baking in school

[Redribbon]

In my daughters school they are baking today Erm I think tick cakes. I think school baking is a complete waste of ingredients, last time they baked apple crumble but never had enough time to bake long enough. I put the dish back in oven at home but by that time the steam made the crumble soggy it went in the bin. I remember this happening with my 2 boys when they baked.

Why do they do this if time is short ggggrrr

 

[sweetkymom]

I had home economics in school and when it was the baking/cooking semester, we had plenty of time to get our stuff cooked/baked. We'd spend one day getting educated over the stuff and figure out what we was making and what all we needed then the next day we had that whole class period to cook/bake/eat and of course, clean up. It was just a matter of all work and no time for play. Our grades were built around what we accomplished in getting done.

 

[H.C. Heartland]

I think it would be a great idea to prepare the ingredients but then have the student bake it at home as homework that night. Then they can bring their food in class the next day to share with everyone and show off. This would solve the cooking time, would help them become used to their own oven temperatures, as it often varies, and would re-enforce the methods learned the next day, helping the students to remember. Of course, it would be hard to tell if it didn't turn out and a parent quickly re-baked them something so as not to cause embarrassment.

 

[Redribbon]

That should read rock cakes not tick cakes oops

 

[Tina Nord]

I remember having home economics in school, but I don't think we baked anything...it was all pan cooked food that could be done in the class period. I would complain to the school if I were you as your son or daughter probably should not be bringing undercooked food home, especially if the class is early in the day...could get sick. So far my kids have not had this class, but they have not entered highschool yet, so I am not sure if they will.

 

[NThomas]

This is just poor planing on the part of the teacher. She needs to choose recipes that will be baked in time to take home. Maybe the techer can allow the recipes to continue to bake and the student could come back the next day for their baked goods. Allow the students to walk away with undercooked food is no only gorss it is unsafe , onday someone is going to get sick.

 

[LindaKay]

I agree -- it's the teacher's fault. There are recipes that can be done during the class. I remember baking cookies in my home ec class.

 

[LivetoErr]

I loved home economics class. We never had an issue completing our tasks on time. In fact, I think we were required to have things completed on time or we lost marks. I agree, it was poor planning on the teacher's part.

 

[LetThemEatCake]

It's the teacher's fault- we baked a lot in our home ec class in high school, I remember us having a whole section on cooking/baking, we made quite a few different desserts and some entrees too!

 

[Redribbon]

Well the rock cakes were ok, I would have baked them a bit Ok her because they were slightly pale but not undercooked.

I am not looking forward to the Swiss roll I remember it all fell apart when taking out of the container for my son and I saw it was not baked inside. That was a few years ago hopefully they changed the recipe to something else!

 

[dorannmwin]

There are so many kids that never have the opportunity to learn to cook or bake at home and for that reason alone I think that teaching this in school is a good thing. However, I do think that when the teachers are deciding what to prepare that they do need to take time constraints into account.

 

[redhoneybee]

Definitely sounds like a time-keeping issue...we baked and cooked all sorts of lovely things at school and not once did we run out of time (sometimes needing to take an oven rota into account too!). It's also bad to have let the kids take undercooked food home, eek!

 

[Shortbread92]

When I had baking in school we always had time to finish because we would dedicate a whole class session to baking the recipes for the day. Classes were 90 mins long which was usually sufficient for us. If it wasn't then we would prep up to a certain point and finish it next time. The main thing that was needed to get it all done was just good time management.

 

[pot_star]

I support baking classes in school. My cousins daughter bakes in her high school and they usually able to finish the project, sometimes even finds time to share it to the faculty members. I think redhoneybee is right. It's just a problem with the length of the class. They need to extend it more, you can't rush baking or cooking, specially when you practicing or trying to learn a new recipe. Everyone knows that!

 

[VTEC 9/12/44]

My mother teaches a pre-K class and she does a few baking projects with them every so often. She lets them each take turns stirring and putting in ingredients, that sort of thing. Teaching them while they're young and helping them become familiar with spices and foods is definitely a good thing. Her school also sends notes in kids lunches about healthy eating. Hopefully, this will help to offset some of the poor choices parents give their children she has seen. Yes, junk food can be tasty but the sugar rush wears off while nutritious food gives them energy that lasts.
When I was a kid, my first baking project, at a time when I was being homeschooled for a grade with my mother as my teacher, was cornbread. At first the stove/oven scared me. I was afraid of getting burnt, which wasn't exactly an irrational thought but it held me back. I got over that fear, however, and now I make whole dinners with desert for myself and my family whenever I have time and energy. I even make my own bread so we don't have to buy the stuff with wood pulp and dough conditioners.

 

[burtpovski]

I learned how to bake in school, back in high school that is. It was really a good experience because it helped teach me some valuable life skills, which is cooking! You'd think that cooking is really easy because you just throw ingredients in a pot or pan, but really, there's some skill required. There's certain techniques for certain recipes, such as baking. You have to handle the batter really well or else it'll end up really gross and all. I think my favorite section in my cooking class was definitely baking. The food that we made was really good! But the worst thing about baking is the cleaning part... The amount of butter on the equipment was so hard to get rid of!

 

[kammy]

Even though my mother was always in the kitchen cooking up some tasty dishes and doing lots of baking I don't think most of my cooking skills came from her. Most of my cooking skills were learnt at my Food&Nutrition class; I had a very patient teacher who taught me well.

 

[rubydust]

I have to say that my home economics class in high school actually put me off cooking for many years. My teacher was a horror. She was a dragon, who seemed to enjoy knocking any confidence out of you. I tried really hard in that class, and was often quite pleased with the outcome of the things I made, but she would find the tiniest fault and pick on you for it, embarrassing you in front of the class. I began to dread home economics class every week.

 

[dustysmommy2013]

I remember baking cookies and personal pizzas in a Home Economics class. We did have time to get it all baked and it was a fun class but it didn't teach me nearly the amount of skills I needed to know. A lot of my "teaching" came from teaching myself when I got out on my own and realized I couldn't afford to eat out all night.

As far as the dilemma you mentioned, I do think that was poor planning on the teacher's part. There are plenty of recipes that can be baked in a 45 minute class. Not to mention that the oven isn't the only thing a student needs to be taught on. What about all the meals she could have taught them to do on the stovetop?

 

[ACSAPA]

I took home ec in high school and when I got to college ,I still didn't know how to cook. I don't think learning how to make desserts in school prepares kids for real life.
They should teach them how to make skillet meals, or pasta or nutritious budget meals that they can make in college instead of eating ramen.