Bachelor's Degree for Homemaking?

[Rissask]

An American 'university' is offering a degree program designed for women who feel a calling to be a housewife/homemaker.

There were two people (one from Focus on the Family one from "Beyond the Boardroom") discussing it on the Today show this week.

The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary offers coursework in Greek and Hebrew, in archaeology, in the philosophy of religion and - starting this fall - in how to cook and sew.

Southwestern Baptist, one of the nation's largest Southern Baptist seminaries, is introducing a new academic program in homemaking as part of an effort to establish what its president calls biblical family and gender roles.

It will offer a bachelor of arts in humanities degree with a 23-hour concentration in homemaking. The program is only open to women.

Coursework will include seven hours of nutrition and meal preparation, seven hours of textile design and "clothing construction," three hours of general homemaking, three hours on "the value of a child," and three hours on the "biblical model for the home and family."

Seminary officials say the main focus of the courses is on hospitality in the home - teaching women interior design as well as how to sew and cook. Women also study children's spiritual, physical and emotional development.

Yet the program is raising eyebrows among some Southern Baptists, who say a degree concentration in how to be a Christian housewife is not useful, and a waste of seminary resources.

Seminary President Paige Patterson, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, which has its executive committee headquarters in Nashville, said wives of seminary students asked for the homemaking courses. The program was approved by seminary trustees in the fall.

"We are moving against the tide in order to establish family and gender roles as described in God's word for the home and the family," Patterson said at the denomination's annual meeting in June. "If we do not do something to salvage the future of the home, both our denomination and our nation will be destroyed."

Terri Stovall, dean of women's programs at Southwestern, which has its main campus in Fort Worth, Texas, said the purpose of the program is to strengthen families.

"Whether a woman works outside or strictly in the home, her first priority is her family and home," she said. "We just really want to step up and provide some of these skills."

Stovall said the homemaking degree is one of 10 women's programs at the seminary and is "only targeted to women whose heart and calling is the home."

A description of the homemaking program on the seminary's Web site says it "endeavors to prepare women to model the characteristics of the godly woman as outlined in Scripture.

"This is accomplished through instruction in homemaking skills, developing insights into home and family while continuing to equip women to understand and engage the culture of today."

The Rev. Benjamin Cole, pastor of Parkview Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, and a frequent Southern Baptist critic, wrote about the homemaking program on his blog.

"At first it was almost incredible to me," Cole said. "I thought this is not happening. It's quite superfluous to the mission of theological education in Southern Baptist life. It's insulting I would say to many young women training in vital ministry roles.

"It's yet another example of the ridiculous and silly degree to which some Southern Baptists, Southwestern in particular, are trying to return to what they perceive to be biblical gender roles."

Patterson took a leading role in the 1980s in a successful campaign to oust moderates from leadership posts in the Southern Baptist convention. While he was president of the convention from 1998 to 2000, Southern Baptists issued a statement that women should not be pastors and that wives should "graciously submit" to their husbands.

In 2003, when Patterson left his post as president of North Carolina's Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary to serve as Southwestern's president, he was asked whether women would teach in the seminary's theology school under his leadership.

"The New Testament is crystal clear that pastors are to be men," he said.

In March, a former Southwestern professor filed a federal lawsuit against the school and Patterson, alleging she was fired from her tenure-track position because she was a woman.

Professor Sheri Klouda was hired in 2002 and was the only woman to teach at the School of Theology. But last spring, school officials informed Klouda that her contract was terminated because she was "a mistake that the trustees needed to fix," the lawsuit states.

Patterson's wife, Dorothy Patterson, is the only woman faculty member now teaching in Southwestern's theology school.

David Key, director of Baptist studies at Emory University's Candler School of Theology, said part of the reason why the seminary may be introducing the new homemaking program is in reaction to the Klouda lawsuit.

"Women continue to make more inroads into traditional male bastions, which could be provoking Patterson to do this," Key said. Patterson is "trying to draw the line in the sand of where women need to be."

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., also offers programs for women, including a 13-hour certificate of ministry studies. Required courses cover child-rearing, "God's plan for marriage," and managing a budget.

Key said neither seminary will allow women to be pastors, but notes that Southern hasn't "articulated homemaking like Patterson."

"Southern at least appears to realize the realities of modern day life - that often times husbands and wives must both work outside the home to support the family," said Key.

What are your thoughts on a bachelor's degree in homemaking?

[Mikey]

I think it is a waste of time....

[gingele]

The good old MRS degree, hm? Kinda hard to take it too seriously considering the source.

Now if they were to ask me what kind of coursework should go into a bachelor's degree in "homemaking" I'd start off with the following (not an exhaustive list of requirements, mind you, but just a start):
Psychology
Psychiatry
Accounting
Law
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Child Development
Early Education
Math
English
Social Studies
Chaos Theory
Game Theory
Engineering
Chemistry (for better living)
Biology
Vetrinary Medicine
Transportation Studies
Electronics
Operations Management

[Rissask]

Originally Posted by gingele

The good old MRS degree, hm? Kinda hard to take it too seriously considering the source.

Now if they were to ask me what kind of coursework should go into a bachelor's degree in "homemaking" I'd start off with the following (not an exhaustive list of requirements, mind you, but just a start):
Psychology
Psychiatry
Accounting
Law
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Child Development
Early Education
Math
English
Social Studies
Chaos Theory
Game Theory
Engineering
Chemistry (for better living)
Biology
Vetrinary Medicine
Transportation Studies
Electronics
Operations Management

I totally agree with you, and Mikey too.

Boy, now all those areas, while helpful, would be a bit overkill for a non-paying job, though, no?

[gingele]

Originally Posted by Rissask

I totally agree with you, and Mikey too.

Boy, now all those areas, while helpful, would be a bit overkill for a non-paying job, though, no?

That's why I quit my job as "homemaker" and went back to work as a lawyer. Better pay and the only thing I have to do all day is practice law.

[SunKneeMarie]

Originally Posted by gingele

The good old MRS degree, hm? Kinda hard to take it too seriously considering the source.

Now if they were to ask me what kind of coursework should go into a bachelor's degree in "homemaking" I'd start off with the following (not an exhaustive list of requirements, mind you, but just a start):
Psychology
Psychiatry
Accounting
Law
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Child Development
Early Education
Math
English
Social Studies
Chaos Theory
Game Theory
Engineering
Chemistry (for better living)
Biology
Vetrinary Medicine
Transportation Studies
Electronics
Operations Management

no wonder i'm so tired

[Mikey]

Originally Posted by SunKneeMarie

no wonder i'm so tired

and smart........

[Shawny]

Originally Posted by SunKneeMarie

no wonder i'm so tired

Ditto.

Originally Posted by gingele

That's why I quit my job as "homemaker" and went back to work as a lawyer. Better pay and the only thing I have to do all day is practice law.

I wish I can quit my job as "homemaker". The most that bothers me is that no one gives me credit for what I do all day.

[gingele]

Originally Posted by SunKneeMarie

no wonder i'm so tired

Exactly! And I'm sure you'd have a few courses to add to the list...
As I said, that is why I "quit" being a homemaker abut 7 years ago and went back to work - much easier. Plus I get to wear grown-up clothes.

[melliedee]

I couldn't even sew that damn apron in home ec in high school! I went on the website, and this school is accredited. Why is the concentration limited to women? What if a man wanted a BA in Homemaking?

[gingele]

Originally Posted by melliedee

I couldn't even sew that damn apron in home ec in high school! I went on the website, and this school is accredited. Why is the concentration limited to women? What if a man wanted a BA in Homemaking?

Oh no no no no. That is not God's plan for marriage.

[Rissask]

Originally Posted by gingele

Oh no no no no. That is not God's plan for marriage.

[queencityfan]

Originally Posted by gingele

Oh no no no no. That is not God's plan for marriage.

[BonnyW]

There is already something very similar, and it is a valid undergrad degree. It came from Home Economics and became: Family and Consumer Science

Our department offered that major up until 6 years ago. It was open to anyone, but female students only applied...

Their organization is here: AAFCS - Home Page

[SunKneeMarie]

Originally Posted by gingele

Oh no no no no. That is not God's plan for marriage.

I was gonna say....

I lived quite awhile in Ft Worth and knew a few graduates of this school... dated a guy whose dad was in that Seminary... his wife knew her "place" trust me