 |
|
Youmans, Rita (1916-2000)
Rita Youmans brought to home economics an interest in shifting the field's traditionally rural and middle-class focus to one emphasizing more urban issues, particularly those involving low-income families. She earned her BS in Home Economics from Central Missouri State College (1937), her MS in Family Economics from Kansas State Agricultural College (1945), and her EdD from the University of Illinois (1957). During these years she taught home economics at several Missouri high schools. In one poor mining town, she decided to adapt her teaching to students' living conditions by instructing them to make over clothing. But none of the children brought clothing to the class. One student said, "We don't have anything to make over." Another said, "If you think we buy clothes to last more than one season, you live in a house with a closet." A little research revealed that the average family size in this town was seven, while the average number of rooms in a house was four. Obviously few families had space for closets. After serving as Chair of the Home Economics Department at Stevens Point State University (now UW-Stevens Point) from 1952 to 1956, Youmans came to UW in 1956 to accept a joint appointment in the School of Education, the School of Home Economics, and at Wisconsin High School. She became Acting Associate Dean for seven months and then from February 1965 until 1968 she served as Associate Dean. She then moved to UW-Milwaukee to help develop a program in school social welfare. In 1969, under a fellowship from the American Home Economics Association, Youmans spent a month in Chicago working with the Cook County, Ill., Department of Public Aid. There she studied family arrangements that differed from those taught in textbooks at the time, such as single-parent families living in public housing and pregnant teenagers. One of the questions she left Chicago with was how to adapt the traditional home economics curriculum to meet the needs of all people. It was a question that guided the rest of her career. |
||
|
