make in the preparation of our teachers. It means, we must have 

 scientifically trained women, not women trained in one science, but 

 somewhat in all the sciences. As physics depends on mathematics, 

 chemistry on physics, and biology on both physics and chemistry, so 

 the science of cooking depends on physics, chemistry, and the vari- 

 ous biological sciences. Hence, the teacher of cooking needs a 

 broader scientific training than the physicist, chemist, or even the 

 biologist, for in addition to the knowledge of all these sciences she 

 must be thoroughly grounded in the principles and processes in- 

 volved in cookery; she should have the power of reasoning and of 

 organization, so as to bring together the principles of cookery with 

 the science material in their proper relations, so as to make the 

 points most clear ; and she must be versed in the laws of psychology 

 and pedagogy, in order that she may be able to present the material 

 in such a way that it will be best grasped by the students. 



It seems much to require of one person, so much that a national 

 committee for the purpose of, drawing up a high school course in 

 Home Economics seems to be willing to put in our subject as ap- 

 plied science, and, chiefly because there are not now prepared 

 enough women to carry on the work in the other way. Here, in 

 Missouri, as in some of the other schools in our country, we be- 

 lieve it" can be done ; that adequate preparation can be gotten in 

 the four years, usually required for high school work, provided 

 that work is wisely chosen. 



The greatest bar to our progress at present is the fact that 

 many of the schoolmen throughout the country realize only the 

 practical value of the subject. Some are not willing to put it in 

 at all on this basis, and others, seeing only this side, are putting 

 in women who are not properly prepared — women who have only 

 one or "two years' training, or even less. It necessarily lowers the 

 tone of the work, and makes it harder for us to insist upon a four 



