When people ask me what I study here at ISU, I never know what exactly I should say. Usually, my answer is, "Family and Consumer Sciences Education." Then, comes the face of confusion and the many questions that follow such as:
"Oh, so you want to be a teacher?"
"What is that?"
"What types of classes do you want to teach?"
My response is usually:
"Home Ec, Foods, Child Development, Parenting, etc."
Then, the light bulb goes off. They finally understand. Success, right?!
WRONG.
The dreaded, most cringe-worthy response to any female FCS Education major tends to follow...
"You're studying/going to school to be a housewife?"
You see, many do not truly understand what lies beneath the umbrella of Family and Consumer Sciences. Most know what Home Economics is, but Family and Consumer Sciences are not just Home Ec. The goal of Family and Consumer Sciences and those who study it is to better the lives of individuals, families, and communities. Within FCS lies four very distinct fields of study that all come together to make one amazing major. Those who choose to teach Family and Consumer Sciences classes are educated to in areas of Food and Nutrition, Fashion Design and Merchandising, Human Development and Family Science, and Interior Design.
Those who study and teach Family and Consumer Sciences know more than just how to cook or sew on a button.
We are the educators of the future.
Students are learning life skills that will continue even when they are outside of the classroom and the school system altogether.
Teachers educate the future and set them up for success. We work our butts off to ensure that our students are prepared for the real world and understand that they are enough and will make it out there. It is incredibly degrading as an education major to be told that what you study and hope to teach someday is worthless or a dying field. However, it is the exact opposite.
Family and Consumer Science teachers prepare students to survive life. We teach life skills that will be useful in every aspect of the lifespan. Those who take FCS classes learn how to cook, sew, parent, budget, plan. The list goes on.
Many of times you hear high school graduates complaining about how they didn't learn how to balance a checkbook, cook nutritious meals, deal with life changes such as marriage and divorce, etc. Chances are, they didn't take an FCS class in high school.
So no, I am not going to school to become a housewife. I am going to school to educate future generations. To teach them how to be independent on their own, succeed, and survive this crazy thing called life. In my past two majors, I studied education. However, it wasn't until I was studying FCS education that I realized how fulfilling the field is to learn/study, thrive in, and teach others about. I cannot wait to teach my future students amazing recipes, parenting tips, relationship advice, etc. because it is this knowledge that they will take beyond the classroom and use for a lifetime.
