CHANGING CURRICULUMS; FAMILY AND CONSUMER SCIENCES: 'WE'RE NOT MAKING APRONS ANYMORE' (FIRST OF FOUR PARTS)

Only the sign above the door hints at the origin of the Fashion Strategies class at Cape Girardeau Central High School.

A lot has changed in Home Economics over the years.

Primarily, the name has been changed to reflect a broader subject area. Family and Consumer Sciences reflects more of a focus on career options and industry trends in addition to home-related skills, said Central High School teacher Pat Johnson. The change also encourages more participation from a spectrum of students.

The strategy has paid off with a more diverse enrollment at Central. Boys can be found in family development, cooking, child development and even fashion strategies courses.

"Word gets out that it's a good class with lots of things going on, and that's how we get our enrollment," Johnson said. "We rely on enrollment by reputation."

Another change Johnson has seen is more students who perform well academically are opting to take her classes. In the past, the class was more vocational in structure, and college-bound students selected more traditional academic courses.

"I have top 10 students in class quite often," she said. "I think the skills are more in demand, and students also want a break from the more academic classes."

A break they'll get, but Johnson said the curriculum is not easy. Students are challenged in various ways to develop skills and gain an appreciation for related career fields, she said.

That means in fashion strategies class, students will learn about the fashion industry, research careers, create fashion boards that show style and creativity, all prior to sewing two or more items that are progressively more challenging.

"We're not making aprons anymore," Johnson said. "Some of it's computerized, like our embroidery machine that they're required to use, so they leave here with some really useful skills."

Junior Danielle Dewrock has enrolled in several Family and Consumer Science classes since entering high school. She is developing her sewing skills in fashion strategies, learning what makes a marriage work in family relations class, and last year she took one of two child development class "babies" home in the child seat provided to learn more about what it means to be a parent.

"It's just like a real baby," she said. "I volunteered to do it because I like baby-sitting."

Johnson said she began using the computerized dolls about four years ago to simulate child care. The dolls, which are taken home each night by a different student, may be programmed to deliver a day of easy, average or difficult care for the student-parent.

"I never program them for easy," Johnson said. "They're better than anything else we've used in the past. When we used egg babies or flower babies, they got pushed in the lockers or left in the back seats of cars. They (students) can't do that to these."

Despite the changes in the curriculum, Johnson said the demand is high and the courses are relevant to students' lives.

"To me, I'm gaining skills I can use the rest of my life," said Dewrock. "I guess it's just what you want to make of it."