The compelling implication then is: IN ORDER TO DEVELOP SUCH KNOWLEDGE, UNDERSTANDING, AND SKILLS ON THE PART OF ALL YOUTH-NOT JUST THOSE WHO WILL ENTER THE PROFESSIONS OR THE SKILLED OCCUPATIONS IT WILL BE NECESSARY FOR THE HIGH SCHOOL TO EMPLOY A WIDER VARIETY OF WAYS AND MEANS OF DEVELOPING CIVIC COMPETENCE THAN HAVE BEEN GENERALLY USED.

HOME AND FAMILY LIFE

Many, indeed, are the unmet needs of the youth of high-school age possessing the characteristics described in the first section of Part III of this document. Among these unmet needs, none is more urgent than the need for sound, practical education for home and family living.

These educationally neglected youth, in the main, have fewer advantages economically and socially. At the same time, because of their number they make the majority of American homes. It is these young people, therefore, who chiefly determine the quality and strength of our national life, since in a democracy, the family "holds first place as the creator and guardian of human values."

Most of the studies of secondary education made in the past 10 years emphasize the fact that one of the most important responsibilities of education is to improve and develop family life. The following passage from one of these studies fairly represents the point of view of the rest:19

What the child shall become depends first of all on the kind of family responsible for his upbringing. The home is literally the nursery of humanity, the matrix of personality during the most impressionable years, and a continuing influence throughout life. To what degree a person is fearful or confident, malicious or kindly, ruthless or reasonable, bigoted and autocratic or tolerant and democratic is perhaps determined more completely by relationships in early family life than by any other set of experiences. Not only are these experiences first in time and prepotent in effect during childhood, but family relationships continuously influence the manner in which persons conduct their affairs in other groups.

To deprive any large number of boys and girls of suitable opportunities to learn what they need to know in order to assume well their full responsibilities as family members-first in the homes of their parents, later in homes of their own-is to jeopardize unduly our national security. The social problems which result from family breakdown are too well known to require enumeration here.

Education for home and family living is that part of a total program of secondary education which provides opportunities for acquir

19 The Purposes of Education in American Democracy Op. cit., p. 79–80.

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ing the understandings, the factual knowledge, the skills, and the abilities necessary for homemaking and for successful participation in family life. The school must provide a program in this area of education for all youth-boys as well as girls. A program of education for home and family living which adequately meets the needs of those youth referred to in the Prosser Resolution would probably also meet the needs common to all American youth. At the same time it would inevitably have certain special emphases.

Although little statistical evidence is available, there is general agreement that, with the exception of GI's, youth who leave school early are likely to marry earlier than those who attend college. Hence, there is a special urgency and importance about the education of this group for family life. Many of those who leave school early will earn incomes so low that only by careful planning and budgeting will they be able to avoid economic and social frustration. Hence, they need especially to learn skillful buying of food, clothing, housing, and household appliances. They also need especially skills in preparing food, repairing clothing, repairing furniture, and building useful articles for the home.

In a recent investigation of actual practices of schools in providing education for successful family life, the desirable activities fostered were described in terms of behavior under five general categories. The activities reported might well suggest the characteristics of a program designed to meet the needs of the students ordinarily neglected educationally. They were:198

A. Pupils participate in a wide variety of coeducational activities to establish relationships which will lead to intelligent selection of mates and to living happily with them.

B. Pupils come to understand the functions of the family, the significance of family solidarity, and the mutual responsibilities of husband, wife, and other members of the family.

C. Pupils acquire and use skills and understandings related to the budgeting, decorating, and furnishings of the home; feeding and clothing of the household; and esthetic standards of living.

D. Pupils investigate under guidance the personal and social problems which concern them in growing up and in establishing new relationships with members of the opposite sex.

E. Pupils investigate factors in the community which affect family living. It would be misleading to imply that the modern high school at the present time offers nothing in this educational area to meet the needs of the youth with whom we are here concerned. Homemaking education for many years has had as its goal to provide in every secondary school appropriate educational experiences in homemaking for all

19 The Imperative Needs of Youth of Secondary-School Age. Bulletin of the National Association of Secondary-School Principals, 31: 51-61, March 1947.

youth. This goal, however, has been only partially met. Many girls, and a few boys, are in home economics classes. Many schools have general courses in sociology which include an elementary study of the family as a social institution. In some, biology courses give considerable attention to the health problems of families. Other science courses stress good diets and nutrition. It must be admitted, however, that from the standpoint of what needs to be done for the group with which the resolution is concerned, the surface has hardly been scratched. The opportunities now offered reach too few students and are too often nonfunctional, either because the courses are not based on a real understanding of student needs or because the teaching is academic.

A number of recent studies have given considerable attention to the needs of all youth for education for homemaking and parenthood. Recommendations made in these studies have certain definite implications, therefore, for programs intended to meet the needs of students referred to in the Resolution. These are summarized under the following heads: Purposes, scope, content, methods, curriculum organization, responsibility for development, and administrative arrangement. A. As to Purposes: 20 The major purpose of a program of home and family living for this group should be to help students develop:

1. The ability to appreciate the importance of family life in our society.
2. An understanding of what good family life means in terms of their own
family experiences.

3. A desire to make their own family living as successful as possible by
these standards.

4. The abilities and skills needed in successfully performing homemaking activities.

5. A specific yet broad understanding of what the resources for family living are in their communities.

6. The skills and abilities needed for finding these resources and for using
them effectively. These abilities would include, among others—

a. The ability to buy wisely within the limits of family income.
b. The ability to resist the propaganda, high-pressure salesmanship,
and trickery which keep so large a proportion of this group in
perpetual debt.

c. The ability to work effectively with other families to develop
new resources, make better use of resources already available
and/or solve problems of common concern.

7. The ability to maintain democratic relationships in family life.
8. The ability to establish and maintain wholesome, effective family-
community relations.

9. The ability to recognize and conserve values in family living as family
patterns change.

20 Education for All American Youth. Op. cit., p. 114-119.

Pennsylvania Secondary School Principals' Association. What Is a Desirable Program of Family Life Education and How It May Be Implemented. 1946. (Unpublished Report of a Summer Conference.)

B. As to scope: 21 As the purposes stated above would indicate, the programs in question must be broad in scope.

1. They should serve all homes in the community.

2. They should serve both sexes-boys as well as girls; young men as well as young women.

3. Activities should be planned so that instruction is made easily accessible to all parts of the community.

4. They should include emphasis on all phases of home and family living
over a reasonable period of time.

5. They should offer appropriate instruction at all educational levels.
"Children at various points in their school careers may be helped to
understand the family as a social institution, to acquire homemaking
skills, and to work out happy and socially constructive adjustments
with members of their immediate families. Young people may be helped
to master and appreciate the specific knowledges and insights needed
in marriage, homemaking, and parenthood. Married couples and par-
ents on the job may be given opportunity to study their problems and
work out ways of handling their obligations." 22

C. As to Content: 23

1. The "take-off" points for education in home and life should be the values, the practices, the problems, the home customs, and experiences of the students participating.

2. Activities at every level should be closely related to family and community experiences of the students involved.

3. Subjects studied should include:

a. The place and the functions of the family in a democratic society. b. Family organization and family relationships.

c. Family economics or consumer education.

d. Selection, use, and conservation of family resources-food,
clothing, housing, home furnishings, home equipment, etc.
e. Child care and guidance.

f. Home management and family development with special ref-
erence to such concerns as health, recreation, esthetic experi-
ences, education, religious and moral guidance for family
members.

D. As to methods: 21

1. Goals for all activities should be cooperatively developed by teachers, students, and families.

2. Instruction should be based upon the problems, needs, and interests of students and their families.

3. Programs should be flexible, goals and activities changing as needs
change.

4. Students should participate according to their abilities in planning,
carrying out, and evaluating activities in connection with programs.
5. Maximum use should be made of teaching aids which clarify, simplify,
and dramatize the ideas involved-moving pictures, film-strips, radio

21 Planning for American Youth. Op. cit.

22 The Purposes of Education in American Democracy. Op. cit., p. 80.

23 Education for All American Youth. Op. cit., p. 114-119.

What Is a Desirable Program of Family Life Education and How It May Be Implemented. Op. cit. U. S. Office of Education. Vocational Education in the Years Ahead. Washington, U. S. Government Printing Office, 1945. p. 191-253 (Vocational Division Bulletin No. 234.)

programs, demonstrations, projects of all sorts in which students work on problems of their own selection.

6. Adequate opportunities should be provided for suitable experiences which give students the “feel” of situations they are studying and also make ample provision for the practice necessary to "fix" the skills being learned.

E. As to curriculum organizations: 21

1. Common learnings.-There is considerable evidence of need for a common program for all youth in the group with which we are concerned, expecially those in grades 7 through 9. This would be organized around the home activities and relationships most meaningful to children in the age groups represented. Just what should be included in these programs is not entirely clear. Several State school systems have recently made, or are now making, studies which should throw light on this problem. Findings of some of these studies should be available soon.

2. Special programs.—Within the large group of youth with whom the resolution is concerned, there are at least four subgroups with special needs. Beginning with grade 10, special programs of family life education should be developed to meet the needs of these students:

a. Programs for girls who are or who will soon be full-time home-
makers. These programs should be intensive. Their aim should
be to prepare girls to assume immediate responsibility for home-
making, or to give specific in-service training to young women
who have already become homemakers.

b. Programs for boys and girls who will probably not be full-time
homemakers, but who need to have a good general understanding of
what homemaking means in order to take their share of family
responsibility in their present and future homes. Many of
these young men and women will spend much of their lives in
single-skilled or unskilled occupations which have a minimum of
stimulative value. For such workers, the home can be a splendid
reservoir of life satisfactions if they know how to make it so.
c. Programs for handicapped students. These students may or
may not be homemakers, but the majority of them live and will
continue to live in families. They need, particularly, the security
and the outlets for creative energy which a happy, well-organized
home provides. This group has special need for help in learning
how to adapt houses, home furnishings, home equipment, and
home activities to their requirements.

d. Programs for students with special artistic abilities.-This is perhaps
the group least well served by our schools today. Students
specializing in the creative arts should be helped to see that the
home is a place for fostering these gifts. They should have
special opportunities to study the arts related to homemaking
and to take leadership responsibility in sharing their abilities
and achievements with other students.

F. As to Responsibilities for Program Development.-It is obvious that, in a field as broad as the field of education for home and family living, the richness and effectiveness of programs will always depend on the extent to which all available professional resources are sought and used in teaching. In order to clarify

21 Planning for American Youth. Op. cit.