Maybe it’s the Baby Boomer in me, but Women’s History Month has catapulted me back in time to Home Economics class. In the 1960s and ’70s, our public schools reflected exactly what was expected of us girls. While the boys were in “shop,” we had to learn sewing, cooking, and typing.
At my public school, Home Ec started in junior high school. The room had an oven, two sewing machines, and tables, which we learned to set properly. In seventh grade, we had to master making an A-line skirt. Cutting out the paper pattern, pinning it onto the fabric — that was the easy part. But things went sideways when it was time to sew in the zipper. My skirt was so bad that I tried to convince my teacher that I was a transfer student and hadn’t learned the basics. Of course, I got bagged, having lived in the same school district all my life.