Course of Study, 1965. Oops! 2015.

I'm too young to have ever taken a home ec class in high school. By the time I entered those halls of learning, it had become a relic of the past. I was always under the impression that it had been a way to get good girls ready for their role in society as wife, mother, and homemaker. And that the then-few girls that decided to continue their education were considered failures as proper women. I'm simplifying, but when home ec was common in high schools women were still being held back in the job world. Well, the conservative party that is ruling at this moment in Spain, has decided that it's a good idea to reintroduce the idea of homemaking as a career.

At the end of this last August, a law was approved amplifying what can be studied in vocational schools. One of those new courses of study is Actividades domésticas y limpieza de edificios (Domestic activities and cleaning in buildings). Its objective is to prepare a student to be able to keep a household and know how to clean an office. Students will learn how to clean and hygienize bathrooms, kitchens, and rooms in a residence using the appropriate products and techniques. Also, how to buy, put away, and use food in a hygienic matter (cooking). Washing, ironing, and mending clothes are another class. And we can't forget a class on washing and dressing children and sending them off to school. In this course students will also learn how to read a manual that explains how to use appliances such as washers and dryers, ovens, microwaves, dishwashers, and coffeepots. And the role of psychologist and teacher is also analyzed, where the student will learn how to settle disputes, and how to explain what is mentioned on the news.

And what will this new course of study prepare students for in the labor market? Well, domestic employment (read: maid or housekeeper), office cleaner, and quite possibly, cook. Of course, this is a double-edged sword. Because this now means that someone who has never studied this in school and therefore has no paper accrediting him as being competent in this subject, will be looked over when the time comes to hire someone. Try explaining to a woman who has the job of caring for her household and everyone in it that she is not competent to work at this in a paying job because she never studied it in school. Explain it and then run. And if she's Spanish, dodge the slipper she will throw at you. 

Image result for estudiar limpieza en la escuela
 

Comments

  1. On the other hand men and women should learn the basics of being a grown up such as nutrition, ironing, basic household finance, fixing simple things, sewing on buttons, stitching a split seam, routine maintenance on cars, how to keep a house clean...etc. life skills.

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  2. True, but to dedicate an entire course of study in a vocational school towards a future employment is taking things too far. And those basics I learned on my own or from watching my mother. And so did my husband.

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