At the risk of sounding unpopular...

[alasharia_la]

 From the early 1900s, Cornell University had Practice Apartments for female students. It included learning basic housekeeping, cooking, and silly things like keeping a budget.
And here's where I will probably sound unpopular, but I honestly do believe that uni students now could do with this. I hear many people saying "I can't cook", and to be

Comments

[tuliet]

Have you ever watched the movie Mona Lisa's Smile with Julia Roberts. It is set at Cornell and she plays an art teacher who is against all those kind of classes! hehehe. I tend to agree with you though that there should be classes available to both male and female students in various things. I am being sexist here but there is a whole generation of men/guys who are hopeless at the tiniest of home maintenance things. My husband is a whiz on the computer but for so many of the handy men things i have to ask my dad because my husband is just hopeless. He is not alone in this, there are many his age who are the same while many my dads age who are much more handy. I guess we are a throw away generation - if it is broken just buy another one don't bother to fix it.

[alasharia_la]

What's even scarier is that ours is really the first generation of divorced kids. I can count on both hands the friends I have whose parents are still married.
Scarily for them, they don't get to learn how to do the stereotyped other persons job - or in cases like mine, I had a strong willed mum who made sure I knew how to use a drill, hammer, etc. My husband, meanwhile, lost his father at age 4 - he had only his grandparents to teach him anything, and they weren't exactly young (I'm estimating that Grandpa was close to 50 when Ian was born).
So yes, I think the classes should be brought back in. It's beneficial for everyone to learn how to dice an onion, change a button, change a tap washer...

[ghymoreids_mum]

Domestic Science USED to be taught in primary in the 1950's. it was not by the 60's.
sewing was 90mins per week in primary around then, not by thhe 70's.

only the Special Ed teachers now seem to have time in the timetable to do anything like "how to go shopping for essential items ie FOOD, CLEANING PRODUCTS etc."

EVERYONE needs to know how to shop on a budget [hell, even making out a shopping list!] and the basics of cooking, cleaning, washing-up, mending, and not wasting etc etc etc.