Here's another item from the extremely long list of things I knew nothing about: practice babies.
It seems that between 1919 and 1969, some college home economics programs made a practice of running "practice apartments." They would "borrow" babies from orphanages for a team of students to care for, then return the babies to the orphanages for adoption after a year or so. That's right - "borrow" little human beings as a teaching aid the same way one would borrow an overhead projector.
Yet another bizarre chapter from American history. One wonders how many of these children developed attachment disorders.
Here's some additional information:
NPR: "Practice Babies: An Outdated Practice, Rediscovered"
Cornell University: "What Were Practice Apartments?"
Huffington Post: "Practice Babies?"
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13 comments:
Well, a great big WTF to that one!!
- Jazz
Totally gobsmacked!
Jazz & Aunty - it's pretty whacked out, isn't it?
Unreal. When I was in high school the home economics students were required to lug around raw eggs for a week without breaking them as if this somehow accurately representing parenting. My best friend accidentally cracked hers just a tiny bit and drew a face on the egg to hide the crack. I dunno... I guess the real baby would have told.
That's actually horrifying. What a callous approach. I'm betting the rate of RAD is quite high in those children.
There's a book on my to-be-read if the library ever gets it list:"The Irresistable Henry House" by Lisa Grunwald - about the imagined life of one of these practice babies.
That is thoroughly creepy.
That is quite an awful idea.
Omigod. I have never heard of this cruel practice. I'm shocked!
I was forced to take Home Ec in high school - the boys took Shop. We made flannel nightgowns one term, and cooked something I can't recall the other. I would have preferred to make wooden toolboxes in Shop. We were expected to remain virgins for life, so babies were not part of the curriculum.
I was sure I'd commented to this post when I read it several days ago. I must have been so traumatized by the concept of practice babies that I only thought I did. It's beyond appalling.
When I read this, I wanted to vomit.
Amazing, isn't it? "The Irresistable Henry House" by Lisa Grunwald is, indeed, about practice babies. Not a great book, IMO, because it tries too hard to cram in all cultural references throughout the timeline of the book--so it's kind of obvious the author is checking old issues of Life and Look as she writes. But still interesting and kind of creepy.
Sorry, everybody. I got behind on moderating comments.
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