School "cookery"?

[Sychnant]

DS is in Year 7 and this term they are doing cookery.

Next week he has to take in dried pasta, grated cheese/breadcrumbs, a suitable dish, and... a jar of pasta sauce.

I think this is ridiculous, and not cookery. It will be pretty awkward to carry home (2 buses) and I can't see that it will be nice to eat after being reheated. And it's not really cookery is it. He knows how to stir together pasta and sauce and put them in the oven. I'd much rather they taught him to make a red sauce, which we can then mix with pasta and have for tea.

Should I say something to the school or will I sound like a loon??

[Sychnant]

Thanks everyone!

We made the sauce on Monday night. He made and cooked pasta bake at school today, reheated it himself this evening, and ate it ALL for tea. Was enough to feed 2 of us! So at least it tasted good.

(as we were making the sauce he revealed his ambition to go on Junior Masterchef... even though this is the only thing he's ever cooked... will try asking him to make dinner tomorrow. Bet I can guess how that will go lol)

[LaLyra]

For a first lesson I wouldn't be too bothered. It's probably about weighing out the pasta and mastering the oven/getting things in and out safely. It'll be a cheap dish because for some of them it'll go wrong. I'd expect them to move on to better and more complicated things as the term goes.

Some families are really bad at teaching/letting children cook. DS1's best friend is almost 16 and the only thing he can make is pot noodles, toast with cheese or scrambled egg in the microwave. His mother does all the cooking and doesn't think 'children' should be in the kitchen.

[Noodledoodledoo]

What I found more shocking is the image the family presented you would have thought that cooking would be a regular activity, very traditional values from the outside.

I was talking to a mum a few weeks later and they admitted to not letting the children in the kitchen as it was too dangerous.

I hope the cooking improves for your DC but I do remember my Yr7 HE lessons and the first few being things like fruit salad, I had been cooking a while so chopping fruit wasn't a challenge for me but others really struggled. This was the late 80's, I also remember teaching a lot of people how to cook during my time at uni.

[Momagain1]

I remember once one of the brightest girls in the unit (grammar school, ended up with A's at A level) at the age of 12 didn't have a clue how to cook the pasta - or even be able to follow the directions on the packet. She put it in boiling water - but then turned off the heat!

I am amazed at adults who are otherwise very competent, having graduated college or obtained technical training, who cannot follow cooking instructions. In some cases even seem to be unaware that food packets have instructions. They approach every everything cooked on the stove as if it were a can of soup and everything in the oven is cooked per the long memorized instructions from a frozen pizza. If the item seems raw by what time they imagined it should be done, they crank up the heat, then leave the room.

[Noodledoodledoo]

I don't teach Food tech but do run a Guide unit where we do get the girls to do cooking. I am always shocked at how poor a lot of girls skills are - even from families I would expect to do a lot of home cooking.

I remember once one of the brightest girls in the unit (grammar school, ended up with A's at A level) at the age of 12 didn't have a clue how to cook the pasta - or even be able to follow the directions on the packet. She put it in boiling water - but then turned off the heat!

[geekymommy]

I remember cookery in Home Economics classes in middle school, back in the 80's. I remember that refrigerated biscuit dough (I'm in the US, biscuits are savory rather than sweet here, what you call biscuits we call cookies) played a large role in what we made. I don't think I've used refrigerated biscuit dough to make anything other than biscuits since then.

[Gileswithachainsaw]

If they could choose what to make they chose what they were able to make. read the instructions and if they had a question teacher answered it.

[Gileswithachainsaw]

We all managed. In primary we made things like pasta bake and shepherds pie.

In secondary we got a brief and we chose what to make. we made all sorts. no one had any sort if accident and it was one teacher among two classes. one class read cook books and decided on what they would make the following week and the other class cooked. and It was far better that way than wasting time on toast. We could actually take edible food home and not waste money on stuff no one would eat. pasta dishes, soups, cakes and biscuits, ratatouille.

[TeenAndTween]

Giles
Most schools do not initially set for Tech, because it isn't done to any kind of level in primary, and so there are no initial baselines, unlike maths.

Also, tech is often done on rotation so maybe only 6 weeks of any tech before moving to something else.
So maybe yes, in y7 someone may not learn much in food tech, but they may learn more in resistant materials or whatever.

Then when schools have been able to ensure everyone is safe etc, they can set based on ability, and more skilled kids can go faster.

But it really wouldn't help your kids learn if on the first lesson another DC has a major accident due to being pushed beyond their capabilities without adequate instruction or supervision.

[UpWithPup]

In my first year of high school we made pizza (ready made base), fruit salad, fairy cakes, toasties etc. Nothing spectacular, by the final year we were expected to produce a 2 course meal over a double lesson. We were all capable of working out what was 'worth' doing yourself and what was better to buy predone.

[mrstweefromtweesville]

www.angeldelightdesserts.co.uk/
Yes it does.

[Topseyt]

Oh, and most of the class did not finish that assessment.

No biggie for my daughter (didn't quite finish either) as she isn't taking the subject for GCSE. Others will be though.

[mrstweefromtweesville]

A lot of the year 7 stuff is about learning how to use the kitchen efficiently and safely, isn't it? What you make is secondary. We started with 'Angel Delight'. I wonder if it still exists.

[Topseyt]

Believe me, there are some schools that go too far the other way.

My DD3 (nearly 13) recently did a food tech class where they were not only supposed to make the sauce and filling from scratch, but the pasta as well. All in a double lesson at school.

She now understands why I buy dried or ready made pasta and only make the sauce/filling from scratch.

[bilbodog]

the long and short of it seems to be that if you want your kids to be able to cook you need to show them yourselves....................... I didn't learn to cook at school but by watching my mother and being interested and now my daughter does the same (cant say the same for my son who can't be bothered but he could if he wanted to). Waste of time for schools to try and do it from what you have all said...............................

[Momagain1]

the class is geared to the least prepared student. for a great many, reading and interpreting the directions to boil water, cook the pasta and sauce, pay attention to time and consider or 'done' indicators will be QUITE a lot to log into their brain. operating the stove will be completely alien and unknown.

I would rather hang out with that mum that expects more than that mum who is in a complete panic about the idea of her child operating a cooker at all. she is probably on her own thread, being talked down from calling the head and insisting that the children should be allowed nothing more complex than instructions on making a sandwich from pre--sliced ingredients, or maybe, possibly, using a microwave to heat a ready meal. because dangerous!

[WhyCantIuseTheNameIWant]

Momb
I hope the school-dinner staff at your school are quicker than that!
They could have been set all the theory as homework and made the sandwich in class the next lesson.
Sat around, eating the sandwiches they had made, discussing the merits or cheese v peanut butter....

[Gileswithachainsaw]

momb what an utter waste if everyone's time!!!!! toast? I despair seriously

[PaperdollCartoon]

momb! OMG thats hilarious, your poor daughter! The only thing I can remember from school is making french bread pizza under the grill.

OP can you make a proper sauce at home and sent it with him in a jar?

[momb]

patsa? a sandwich? My YD would be jealous. She has been doing food tech all term. She spent 6 weeks designing a sandwich and learning about the relative consistencies and reasons for each component (butter to provide some protection from moisture to the bread, mouthfeel etc). By half term she still hadn't made the sandwich.
She went in this week fully expecting to make a sandwich.
They did their first cooking: a single slice of toast under a grill per pair of children, with no butter or jam to spread on it.
Her homework is to work on an attractive design for the packaging of the imaginary sandwich.

[Gileswithachainsaw]

How many people are honestly going to fork out fir ingredients when they have the stuff at home to do it properly, only to make something their kids can do already and it's inedible cos it's made with instant powdered crap?

people haven't got money to waste like that

[Gileswithachainsaw]

Well then it's pointless isn't it?

why bother at all if it's never going to stem above a sandwich or a jar?

[pocketsized]

The problem is having enough adults to supervise and instruct practical tasks with hot pans and knives etc. If there is only one adult, 25 kids and they all need to be shown something at their level and closely supervised while they do it it's going to be very difficult. I agree it's not really fair, but very difficult to organise practically.

[Gileswithachainsaw]

learning to cook is as important as anything else. yes there will be kids who can't do it easily. but there will also be people who have done what's been asked of them at a much younger age. It's not fair to make those kids hang around opening jars because another child can't boil pasta.

There could easily be the option of those children bringing in packets or jars while allowing others to actually learn something else. You wouldn't expect any other subject to make everyone work to the lowest denominator and this shouldn't be allowed in home economics either

[Gileswithachainsaw]

25 children in a class, you will have at least 1 in the bottom 4% of motor skills. They need to start gently to give the teacher a chance to assess basic skills to know who needs most help and how to progress

nothings going to improve In one measly lesson a week/fortnight (depending on whether sessions are rotated). This is the one subject there's usually no homework or after school sessions for.

half the class won't understand trigonometry either. but you can't expect everyone else to not be taught it.