Should cooking classes be required in school?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Lisa Newton on -
I totally agree. In this day and age, with so many two parent working households, it's the responsibility of all people, male and female to know how to cook. It's not really that difficult to follow a recipe.
Personally, I like to cook, especially when I'm making something I love.
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Permalink Reply by Lisa Newton on
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Wouldn't it be interesting if the cooking teacher could get together with the math teacher? Teach how to cook healthy, then take the recipe to math class and analyze the cost of each recipe. How cheaply can a healthy meal be made? What the cost difference between using beans as the main protein vs. beef or chicken? Is there a cost difference between fresh vs. frozen vegetables? The possibilities are endless.................:)
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Permalink Reply by Jody on -
Yes, yes, and again, yes! It's astonishingly easy to prepare a healthy meal. And it can usually be done in 20 minutes or less. I think we should go even further, a la Alice Waters, and require children to learn how to grow their own food as well.
Great idea to combine cooking and math, Lisa! They could study fractions that way, too, and learn how to cut a recipe in half or adapt it for more servings, etc., etc., etc.
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Permalink Reply by Sugar and Sprouts on -
YES!! Gender neutral classes that teach how to budget, plan a HEALTHY menu, shop efficiently, use coupons as a tool (but not to the detriment of healthy foods - canned mystery meat anyone? - although
(RAMBLING TANGENT COMING) I hear they now have Turkey SPAM and SPAM Light - anyone know for sure - an eciting day - HA!HA!)
where was I...
oh yeah, use coupons and then COOK the food to the right temperatures, etc. How to include healthy and lower fat choices in the menu. How to substitute lower fat ingredients. How to balance fats with carbs. How to include daily allowance of fruits and veggies and grains, etc.
So yeah... and no. It can't end there. MUST have education on the whole CONCEPT of healthy eating at an early age. Not all kids are going to get this at home.
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Permalink Reply by Lisa Newton on
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I agree. Sometimes home is ahead of school in the area of nutrition, but many times the kids could be a leader at home. I can see it now, kids coming home from school making suggestions about what to have for dinner. It would be great...............:)
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Permalink Reply by David on -
I think a nutrition/health class should be mandatory, which would essentially cover the physical aspects of cooking. That way, students could learn not only why they should cook certain foods, but how it would be beneficial for them and learn about the different food groups, the food pyramid, vitamins, and the myriad of other issues related to food and nutrition.
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Permalink Reply by SpinDiva on -
I want to agree to teaching all these health aspects in school as much as I wish they had regular exercise classes in school, however, they would have to extend the school day by another 90 minutes or more (not that I would mind). My high school son has such a tight schedule that he was forced to choose between two classes both of which he needs to graduate and was left taking 3 classes during the summer 2 years in a row just to get it all in. I know not all kids have such a tight schedule, it depends on their goals. However, in the earlier year, such as elementary and middle school, they definitely should get them started with the basics, reading labels, measurements, portions, ingredients, etc.
My middle school child had an elective class in 8th grade called international ?? (I forget) anyway, the idea was to learn about another country's culture and come up with a menu of foods they eat and cook that menu in the end. There was no lesson about how you would cook that menu so that it is healthy. The teacher never even considered teaching them how to make it better if it wasn't already. Drove me crazy because most of the kids,including the teacher, in this class are overweight. This should have been a class about nutrition, coming up with a menu and as you said throw a little math in the process. Sorry...I'm ranting because it still bugs me.
I have been teaching my kids how to cook, clean, sew, iron, do laundry--I don't care what the gender, they all have to learn everything to the best of my abilities.
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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Wargo on
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Interesting idea. Today's curriculum in most schools is so jam packed that the idea of adding new content is many times met with rolling eyes. However their seems to be a greater need than ever for students to understand how to negotiate the grate maze of choices and the implications that consuming empty calories meals. The question is how can schools with limited resources (time being one of the most limited) think outside the box and integrate authentic dilemmas into their current curriculum.
Our school offers very few empty calories choices for food during the day at the cafeteria on campus which I think is one of the best places to start. Second we do have a standards based health curriculum where they are taught the basics of nutrition in middle school and ask to further extend and apply this content knowledge in High School. By the end they understand that consuming a vente-Carmel Macchiato for lunch is not going to give their growing bodies the essential nutrients they need to sustain themselves. Yes being able to cook a well balanced healthful meal would be a good addition but the unfortunately many schools don't have the building blocks of even offering healthy choices for lunch.
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Permalink Reply by Steve M on -
The school schedules are already packed but.. I think they really need to examine the type of classes that are offered. I'm sure there are many classes that could be shortened to a half semester or so. I would love to see more real world topics addressed in schools like cooking/ health management and proper personal/professional finance.
That being said there is only so much that we can expect our under funded schools to teach. As parents the onus should be on us to offer a positive model on how to live. Cooking is definitely one of those things that we should all know how to do. For many of us that means learning it ourselves before we can teach it to our kids.
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Permalink Reply by Lisa Newton on
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I totally agree with the packed schedules, especially with the AP and Honors classes now available. But, in the middle and lower levels, recipes, nutrition, financial, and even a little cooking can be included in many math, English, and Social Studies classes.
Home is definitely the first place to start.
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Permalink Reply by Geosomin on -
I totally agree. A lot of friends I have do not have any idea how to cook or cook healthy.
A little skill in the kitchen would go a long way towards giving people the confidence to try new things and eat better.
My husband can't cook much anything and I'm amazed at the things I've shown him in the kitchen that seem simple to me. I often think he'd have tapeworm and scurvy if he were left to fend on his own :)
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