They all amount to what Mrs. Ellen H. Richards calls Right
Living. She would have four R's instead of three: Reading,
Riting, Rithmetic, and Right Living.
Now is Right Living to be only for girls?
Mr. Eliot of Harvard does not think so. In a recent "Survey of
the Needs of Education," he said:
"Public instruction in preventive medicine must be provided for
all children and the hygienic method of living must be taught in
all schools. . . . To make this new knowledge and skill a
universal subject of instruction in our schools, colleges, and
universities is by no means impossible--indeed, it would not even
be difficult, for it is a subject full of natural history as well
as social interest. . . . American schools of every sort ought to
provide systematic instruction on public and private hygiene,
diet, sex hygiene, and the prevention of disease and premature
death, not only because these subjects profoundly affect human
affections and public happiness, but because they are of high
economic importance."
A large part of Home Economics is simply Living Conditions. It is
simply the lessons of Bacteriology, Chemistry, Physiology, and
Sociology about the common facts of daily physical and social
existence.
Pages:
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371