Historial
Background
Beginning
in the 19th Century
The Family and Consumer Sciences profession
recognizes Ellen Swallow Richards, a scientist, as its founder.
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The environment that people live in is the environment
that they learn to live in, respond to, and perpetuate.
If the environment is good, so be it. But if it is poor,
so is the quality of life within it.
Ellen Swallow Richards
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Her goal: To adapt new scientific and technological
developments to improve the health and efficiency of everyday
life. Households, daily living, and working environments served
as the main justification for establishing the profession.
Her contributions: Ellen Swallow Richards was
the first woman to graduate from the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology and was MIT’s first woman faculty member.
It was her interest in applying the sciences to home and working
life that provided the profession’s intellectual foundations.
In the late 1800’s she advocated the application
of science to everyday life so that the environments for individuals
could be improved, both at home and work. Consequently, the
quality of life of the individual and families would be improved.
At a practical level, she and other founders were concerned
with such daily life issues as nutrition, sanitation, and
disease. They stressed the interrelated nature of the individual
and family to their environments.
The Family and Consumer Sciences profession has evolved for
more than a century and a half, with the first textbook being
published in this area in 1840.
Early 20th Century Developments
In the early 1900s, people became increasingly
concerned about rapid social and technological change and
wondered whether society was progressing in the right direction.
These issues motivated the Lake Placid Conferences,
which led to a formal foundation for the profession. Specialists
in bacteriology, biology, chemistry, domestic sciences, economics,
hygiene, physics, psychology, sanitary science, and sociology
attended the conferences.
The 1908 Lake Placid Conference provided the impetus for a
formal national organization. The American Association of
Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS) was formed on December
31, 1908 in Washington, D.C. The new organization stated its
purpose in its constitution “…the improvement
of living conditions in the home, the institutional household,
and the community.”
Catharine Beecher wrote the first family and consumer sciences
textbook to be accepted by a state department of education.
Included in the text were
clothing, textiles, and related topics
equipment, housing and home furnishing
family economics and home managemen
child development and family relations
nutrition and food
health.
Aspects of these subjects remain today as the
core of the family and consumer sciences profession.
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The family unit plays a critical role in our society
and in the training of the generation to come. Sandra
Day O’Connor
Ellen Swallow Richards
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Growth of the Profession
Under the leadership of Ellen Swallow Richards
and other supporters, the American Association of Family and
Consumer Sciences grew. As the field progressed, the trend
toward specializations increased.
Family and Consumer Sciences has changed a great
deal since the early 1900’s.
Some early remnants remain in the secondary
curriculum and are appropriate when adapted to modern times.
Others have lost their relevance in the face of technological
changes and new knowledge.
Early leaders realized that if they were to assist families
with the practical problems of the day, they needed to be
able to integrate information in ways that could address the
problems.
Dealing with problems of today requires knowledge and skills
from a variety of disciplines. Today’s problems include
managing family finances
caring for children
providing for the daily survival needs of family members
maintaining the health of family members
balancing a career.
The AAFCS remains as one of three professional
organizations that serve Family and Consumer Sciences Education.
The other organizations are
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Communities of mind are collections of individuals
who are bonded together by natural will and a set of
shared ideals.
Thomas Seregiovanni |
Association of Career and Technical Education
(ACTE), Family and Consumer Sciences Division (FACS affiliate)
Family and Consumer Sciences Education Association (FCSEA).
Definition of the family: These organizations
define the family as a unit of intimate, transacting and interdependent
persons who share values and goals and responsibility for
decisions and resources, and have commitment to one another
over time. Families affect and are affected by the global
society in which they live. This definition is reflected in
the Virginia FACS vision and mission.
Affirmation of the mission: The AAFCS mission
was reaffirmed nationally in October of 1994, when more than
100 people representing the profession took part in the Scottsdale
Meeting on Professional Unity and Identity. These Family and
Consumer Sciences professionals practice the profession within
the context of education, government, research, extension,
business communications, health and human services, community
based organizations and homes. The unifying focus is that
Family and Consumer Sciences uses an integrative approach
to the relationships among individuals, families, and communities
and the environments in which they function.
Communities of mind are collections of individuals
who are bonded together by natural will and a set of shared
ideals.
Thomas Seregiovanni
Family and Consumer Sciences remains the only educational
program that directly addresses the preparation of students
for adult roles, including work and family responsibilities.
References
Ellen Swallow: The Woman Who Founded Ecology, 1973
Helen Pundt, AHEA. A History of Excellence, Washington, D.C.:
American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, 1980.
Proceedings of the Scottsdale Meeting: Positioning the Profession
for the 21st Century. October 21-24, 1994.
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