Even though I had home ec when I was in school back in the 70's, I chose not to be a wife and a mother. I was raised in a family of eight kids. Six brothers, one sister, and myself. Four of my brothers are mentally handicapped. (Unfortunately, one of them passed away back in July of 2000.) I don't have the time, money, or even the patience to devote to raising a child. My religious beliefs have a lot to do with it as well.
You know I don't think classes on how to plug in your toaster and the proper way to turn on the stove where what the girls had in mind when they went to college
Love this little film. The kind of skills you learn in Home Economics has prepared myself and my sister for every daily task and insane accident life's thrown at us. Neither of us is -- or ever wants to be -- married or a mother, so I say Home Ec is for useful everybody, especially during an economic downturn!
No, it's not that those ideals are laughable- it is that those are the only ideals deemed feasible for women to achieve. I am a man who would like to hold the door open for my future wife- and I hope that she is a Dr. Or a lawyer. Or a housewife, if that is her choice (and realistic).
Demmwit is right. The ideas are sound. Once you get past the sexist implications of these old videos, consider that if we taught some kind of healthy living classes in high school right now we wouldn't be doing things like taxing soda, or trying to pass massive health care bills.
@theloniousMac Oh please. It's called progress. It's called new ideas and inventions. Do you think back then people would have thought there were energy drinks? Of course not. And as to health care thank God for that. Every industrialized nation in the world has it. Even Iran does. And soda is taxed when you buy it like every other food. Doy. Health care is a right. It's your right to be alive to post crap on Youtube.
Young people well dressed in modest clothes, sadly unheard of now. I love the importance this film correctly gives to family, children, nutritious meals, cleaning, sewing. It's profoundly sad what effect feminism has had. So many comments here show it, laughing at wholesome traditional roles. As if Home Economics skills aren't worthwhile or that preparing for a family is a "waste of college" too. So sad and so ignorant.
Home economics skills are important, for both women AND men. And, fortunately for women, being a housewife is no longer the only option available to us. I don't want to be a mother or a wife and I'm so blessed to live in a country where I don't have to be either, but, if I wanted to, I could. Feminism has given women more options, it hasn't taken away the old ones.
A lot of girls like me in the 70s bought feminism hook line & sinker. I'd have rather died than been stuck in the "dark ages" at home in an apron raisin' yungins waiting on my husband - that's the way I was taught to see it too. So feminism DID take options away because the "old" option as you call it had been thoroughly corrupted. It wasn't until 2003 that the epiphany hit & I saw the truth. I changed my life but you can't catch up or make up for DECADES lost. I mourn it, it was unfair.
Those options weren't lost to you, or taken away. You didn't realize they were there. That isn't feminism's fault. My mother was born in '54 and she still had a husband, kids, and a meaningful job outside the home.
No I knew they were there, my mother was born in 1925, she was at home, nobody forced me, but by force is not how feminism won. My point don't underestimate feminism's impact on young minds. Feminism taught me to disdain my mother's role. I bought it, I lived that life & I know. My life is real, not a statistic & don't minimize the fact that I lost decades of it because of feminism. It influenced me in a very harmful way & I understand the damage now. Feminism is not about rights & choices.
Feminism is absolutely about rights and choices. I have a right to choose between being a mom, a spouse, a lover, a professional, and any combination of those. Feminism isn't tricking me into thinking that stay-at-home moms are unfulfilled and sad. It isn't what I want and, still, I have the option to change my mind about that too. Feminism reminds me everyday that, whatever choice I, or any other woman makes, they are all valid. My life is better because of feminism.
You think feminists happily invite us to choose whatever path we want, and either way our choices will be met with equal enthusiasm? That's pure fantasy. The fact is the leaders in feminism have always been openly hostile towards traditional women's roles. They've declared that the effect of marriage on women makes us sick, it oppresses us like slavery, raising children makes us unhappy, they even blame it for the cause of society's problems. I used to spout their quotes, I was one of them.
@louiseb35 Did you have the choice? Yes. Mission accomplished. Why do you want to take that choice away from my generation and future? And who cares if you claim to have been one of them? Nobody gives two shits.
One more thought, there was always a conflict inside me. I LOVED my home ec class, sewing a skirt & apron. My best memory is making lunch & nervously serving it to our coaches. The euphoria I felt watching them gratefully gobble it down was an experience that was never eclipsed by any other accomplishment in school. But I stuffed those feelings down, because I learned that I shouldnt enjoy THAT, it's archaic. But how tragic! Feminism is at fault for blackening that wonderful moment for me.
@louiseb35 Lol. What a bunch of shit. It's because of feminism you had a choice in the first place. You can vote. You can have a job. You can be president. You can own your own business. It's because of feminism I know that I'm just as equal as any man is whether under the law or the mentality. Get your head out of your ass.
"Meanwhile, all the lesbians at her high school went off and became doctors and lawyers, so that when Beth's husband beat her, she could be healed without being asked what she had done to 'provoke' him, and then could sue the bastard for divorce."
Mine too. My university is a huge science and pre-law school. We're 56% women to 44% male. I don't think any of us ladies would enjoy being shunted off to a Home Economics program.
I can't decide if this was to reassure the parents that having a college degree wouldn't be a detriment in becoming a wife and mother, and convince mom and dad to shell out the money. Or perhaps it was to give young women the ability to actually picture themselves in college, a fairly progressive agenda for the time, despite the limited gender role assignment. If the latter, I think films like these should be created encouraging computer science, math and engineering careers for women.
Meh, home economics might be fine for some people but I have no interest in looking after a house and children, and hell will freeze over before I become a mrs. john smith. I think I'll focus on getting a BA. instead. Hooray for not living in a world completely dominated by gender stereotypes!
This just proves that women of the fities weren't oppressed! They did the same things as now: went to college, got a career, and then got married later. Only they have more career choices now. But anyway, they weren't forced to be housewives.
i really wish home economics majors were still like this. now they're called "Family and Consumer Science" and a lot of the fun was sucked out to make it less offensive to feminists. not that there's anything wrong with feminists, but now how am i going to learn about the physics of a mixer?
@kehya My mom couldn't believe that all I learned in home economics was literally how to bake cookies. She felt they should teach us sewing, child care , etc. even if it was boys and girls. It's no wonder so few people my age know how to sew or even cook decent food!
This thing is do damn funny! I am going to ISU right now and the next time your parents or grandparents say how awsome the 1950's and 60's were, you should show them this film. Seriously WTF!
That was the whole point of social guidance films - to set social guidelines. Women working during World War II was considered to be a huge threat to the working world. That, and over half of all college students were women. So when servicemen came back, women were guided to be homemakers again, and it was made sure that the next generation of women would do the same.
This movie is 60 years old.
ArtemRomanov 5 months ago
Even though I had home ec when I was in school back in the 70's, I chose not to be a wife and a mother. I was raised in a family of eight kids. Six brothers, one sister, and myself. Four of my brothers are mentally handicapped. (Unfortunately, one of them passed away back in July of 2000.) I don't have the time, money, or even the patience to devote to raising a child. My religious beliefs have a lot to do with it as well.
But I still had to learn how to cook.
nanlisa 5 months ago
14:17 Look, look, look at my crotch
donkwich 6 months ago
Did any other Big 8 school produce any home economics shorts?
nomadcowatbk 8 months ago
"Today, I'd like to tell you about several girls I know very well." Tom Servo: "And why I'm being fired."
millertime73scd 11 months ago
This was so much better when MST3K did it... Here... /watch?v=UoqtTrb3I0w&feature=related you'll get so much more out of this version.
millertime73scd 11 months ago
You know I don't think classes on how to plug in your toaster and the proper way to turn on the stove where what the girls had in mind when they went to college
snakes3425 1 year ago
Right...Chemisty and it's applications to cream of tomato soup. :( If a woman wants to be a home maker, by all means, but for goodness' sake.
cdecaprio 1 year ago
LMAO!!! Major in Journalism so you could work as an elementary school librarian.
emlodik 1 year ago
Going to college only to sit at home all day...what a waste!
ihatetaft 1 year ago
"After all we live in a world where people are more important than things." :-)
aradiapaganus 1 year ago
Comment removed
Druidbw 1 year ago
I hate being a female....
yellowwitch1 1 year ago
loved it i belong to this field..
poojajyani 1 year ago
i like how some people just dont have jobs so we call them "homemakers"
fyralf 1 year ago
@fyralf today they're called DOMESTIC ENGINEER
rosrychaplet 1 year ago
@rosrychaplet or domestic development manager
yellowwitch1 1 year ago
Love this little film. The kind of skills you learn in Home Economics has prepared myself and my sister for every daily task and insane accident life's thrown at us. Neither of us is -- or ever wants to be -- married or a mother, so I say Home Ec is for useful everybody, especially during an economic downturn!
LaotasGallery 1 year ago 3
Anyone notice they have just one voice actress dubbing all the women?!
emlodik 1 year ago
No, it's not that those ideals are laughable- it is that those are the only ideals deemed feasible for women to achieve. I am a man who would like to hold the door open for my future wife- and I hope that she is a Dr. Or a lawyer. Or a housewife, if that is her choice (and realistic).
Demmwit 2 years ago
Demmwit is right. The ideas are sound. Once you get past the sexist implications of these old videos, consider that if we taught some kind of healthy living classes in high school right now we wouldn't be doing things like taxing soda, or trying to pass massive health care bills.
theloniousMac 2 years ago 2
@theloniousMac Oh please. It's called progress. It's called new ideas and inventions. Do you think back then people would have thought there were energy drinks? Of course not. And as to health care thank God for that. Every industrialized nation in the world has it. Even Iran does. And soda is taxed when you buy it like every other food. Doy. Health care is a right. It's your right to be alive to post crap on Youtube.
LittlePinky82 2 years ago
Young people well dressed in modest clothes, sadly unheard of now. I love the importance this film correctly gives to family, children, nutritious meals, cleaning, sewing. It's profoundly sad what effect feminism has had. So many comments here show it, laughing at wholesome traditional roles. As if Home Economics skills aren't worthwhile or that preparing for a family is a "waste of college" too. So sad and so ignorant.
louiseb35 2 years ago 2
Home economics skills are important, for both women AND men. And, fortunately for women, being a housewife is no longer the only option available to us. I don't want to be a mother or a wife and I'm so blessed to live in a country where I don't have to be either, but, if I wanted to, I could. Feminism has given women more options, it hasn't taken away the old ones.
glapenguin 2 years ago 2
A lot of girls like me in the 70s bought feminism hook line & sinker. I'd have rather died than been stuck in the "dark ages" at home in an apron raisin' yungins waiting on my husband - that's the way I was taught to see it too. So feminism DID take options away because the "old" option as you call it had been thoroughly corrupted. It wasn't until 2003 that the epiphany hit & I saw the truth. I changed my life but you can't catch up or make up for DECADES lost. I mourn it, it was unfair.
louiseb35 2 years ago 3
Those options weren't lost to you, or taken away. You didn't realize they were there. That isn't feminism's fault. My mother was born in '54 and she still had a husband, kids, and a meaningful job outside the home.
glapenguin 2 years ago
No I knew they were there, my mother was born in 1925, she was at home, nobody forced me, but by force is not how feminism won. My point don't underestimate feminism's impact on young minds. Feminism taught me to disdain my mother's role. I bought it, I lived that life & I know. My life is real, not a statistic & don't minimize the fact that I lost decades of it because of feminism. It influenced me in a very harmful way & I understand the damage now. Feminism is not about rights & choices.
louiseb35 2 years ago
Feminism is absolutely about rights and choices. I have a right to choose between being a mom, a spouse, a lover, a professional, and any combination of those. Feminism isn't tricking me into thinking that stay-at-home moms are unfulfilled and sad. It isn't what I want and, still, I have the option to change my mind about that too. Feminism reminds me everyday that, whatever choice I, or any other woman makes, they are all valid. My life is better because of feminism.
glapenguin 2 years ago 3
You think feminists happily invite us to choose whatever path we want, and either way our choices will be met with equal enthusiasm? That's pure fantasy. The fact is the leaders in feminism have always been openly hostile towards traditional women's roles. They've declared that the effect of marriage on women makes us sick, it oppresses us like slavery, raising children makes us unhappy, they even blame it for the cause of society's problems. I used to spout their quotes, I was one of them.
louiseb35 2 years ago 3
@louiseb35 Did you have the choice? Yes. Mission accomplished. Why do you want to take that choice away from my generation and future? And who cares if you claim to have been one of them? Nobody gives two shits.
LittlePinky82 2 years ago
One more thought, there was always a conflict inside me. I LOVED my home ec class, sewing a skirt & apron. My best memory is making lunch & nervously serving it to our coaches. The euphoria I felt watching them gratefully gobble it down was an experience that was never eclipsed by any other accomplishment in school. But I stuffed those feelings down, because I learned that I shouldnt enjoy THAT, it's archaic. But how tragic! Feminism is at fault for blackening that wonderful moment for me.
louiseb35 2 years ago
@louiseb35 No hon it's not feminism. It's you.
LittlePinky82 2 years ago
@louiseb35 Lol. What a bunch of shit. It's because of feminism you had a choice in the first place. You can vote. You can have a job. You can be president. You can own your own business. It's because of feminism I know that I'm just as equal as any man is whether under the law or the mentality. Get your head out of your ass.
LittlePinky82 2 years ago
@louiseb35 But you made a choice hon. Mission accomplished. I have the choice. I have the chance to some day be the head of the FBI if I wanted.
LittlePinky82 2 years ago
"Meanwhile, all the lesbians at her high school went off and became doctors and lawyers, so that when Beth's husband beat her, she could be healed without being asked what she had done to 'provoke' him, and then could sue the bastard for divorce."
lexidizzle 2 years ago 15
And if she wants to teach...why high school and nursery school? why can't she be a college professor?
RachelHC 2 years ago 2
Whats wrong with teaching high school and nursery school? *coming from an early childhood major* :)
silverose1209 2 years ago 3
If you're good at physics you looks frumpy, and if you are a homemaker and cook, you're pretty? Frik...i like math and science too much to be hot...
RachelHC 2 years ago 2
She still decorates... for Bozo.
lizziebabes90 2 years ago
Man, this is something I needed! Good info to know in the real world....takeout isnt cooking ya know.
peachyvesper 2 years ago
"That very important career of being Mrs. Johnson"
Gag
riotlikeagrrrl 2 years ago
No, Mrs. BILL Johnson.
*Double gag*
lizziebabes90 2 years ago
"Home Economics" was a legitimate faculty? Hahahahahha
This would be completely laughed out of my university today.
riotlikeagrrrl 2 years ago
Mine too. My university is a huge science and pre-law school. We're 56% women to 44% male. I don't think any of us ladies would enjoy being shunted off to a Home Economics program.
glapenguin 2 years ago 2
I can't decide if this was to reassure the parents that having a college degree wouldn't be a detriment in becoming a wife and mother, and convince mom and dad to shell out the money. Or perhaps it was to give young women the ability to actually picture themselves in college, a fairly progressive agenda for the time, despite the limited gender role assignment. If the latter, I think films like these should be created encouraging computer science, math and engineering careers for women.
accursedmuffins 2 years ago
Too bad there aren't any computer science, math and engineering JOBS anymore. :P
jmkaye00 2 years ago
Meh, home economics might be fine for some people but I have no interest in looking after a house and children, and hell will freeze over before I become a mrs. john smith. I think I'll focus on getting a BA. instead. Hooray for not living in a world completely dominated by gender stereotypes!
lazyostrich 2 years ago 3
im sorry i watched this....cause now im dead.
molliesmania9 3 years ago
Iowa State College...the High School after High School
apo18llo 3 years ago 2
Look Look Look at my crotch!
Mistertbones 3 years ago 4
Title by Fredericks of Hollywood!
SpeedyTase 2 years ago
one doesn't need to attend college to become a good wife and mother. It should be taught at home by the parents.
billjkahn 3 years ago
I beg to differ, Billjkahn. While that may be the case in some homes, it is not the case in all homes.
Nilyentaraka 3 years ago 2
The MST3K episode of this has been posted
jumpingchicken69 3 years ago
This just proves that women of the fities weren't oppressed! They did the same things as now: went to college, got a career, and then got married later. Only they have more career choices now. But anyway, they weren't forced to be housewives.
rosey4exclaim 3 years ago
what I wouldn't do to go back in time and experience just a for a week Iowa State back then. Need to look up Uncle Rico.
DailyPimpDotCom 4 years ago 2
How many colleges in the original big 8 made these cheesy shorts?
nomadcowatbk 4 years ago
The MST3K episode of this was funny but I can't seem to find it
jumpingchicken69 4 years ago 2
God, Mackay Hall hasn't changed a bit. 56 years later it looks the same!
freddyfan62 4 years ago
Even the physics class was what a girl would like. It was about physics in the home!
chazwonka 4 years ago 2
Yeah, lousy feminism..taking the fun out of mindless suburban banality by exposing it.
I hear sometimes _men_ are even expected to know all this housekeeping and cooking and purchasing stuff now o_0
ladyboymolks 4 years ago 2
i really wish home economics majors were still like this. now they're called "Family and Consumer Science" and a lot of the fun was sucked out to make it less offensive to feminists. not that there's anything wrong with feminists, but now how am i going to learn about the physics of a mixer?
kehya 4 years ago 17
@kehya My mom couldn't believe that all I learned in home economics was literally how to bake cookies. She felt they should teach us sewing, child care , etc. even if it was boys and girls. It's no wonder so few people my age know how to sew or even cook decent food!
littlesongbird1 7 months ago
Ah yes, the way to achieve the all-important MRS degree...
Ryllish 4 years ago 2
This has been flagged as spam show
what a simply fucking LOVELY home economics class for women!
hermitthebudgie 4 years ago
They all got lame jobs. My bad, "careers." Working in a department store is a career? So sad.
massiekur15 4 years ago
Quite a hairdo on the one in the middle.
[/Crowe]
CenCalDevil 4 years ago
Large ovens and mixers...
WHAT! :D
yarragril 4 years ago
This video is simply priceless. Lets play name that campus building, as not a lot has changed in 55 years.
dpingel 5 years ago
How bout that Kay!! Sweet hotness! I'd hit that!!
bereabeard 5 years ago
I think MST3K AND Yes used this short. Yes used the football segment in their video of "Hold On"
jamusthebartender 5 years ago
"Iowa State College! The High School *AFTER* High School!"
wftjet 5 years ago
that's actually the University of Kansas, which produced the founders of Centron
nomadcowatbk 3 years ago
Ah, I wish there were courses like that now! I'd sign up like a shot... but then again, I'm getting on the job training. :-/
Pneumothorax 5 years ago
Is Kay's dad Robert McNamara? Looks just like him!
kathlinagold 5 years ago
Even without MST3K commentary, this is still funny. It's like, "Go to college, ladies, and you to can prepare for being a subservant housewife" lol.
acehighpat 5 years ago
This thing is do damn funny! I am going to ISU right now and the next time your parents or grandparents say how awsome the 1950's and 60's were, you should show them this film. Seriously WTF!
BeckettMan 5 years ago 2
That was the whole point of social guidance films - to set social guidelines. Women working during World War II was considered to be a huge threat to the working world. That, and over half of all college students were women. So when servicemen came back, women were guided to be homemakers again, and it was made sure that the next generation of women would do the same.
electrogeek77 5 years ago
Lol, "Alice was really going to town on her physics assignment"
stehenallein 5 years ago
Uhhh.... where's Joel{or Mike}and the 'bots?
ctdsnark 5 years ago
Hold it ... I'm a student at Iowa State and I recognize some of the campus buildings. Home Ec Hall is called MacKay Hall now, but it looks the same!
niuchemist 5 years ago
Home ec major?
nomadcowatbk 3 years ago
lol
"Her college training had prepared her for homelife." She's a homemaker! What a waste of the college!
Which is not to say that being a homemaker is bad
niuchemist 5 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
As it shows... WOMEN ARE STUPID! Physics inside the home??? Knowing the proper way of washing? WTF???
DarkSkies69 5 years ago
It's in Volume 2 of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
ahmadoosucks 6 years ago