if you can read you can cook

/by

MLA format and Minimum 400 + words. All requests have been made, the article must be original

“If You Can Read – – You Can Cook!”

Title of MY story: “If you can read, you can cook!” – CREATE YOUR OWN CLEVER TITLE!

Gender issue: sexist classes: 8th grade girls were required to take Home Economics; boys were required to take Shop/Woodworking

Tell YOUR version of the story

Share the same story as described by a parent, grandparent or sibling (if possible) If there is no one really available to shed light on your story, explain why. For example, I don’t recall the name of my 8th grade teacher and my father has passed away.

Your concluding thoughts having lived (and survived) the experience and now influenced by your “Gender-enlightened” point of view.

Write in paragraphs; pay attention to spelling and grammar.

HEADINGS:

  • TITLE: Specific to your story
  • GENDER ISSUE
  • YOUR VERSION OF THE STORY
  • THE OTHER VERSION OF THE STORY (include quote/s)
  • CONCLUDING REMARKS

Minimum 400 + words.

“If you can read…you can cook!”

Gender Issue:

In my rural Michigan junior high school in the 1960’s, all 8th graders were required to participate in an “innovative” curriculum program. The school year was divided into three 12-week sessions. Every student was required to take 12 weeks of ART, 12 weeks of TYPING (yes, that’s true!) and then the boys and girls were separated for “family arts”. The girls were required to take Home Economics which included cooking and sewing; the boys took shop or Industrial Arts which included woodworking, using tools and other “garage” things. If you were not a college-bound student in high school, you could take additional trade school classes including Shop / Automotive Repair / Typing 1-2-3 / Bookkeeping and Home Economics. While it was rare to have a girl take Shop in high school or a boy take Home EC, it did happen once in a blue moon. Today, having a separate curriculum for boys and girls seems not only unnecessary but sexist.

Maryjo’s Story

When I was in the 8th-grade girls were required to take 12 weeks of Home Economics (cooking & sewing) and the boys were required to take 12 weeks of SHOP (woodworking; guy’s tools). I loved to bake at that age and made lots of cakes and cookies at home. My mother was (and is) a very good cook but never really made a big deal about it. Her philosophy about cooking was “if you can read, you can cook” and she passed that belief down to me.

We spent one entire week (5 hours @ 1 hr. M, T, W, TH, and F) making no-bake cookies in Home Ec. We had to practice measuring; stirring etc. We also had to wear plastic gloves and were not allowed to lick the spoons or taste the cookies during preparation. I was absolutely frustrated by the entire process and told the teacher “my mother told me, ‘if you can read, you can cook’ so why are we wasting so much time on making these stupid cookies?” Of course, the teacher was shocked at my behavior and language. I don’t remember but I think I failed that week’s assignment. To make matters worse, the teacher called my parents in for a conference to discuss my poor attitude.

(On a side note, I need to tell you that I was the same HOME EC teacher’s prize student in ENGLISH and had a 100 average all year. I really liked her and I think she was very fond of me. She just couldn’t understand my disdain the cooking class.)

MOTHER MARY’S VERSION

Maryjo and her mother were in the kitchen chatting and preparing for a dinner party when Maryjo asked her mother if she had taken Home EC in High School, ‘her mother said no she had not. “How do you know how to cook then“, asked Maryjo. Her mother replied, “If you can read, you can cook“.

Several weeks later Maryjo’s parents received an invitation from the Home EC Teacher to arrange for an appointment for a visit. As it was a very inconvenient time for her father, only her mother attended the meeting. The teacher said that Maryjo was a very nice, polite young lady and enjoyed having her in her class, but was taken by surprise when in a class discussion, Maryjo announced that “If you can read, you can cook“.

Concluding remarks: To this day, I still love to cook, still make the chocolate/oatmeal no-bake cookies and still believe “if you can read, you can cook”! Without hesitation, I’ve passed this same philosophy on to both my son and my daughter. I also continue to lick the spoon and eat lots of the raw dough while the cookies are baking. As for my 8th-grade teacher – while I don’t remember her name, my memory of being an OUTSPOKEN YOUNG LADY in HOME EC gave me the courage to write an essay in the 12th grade based on the following photo:

My essay was entitled, “The Bitch on the Bicycle”. Alas, my parents were called in for yet another conference … that year I also won my high school’s OUTSTANDING CREATIVE WRITING AWARD!

  1. a female dog, wolf, fox, or otter.
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