State Rep. Kabir Karriem (D-Columbus) is still in touch with Mary Moore, his home economics teacher from eighth grade. She still teases him about the time he put salt instead of sugar in a batch of cookies, he said.
“(The class) was an experience that taught me how to cook and how to sew,” Karriem said. “I wear a suit every day. Sometimes I hit a snag and might lose a button, and because of Ms. Moore, I’m able to sew my own button back on.”
Current state statute requires the option of home economics classes for students in grades 10 through 12, specifically “course work in responsible parenting and family living skills … with emphasis on nutrition, emotional health and physical health.” Karriem is one of 10 representatives, three from the Golden Triangle, co-sponsoring a bill in the Legislature that proposes additional and mandatory life skills coursework.
The bill would require all Mississippi school districts to implement “course work in birth to age three development, financial management and household finances, and teen pregnancy prevention” for students in seventh, eighth or ninth grade.
Existing home economics classes are not required for all students and therefore are not enough for “a generation that is lacking in soft skills,” said Rep. Cheikh Taylor (D-Starkville), a co-sponsor of the bill and a member of the House Education Committee. He also said the shrinking middle class has put more people in a lower socioeconomic status and therefore at a disadvantage in terms of learning household and financial skills.
“A lot of times, you have to revert to skill sets that allow you to make it through the coldest winter and the hottest summer,” Taylor said.
Karriem agreed the proposed coursework will bridge skill gaps for students who might not otherwise have the opportunity to learn those skills. The financial literacy element of the proposal is especially important, he said, so that students learn how to save money, write a check and deposit money into a bank account, among other things before they leave the nest.
“A lot of things we take for granted because we know them, but a lot of people in a lot of communities, and a lot of children, they just don’t know some things,” Karriem said. “Since schools have our children for the majority of the time of the day, I think that’s the best place that some of these things can be taught.”
The coursework will particularly benefit children who come from unstable home lives or whose parents are always working, said Rep. Carl Mickens (D-Brooksville), also a co-sponsor of the bill and a member of the Education Committee.
The authority to require coursework
Some legislators and school officials hold a different opinion on who is responsible for teaching children about home economics and family dynamics.
Columbus Municipal School District Superintendent Cherie Labat and Lowndes County School District Superintendent Sam Allison said they will do whatever they can to comply with the bill if it becomes law but do not believe school is necessarily the right place for all students to learn the life skills enumerated in the bill.
“It cannot be the sole responsibility of educators to teach these skills,” Labat said. “Meeting the needs of students has to be a community effort.”
Allison said he sees the benefit of the proposed coursework but does not “think every course is for every student.”
The Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District declined to comment through spokeswoman Nicole Thomas, who said the proposed coursework is already offered as an elective at SOCSD. Allison said the coursework is offered at all three high schools in LCSD.
Karriem is an alumnus of CMSD, but Labat said the district does not currently offer any home economics courses.
Implementing a new course requirement could be a financial burden on some school districts, said Rep. Rob Roberson (R-Starkville), a member of the Education Committee. He said he will only support the bill if it includes an appropriation to cover those costs.
Additionally, many believe the authority to mandate courses falls on local school districts and the Mississippi State Board of Education, not the state Legislature, so the main purpose of introducing those bills anyway is to start a discussion among legislators, Roberson said.
“It gives them the opportunity to discuss it and get a groundswell of people who would support the idea of having (this) type of class,” Roberson said. “They’re good ideas, but they’re ideas that have to have a funding source.”
Mickens, Karriem and Taylor all said they co-authored the bill because they are serious about getting it passed and will have whatever discussions are necessary with their fellow legislators to achieve this. The bill has been referred to both the Education and Youth and Family Affairs committees.
“I think this thing can be handled in the House and the Senate and I think it will gain traction,” Taylor said.
Tess Vrbin was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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