LEARN TO COOK, LEARN TO MANAGE

Cafe Central is waiting for its customer. The cooks are running one counter to another, busy chopping and preparing. In one corner of the kitchen two cooks are already making waffles, which smell delicious. But Café Central is not an ordinary café. It is actually inside a high school in America and (1)...... .

The school offers home economics classes to students. They are called family and consumer science. The course is for young people. It now teaches students (2)...... . It also prepares them for possible future careers. In this class students learn how to cook. They learn food science. They also learn how to manage a business. The programme lasts three years. It begins with cooking and nutrition. Next, students study expert cooking methods. In the third year, they create their own menus.

“When I was in high school, we took classes like pottery and sewing that didn’t lead to anything”, says one of the parents. Now, schools are changing, she said. They’re preparing students for careers and (3)...... . The government decided to try this programme as a result of increasing obesity in the USA. Most parents buy precooked and packaged meals for their families. They also prefer fast food, as (4)...... . They only pack snack, chips, biscuits and even chocolate for their children’s lunches. All of these are unhealthy eating habits. These kids

grow and continue their habits. They cause serious illnesses like diabetes or heart problems. There aren’t only girls in those courses. There are also boys. In 1959, 48 percent of high school girls took home economics classes. Only 1.3 percent of boys did. In 2002, however, boys made up 37 percent of high school family and consumer sciences students and (5)...... .

In the programme’s first year, 180 students took the course. In 2010, the number doubled. More students are interested in the class. Some students decided to have a career in cooking and they have gone on to top cooking schools. The officials say that they are planning to start the programme in ten more states in the following years.