Quick question for everyone out there in RamseyEss.comLand (Still working on the cute nickname for my readers): what do you think characterizes the “highest type of home?” I’ll give you a moment to answer…

Go ahead and type your answer here.

If you stated that the highest type of home is “an abode of grace and orderliness,” you are either the entry on “Home Economics” from Volume 7 of The Wonderland of Knowledge or you are Tim Gunn, because I can’t think of anybody else who would use a word like “orderliness.”

“The organized study of homemaking- home economics - is one of the youngest of the sciences, although homemaking itself began before the time of written history.”

All right, so most schools no longer offer a Home Economics course because it is perceived as a sexist area of study in that it can perpetuate gender stereotypes. I understand that. I am not going to fault The Wonderland of Knowledge for having an entry on this as I have previously established that I, Ramsey Ess, am better than anyone alive in 1968, when this book was published. However:

…the language that this book uses to describe these women’s tasks is either very condescending or the copywriters are purposely making it sound like lives hinge on home economics in an effort to keep women in a subservient position. Now, I am by no means trying to diminish the role of women in the house but there’s a photo captioned “making a bed is a fine art; takes lots of practice.” First of all, that’s not how you use a semicolon, and second of all, isn’t that a little extreme? Hyperbole is all well and good, but an exaggeration is worse than any murder that has ever or will ever be committed.

I’m not even going to touch the comment that ends the entry:“the laws of proportion and beauty [are] invaluable to the homemaker who realizes that there can be no complete and joyful living without beauty.”

Whatever guy at The Wonderland of Knowledge Corporation that had to write the entry on “home economics” was clearly really upset at his wife and wanted her to know just how hard she was dropping the ball.

Also, this lady looks like Judy Garland.