University of Wisconsin Stout - Tower Yearbook (Menomonie, WI)

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She had heard that it meant the same as domestic science, but even that had come to include so many subjects, as yet unrelated in the Junior mind, that she was beginning to have misgivings as to her own conception of the work. In the schools, at home, it had meant just cooking and sewing, and the uninitiated had thought that it was a field of work that would be easy for a girl with little intellectual ability because anyone who likes to cook can teach cooking . Chemistry, bacteriology, dietetics and numerous other subjects had disproved that assertion. The perplexity and the gradual enlightenment of the Junior, is typical of the changes that have gone on in the educational world. While educators recognized the fact that education should be applied to develop any imperfect functioning, they did not realize that Nature had left untrained, not only the brain and the speech, but also the hand, and that a person is educated only when he can use every faculty in his body and mind. There is no conservatism like educational conservatism, and even as yet, it has refused to recognize and relate domestic science with other sciences. Those engaged in this field of work are to a certain extent, to blame for this. We have no uniform course of study that could be used as a measure of what is accomplished, we do not all agree as to what the work should include, we do not agree even on a name. A name should convey something of the scope and purpose of a subject. If it does not, how can the uninitiated understand what it means? When it is called home or household economics it means literally a subject relating to the management of household affairs, without waste and unnecessary expense. Many college people seem to have agreed on this name, and yet there is nothing in it that conveys to an outsider the idea that it trains brain, speech and hand in a way other than that in which woman has been trained since time began. Woman has always managed household affairs without waste and unnecessary expense, because she has had to. She may have been skilled or unskilled in so doing. That name, good as it may be, does not include the vital part of this field of work. The justification for putting this line of work on a par or above par with other lines is that it is founded on something broader than the mere saving of money, or the skilled management of the household. It must co-ordinate and relate the scientific knowledge gained by the developed brain, with the skill acquired through the training of the hand, and apply them to the systema- tizing and simplifying of woman ' s work so as to make it scientific. Whatever anyone may think to the contrary, cooking is a science. It is based on the laws of physics and chemistry, and unless these laws are understood and applied in every case, there is no particular reason for teaching a subject that otherwise would depend merely on luck. The same may be said of the laws that govern household hygiene, sanitation, and other subjects. If this is true, that the work is the application of science to things domestic, it would seem that the name domestic science best conveys the scope and purpose of the work. EMMA CONLEY 73

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To possess true sportsmanship we must treat our opponents as We would wish to be treated. We must recognize ability and fairness in an opponent and give due credit for the same. We must play fair and demand fair play of others. A true gentleman will stick to his friends to the last, and a true sportsman will stay with his team to the last. Athletics may be the means of developing splendid traits of character in us but it may also develop very objectionable ones. Sports that develop a spirit of fairness, of not giving up till the last effort has been put forth and of recognizing such qualitities in others, are a credit to any school or community. Athletics ought to be a character builder, as well as a muscle builder, but we too often forget the character part. The spirit of win by fair or foul means is detrimental to players, spectators, and to the good name of the school. Let us get rid of it if we have it. Demand clean playing and appreciate such playing, win or lose, but condemn rough play just as readily if not more so. I mean especially the home team. We are not responsible for sportsmanship of visitors. It is the spectators, nine times out of ten, that make a game rough. There is always a certain element present at the games which is unscrupulous enough to applaud all kinds of rough play and encourage it, and others do it on the part of ignorance, because they do not thoroughly understand the rules or do not see all that happens. It is our duty to not only re- frain from doing this but to try to keep others from doing it. Who are the ones the visitors will criticise ? Will they stop to think that some of the spectators are not connected with the school ? No, the Stout students will be the ones to whom the blame will be laid. The most of the unsportsman-like conduct shown here in Menomonie cannot be laid to Stout students but still they are not entirely guiltless. Let us treat our visitors as our team was treated at St. Olaf college. The boys say they were treated royally. Would not any school have a right to feel proud of such a reputation for true sportsmanship ? Is it not worth while trying to make such a name for Stout Institute ? You can be loyal supporters of your team without wanting to injure the other team. If a gentleman can say nothing good of a person he says nothing to his discredit, and the same holds true of a good sportsman. If you cannot applaud an opponent, do nor hiss him. Do not make our basket ball games resemble a Sunday afternoon base ball game on a vacant lot in the slums of a large city. Let us set high standards for our team and school. Do not let any false spirit of rivalry pull them down. Let us demand fair play for our home team. Appreciate good playing of visitors, and above all deport ourselves as gentlemen at all times. If we do so we will make athletics at Stout Institute worth something to each student of the school, and to the city of Menomonie. W. H. HEFFELFINGER. WHAT ' S IN A NAME It must have been one of the Juniors, who remarked while getting ready to attend a lec- ture on the subject, that she hoped that at last she was going to find out what home economics really meant 72

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THE OUTLOOK IN HOME ECONOMICS Since the beginning of the home economics movement probably no two years have brought more marked development in the wealth and organization of the subject and its application to social problems, than the two years just past. The attention of students of home economics formerly centered in the activities of the home, for the better understanding and execution of these was an obvious need. It was believed that a better knowledge of household processes would make for greater stability in the family, better health and better individual efficiency. Later the conviction grew that instability in the American family and changes in its ideals grew out of economic conditions chief of which were: a higher standard of living, the removal from the home of certain industries, by the development of the factory system of production, the in- creased cost of food and labor. The adjustment of the American family both native and im- migrant to these rapidly changing conditions has proved difficult, has crippled the family life in various ways and obscured its ideals in greater degree as the family income was small. To discover and remove the causes of instability in the family, which have their root in economic conditions is the present problem in home economics. Two fields of investigation are already well mapped out: i. e., the economics of consumption and the economics of the family. Economics of consumption is in large measure the economics of household expenditure. It out- lines but leaves for a more complete solution, such problems as the division of income, definite relative values in food, shelter and clothing, the proposed standardizing of the home , standard- izing household labor, and saving of labor in the home. Two economic victories of recent years are worthy of mention: i. e., the pure food law representing a wide-spread demand for fair and healthful food returns for money expended, and the work of the Consumer ' s League, local in its effect as yet, but attempting to create a popular demand for fabrics and clothing which does not come from unsanitary factories and tenement houses and does not represent the ex- ploitation of the labor of women and children. The province of the economics of the family is the complete understanding of the family as an institution, and through this knowledge to discover the causes of conditions which now menace its stability and efficiency, and to suggest the cure. It involves the study of the family itself, marriage and the home, each in its economic and social aspect. Progress in the science of nutrition suggests the possibility of raising the physical standard of the American people by better nutrition and of applying the principles of nutrition to the solution of social problems. It points out the need of a rational attitude toward food as a means of sustaining life and yielding energy, rather than a means primarily of pleasure or as an insignia of the wealth or social standing of an individual. Criminality, inefficiency, and mental defic- iency have in such a large number of cases been traced to malnutrition either from a poorly balanced diet or insufficient food that the study and treatment of such cases occupies a distinct field of its own. The visiting dietition whose work is not clearly defined but seems to have large possibilities assumed her vocation in response to a need of workers in this field. Schools have taken up the problem of nutrition in the school lunch experiments. The school lunch is not a relief measure nor a convenience merely, but is intended to be a mea ns of education. Dullness, restlessness, viciousness, among pupils due in many cases t to malnutrition may be 74