Freshman year flex, I walk into flex and take my seat, once the bell rings, Mrs. J. makes an announcement, “We are going to make Christmas stockings today!”

“But I don’t know how to sew!” “During flex?” Even though my class was confused and lost, Mrs. J went on to teach the 2022 graduating class, their first real world experience. Sewing.

Mrs. J, a social studies teacher who left after the current seniors’ freshman year, listened to our concerns about needing a home-ec. class, she got together and made some flexes into a home-ec class, she taught us how to cut and sew a Christmas stocking which we were able to decorate with puffy paint.

Unfortunately, when Mrs. J. left, so did the class. During that time in the home-ec inspired flex, many kids learned how to sew for the first time. Students at Cotter are calling for a home-ec class, and soon no students will remember when a teacher tried to start one.

Home economics, or home-ec, has seven parts according to Kristyn Hammond ( https://education.seattlepi.com/seven-areas-home-economics-1946.html) cooking, child development, education and community awareness, home management and design, sewing and textiles, budgeting and economics, and health and hygiene.

While Cotter does have a mandatory economics class for the seniors, and a health class for freshmen, these are the only classes that Cotter offers that are considered a part of home-ec. Cotter could use more classes for those who do not have parents who will teach their kids these things.

I have seen kids laugh about not knowing how a washing machine works, that someone has always done it for them, and while that is a thing that happens, college and living on your own is sure to fix this issue, but the hard way. Why wouldn’t Cotter want to teach kids how to do these things the right way, like how to change a tire if one pops, rather than leave them knowing how to paint and draw. While the art classes all over Cotter are needed, my drawing skills are not going to get me out fixing a tripped breaker.

As Cotter re-examines its curriculum it should find some room for home economics.