Family and Consumer Sciences Teachers: Is there a shortage of teachers? Or, are programs being shut down due to shortage? Or, is it both?

This past year the Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences put out an article titled, "Family and Consumer Sciences Secondary School Programs:  National Survey Shows Continued Demand for FCS Teachers". 

In this article they state that although student enrollment is down at the high school level the middle school level has maintained its enrollment over the past 10 years. 

There has been somewhat of a national campaign to "Bring Back Home Economics" and although this is vital and prominent in social media it is clear that FCS programs continue to thrive throughout the United States.  Number of students in FCS programs and corresponding teachers are down.  It states that this could be anticipated with continued focus on "core" academic offerings and lack of funding.  And, in some states Career Pathways has left FCS struggle to find its place with the career technical curriculum.  (p44 vol 105, no 4, 2013)

Through out the 80's school budgets were struggling.  Many schools chose to cut electives.  Beside cutting these electives schools were feeling as though courses like "Home Economics" were not vital to education and that children could learn some of the concepts in the Home Economics curriculum at home.  Because of this transition many colleges and universities chose to cut the Home Economics education programs in their schools. 

As the FCS programs leveled off in the 90's many school guidance officials felt that they should not steer children into a career that was facing decline.  Therefore Colleges and Universities that did still have programs were seeing a decline in their FCS enrollment.  In the early 2000 I did a small study in the Minnesota.  During that year the University of Minnesota had 8 graduates in the Masters program and UW Stout had 18  (lower now).  When I graduated from Stout in 1982 there were between 80 and 90 in my graduating class.

Because there were not many jobs available over the late 80's and early 90's very few went into the field.  Now, as we face a time when many of those that started teaching FCS in the late 70's and early 80's face retirement schools are desperate to find replacements for these FCS classes.

Last year Minnesota State University, Mankato, MN received approximately 40 requests for FCS teachers.  They graduated approximately 4 students.  (Note:  The University of Minnesota,  original land grant university, no longer offer a FCS degree)

As we approach the end of the school year we see emails across the Minnesota list serve for open position for the coming school year.  Up until April 1 there have been 6 requests for FCS professionals for the coming school year. 

Schools that struggle with budgets can easily decide to end programs rather than wait until the finale hour to replace retiring FCS professionals.

As a profession, if we do not want to see the field die, several things need to happen to keep it alive.

1.  We must continue to be a positive voice nationally and promote the wonderful work that we do to educate children.

2.  We need to promote our field as a career choice for our FCS students through the courses we teach and extra curricular activities sponsored by FCS.

3.  We need to encourage those that have walked away from the field because jobs were hard to find at one time and "get them back into education". 

4.  Some of us that have left the field might need to go back until replacement can be found.

5. As professionals we need to stay current with trends and teach what is vital to sustain today, rather than what we have always taught. 

Our profession is in a scary state.  Our professional organization is struggling as a whole, our high school and college enrollment is declining and yet we have a shortage of educators to keep the programs that we have alive.

As a group we must be strong, be involved and fight to keep the positive work that we do in the public eye.

With love from your retired FCS teacher, Jane

Reusable sandwich/storage bags. I have finally gotten on the bandwagon.

 

 

Since I have retired from education a bit early I have been doing many things.  One of them is making things to sell on ETSY.  I know most of my readers know what ETSY is but if you do not, it is a site to sell art, crafts and homemade items to the general public.  If you think that it is a good way to make extra money please let me say that wealth does not come fast or easy.  I have been doing this for one year in April.  It takes a while for people to know that you are out there selling things, and for customers to trust you and your products.  I started doing mostly baby blankets and quilts.  To give you an example of the competition....there are approximately 40,000 baby and lap quilts on ETSY for sale.

 

Occasionally I make special order items.  I have adult inseam snap, elastic waist pants that get quite a few hits.  The length is never right so people order these specially.

 

I have not made more money than I have spent on supplies.  Typical.  The person that took my former position is always giving me ideas to make for my ETSY site.  The other day she had reusable bags on her desk.  I was thrilled as I have quite a bit of this water proof fabric and I needed some quick things to make with it.  PUL fabric is water proof, food safe but it breathes.  It was used mostly for diaper covers when it first came out. 

 

I like these fold over bags for reusing because the sewing is on the outside of the bag and the thread does not interact with the food. 

 

To wash these you turn them inside out and put them in your dishwasher or washing machine and then let them air dry.

 

If you are interested in seeing any of the items from my ETSY shop here is the link.  It is also on my blog.

 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/EmilHansDesigns

 

With love from your retired FACS teacher, Using up a lot of time but not supporting myself.  Having fun as always.  Jane

 

 

AAFCS Conference, Elementary, Secondary and Adult Education community looking for donations for silent auction (ESAE)

This summer at our annual conference the Elementary, Secondary and Adult Education community will hold its annual curriculum showcase along with their silent auction.

The Community is asking for donations for the silent auction.

Please leave a comment here or email our community leaders (find emails on AAFCS website.) if you are planning to donate an item from your state or affiliate. 

These donations support the teacher of the year program.  We give scholarships for affiliate teachers of the year attending the conference and support the teacher of the year luncheon and curriculum showcase.

Please leave your donations at the St. Louis Booth.  Label it with your affiliate or name and the value of the item.

We are celebrating 40 years of Teacher of the Year and we would like to make this year a "big deal".  Help us celebrate FACS teachers and the work that they do.

With love from your retired FACS teacher, Jane

My sister has a new home for her future.....We started the remodel....It has been fun.

My sister decided she was going to purchase a small second home.  Site unseen!  Yikes.  She knew the area, some of the people that already lived in the complex and had it inspected. 

I met her at the location and when I walked in the door I couldn't believe that it looked as nice as it did for a purchase that was bank owned and well as I said she never saw it. 

We have a great deal of work but we got a great start during the 5 days that we were there. 

Here is a list of items that must be done.  If they are checked they are accomplished. 

• Fill holes in walls and paint. (some holes filled)
• Replace all flooring but kitchen and one bath. (rooms have been measured)
• Replace plumbing in toilets. ^  (Yes, my sister has mad plumbing skills, she did this.)
• Fix kitchen sink leak.  ^ (Yep she did this too)
• Replace kitchen cabinets.  (Measured and ready to be installed)
• Replace master bath.  (Design has been figured)
• Replace other bath sink, paint, change light.  ^ (We did this together and I have    pictures)
• Fix ugly entry shelf into coat hook ^



This is the bathroom before.  Not everything is in here.  Changed sink and vanity.  Painted walls.
 Re-grouted tile and put in a sink back splash.  Cleaned the trim and changed out the light fixture.  The light was another issue because the building is from the early 70's.  Electrical was a bit different than both of us are familiar with when changing out light fixtures. 
The after picture is below.

This is a European sink.  It caused a few challenges as the pipes did not match for our master plumber. What a nightmare.  But over all we were very happy the result and of course it looks better in person.


This is the entry way before.  It had built in shelves right at the door.  I don't get it!  We took them out, filled in the cracks and holes, sanded and painted.  We then painted on of the shelves white put it at the bottom for baskets.  We added hooks on a white board for hanging coats.  Turned out great!  After is below.

 I know it looks like there is a color issue on the wall but it is a light reflection.  We love it.

We have a long way to go but we are excited about the progress and can't wait to get at it again.  We were raised in a household where do it yourself was important for survival.  We are pretty pleased with our skills and appreciate what we were taught. 

This type of work has always been fun for me and teaching housing and interior design was also helpful.  As I watched my sister do some of these plumbing things it makes me think it wouldn't be bad for people to learn these basics just for pure financial survival.  I will let you know about further progress as it happens.

With love from your retired FACS teacher, Jane

 

My take on the TV "reality" show the Bachelor....Yes I think it is related to FACS!

I didn't always watch the show the Bachelor because I thought it was ridiculous when it first aired.  I could not imagine one person dating 25 people at once, having to keep them straight, who gets along with who, you did what with who....pretty insane.  And, I am not one to tolerate infidelity and this feels really close to just that.

I don't know why this season bothered me so much but I think it is because it felt so unkind and awful at the end of the season that I have to address it. 

My husband and I started watching the show as pretty much a joke.  We couldn't believe some of things that were shown on T.V.   I of course have always been a romantic and very much a cynic at the same time.  So I wanted it to be real but I also felt that many of these people were on this show to maybe find love but also to establish a career.  Many of them have done so!

There are very few that have stayed with the bachelor(ette) they picked over the years but those that have married appear to be happy in the public eye.

What I do know for sure, is that these shows are entertainment and they are produced.  To be honest some of them are boring because the stars are conformists and choose to do whatever the producers ask.  (Sean)

This season somewhere along the line there was a conflict between the producers and the infamous Juan Pablo.  It was very noticeable in one of the commercials at the end of the season when JP and Chris Harrison were suppose to interact.  There was no interaction and no love lost.

As I watched, my respect for him dwindled, in the way the show portrayed him.   Sometimes things that came out of his mouth shocked me.   I even suggested to my Facebook pals that maybe it was cultural.  There was no response from my friends and I felt like I was hearing crickets.   As the show went on it was very evident the ABC was doing everything that they could to make sure they could show every rotten thing he said and it did not matter what the consequences.   (Please believe when I say this, I know he said the words, but some of it just did not need to be aired.)

Several of the past "main characters" of the show expressed their concern for the editing and regard to the situation on the show.  They also addressed that they may not have been pleased with JP and what we saw but they felt that he was definitely put "out there" as the bad guy.  (1.  Jillian Harris:  http://www.jillianharris.com/blog/post/my-thoughts-on-juan-pablo-nikki?showAll=1#comments )

We will never know because ABC is choosing to appear as though they did very little wrong.  One of my favorite quotes from Chris Harrison was, "He was trying to help him share his feelings."  Um no, badgering is not helping.

I guess what bothers me more than anything is how we as a public think we know someone by watching them on TV.  I too joined in and watched twitter, commented with my fellow watchers on Facebook and we had fun.  But as I watched the twitter feed and I realized that there were two kinds of people, those that were still infatuated with JP and those that did not like him at all.  And while I watched and "liked" the feed on twitter and comments I kept saying to myself....."There is something bad that happened behind the scenes that we do not know about out here in T.V land.  These unkind comments are not o.k." 

In reality, my point is, that there is no reality show.  People do these shows for fame and money and as the general public we get sucked in.  It is entertainment and some times it just goes too far. 

I keep thinking about our society and what this says  about us as a whole.  How do we tell kids to respect each other, and be kind to each other when this is what is portrayed to be real? 

Personally if it is a real example of life I think they should cook together, do laundry together and hang wall paper together.  (After 27 years, I do NOT hang wall paper with my husband.)  Let's see how that works.  Because frankly, that is what life is all about; surviving, along with loving, supporting and caring about each other. 

As teachers and family professionals these crazy reality shows should be addressed and talked about with young people.  If you asked, I will guarantee there are young people out there (Of course, not all of them) thinking this is real.

Do I think this relationship is going to be lasting?  Does my opinion matter?  It will be difficult for them to get through this backlash......

What I really care about is what was left on the table, how it was handled and the image that is perceived as real in our society and how we respond to it.

With love from your retired FACS teacher, Jane

It is still cold and snowy....."I Can't take it NO more"

I know that I posted about being cold already this winter but it warrants another post.  The headline today read....."If you are under 35 this is the coldest winter in your lifetime." 

Seriously?  Seriously?  I actually called my older son to tell him.  As if he didn't know by walking outside. 

Oh, and the snow....we were driving out of the neighborhood last night and one of our neighbors threw a shovel full of snow.  The pile was so high it didn't make it to the top and came tumbling back down.

Lastly, the school district that I just retired from has had 6 snow/cold days.  I did not have that many "off" days in 14 years. 

It is a bad winter....in fact this is the winter that I remember as a kid. 

I pray there is not snow still melting in June!

Join me at the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Conference June 25-28

I am really looking forward to the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Conference in St. Louis, MO this summer.  You just can't get more central than St. Louis, in the United States.  What a great place to learn, the gateway to the West, as FACS members start forward thinking on making a change in our organization. 

As painful as thinking about making an organizational change may be for some of us, something must be done to sustain the good of what we do and stand for in societal development.

Ashley Davis

 

While there I will be presenting a session on social media with my friend and FACS teacher Ashley Davis.  Ashley is a young, energetic woman leading by example in the FACS field.  She is passionate about FACS and has been a tremendous leader in the Minnesota affiliate. 

Here is the description for our session on Thursday of the conference.

3:00pm-4:00pm "Not Your Mom's PR Anymore!" Using Social Media for FCS Public AwarenessPresented by Jane Hinrichsen, CFCS, Retired, and Ashley Davis
Join the Community on Public Awareness to learn how to the use social media as a tool to publicize family and consumer sciences growth, gains, and projects in our communities. In addition to discussing the importance of using social media, we will also cover traditional media, such as newspapers, magazines, and film.


Hope to see you there!

With love from your retired FACS teacher, Jane