One of the positives about the annual Secondary Schools Home Economics Competition sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in conjunction with the Ministries of Agriculture and Education is that it provides opportunity for schools possessing children with varying levels of academic acumen and located in far flung corners of the country to match skills in a discipline where the playing field is more or less level.
At the same event last year it was an eye opener to watch the ‘chefs’ from schools as far apart (in more senses than one) as Queen’s College and Paramakatoi Secondary, ‘doing their stuff,’ under tents at the National Conference Centre, going through similar exertions to catch the eyes of the judges. Again this year the giants battled with the minnows and the minnows came out on top.
It is no secret that in the field of academia there are mixed views on the discipline of Home Economics. The Home Economists themselves concede this. They relate stories of parents speaking derisorily about Home Economics, questioning its place on the school curriculum and making it clear that as far as they are concerned its benefits go no further than producing reasonably competent cooks and chambermaids which, of course, is not their envisaged ambition for their children.
At the level of the CXC, Home Economics is often seen as what one might call a ‘make up’ subject (there are a few other subjects that are so regarded) pressed into service by students seeking to enhance their chances of a regional CXC Award, or else, seized upon by students
seeking what they regard as the ideal untaxing addition to the four or five others which they have opted to write at the CXC examination.
Last Tuesday’s Home Economics Competition reminds of the forthcoming April 2015 regional conference of the Caribbean Association of Home Economists (CAHE) in the sense that, both events, presumably, would regard it as part of their mission to utilise their respective fora to try to remove the misperceptions associated with Home Economics.
The secondary schools competition has already done its bit to market the discipline though this year’s event could surely have been offered to a much wider public audience and there could have been a greater collaborative effort involving the agriculture and hospitality sectors which would have raised the profile of the event much higher. That the event fell short in that
regard was a matter of considerable regret since both the discipline and the budding Home Economists whose efforts were put on trial could have benefitted from far greater exposure if the event had been held at a more public place.
In one particular respect though the Competition provided considerable positive publicity for Home Economics as an academic discipline. It created an altogether healthy nexus between the culinary pursuits in the classroom and what one of the presenters described as “healthy eating,” that is, embracing culinary pursuits that seek to reduce the chances of contracting diet- related non communicable diseases. Indeed, ‘eating right’ is a distinctive platform on which Home Economics can refashion an image that rids it of an undeserving stigma.
