Home Economics

Erika Kern is not quite Martha Stewart. The 33-year-old from Bakersfield has, however, stitched up cloth portraits of the domestic diva. Kern has also painted, printed and sewn hundreds of patchwork robots and felt log pillows sold for $45 online -- and in the process pieced together a living as a full-time "maker," the Facebook-generation term for do-it-yourselfer.

Recent Chicago transplants Pieter and Beth van Es have recovered from their sticker shock and are ready to buy a house in Southern California. Now, the Irvine couple have a new incentive. When they buy their home through an online broker, they will get a nice chunk of their money back. The Van Eses are using Seattle-based Redfin, one of several new brokerage services that hope to revolutionize home buying by rebating part of their commissions back to buyers.

Equal but different. You hear that a lot on the lush green campus of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. God values men and women equally, any student here will tell you. It's just that he's given them different responsibilities in life: Men make decisions. Women make dinner. This fall, the internationally known seminary -- a century-old training ground for Southern Baptists -- began reinforcing those traditional gender roles with college classes in homemaking.

Re "Real World 101: Colleges Teach Dining, Taxes, Life," June 10 The subject matter mentioned in this article -- developing personal relationships, financial literacy, cooking and etiquette -- is all covered in the home economics careers and technology curriculum in California. As a parent and a teacher in these subjects, I would encourage parents to find out if their high schools offer home economics courses. With proper planning, students should be able to find at least one semester in high school to take such a course.

Re "Misfits Need Schooling That Fits," column, Aug. 7 Bob Sipchen makes an important point. As a third-grade teacher, I see the problems with the one-size-fits-all system. We are losing so many students. There used to be many options for high school students -- vocational education, auto shop, graphic design classes, home economics. Now, with the current thinking that all students must go through a college preparatory program in high school, many are choosing to drop out. If they could have other options, they too could make many successful contributions to the work world.

Regarding "Future for Los Angeles' middle class is uncertain" (Rick Wartzman, California & Co., April 13): I have a suggestion that would greatly increase the middle class in L.A. -- and everywhere, for that matter: We as a society should revert to an educational system that encourages vocational arts as a major curriculum in our secondary schools. When I was a child, a student had a choice and could study an academic curriculum to prepare for college or study vocational arts -- that is, "shop" -- to prepare oneself for a trade.

In an effort to "level the academic playing field," Harvard University President Lawrence Summers announced today that the university would introduce a home economics major designed specifically for its female students. "Starting in the fall, Harvard will offer home economics for women who find economics too tricky," said Mr. Summers, who called the move "long overdue." Mr.

Twenty-three years ago, Michelle Krier Bukowski learned in a home economics class how to make tuna casserole with a can of cream of mushroom soup and a tin of tuna. Now, in the same South Pasadena classroom, the trained chef teaches high school students how to make penne with bechamel, a white sauce, and Gruyere cheese. Make no mistake: Bukowski's class is culinary arts, and it represents the changing face of what used to be called home economics.