text:
Talk:Chmod

comments from 2002 2003
Is it appropriate to just dump man pages here? :-) -- Marj Tiefert, Saturday, April 27, 2002

 * probably not. -- Tarquin 21:54 27 May 2003 (UTC)
 * No context is established or anything. Since the present article actually contains a lot of information, maybe it is not inviting to rewrite the article. -- Sverdrup 19:30, 10 Dec 2003 (UTC)
 * (Note: it has not been touched since april 2002. Thus, we cannot have an article in this state. I'll replace it with a temporary article with less information content.) Sverdrup

WHY JUST UPLOAD A MAN PAGE? DUMB.

Most man pages, different for each implementation, while provide exact syntax do not discuss uses or reasons or ramifications of commands. DGerman (talk) 22:04, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

Chmod used in webservers
Perhaps this should be explored since most webservers use CHMOD on FTP type operations.

Man page dump
(Old article content)

chmod - change the access permissions of files

SYNOPSIS chmod  [-Rcfv]   [--recursive]   [--changes]   [--silent] [--quiet] [--verbose] [--help] [--version] mode file...

DESCRIPTION This manual page documents  the  GNU  version  of  chmod. chmod changes the permissions of each given file according to mode, which can be either a symbolic representation of       changes  to  make, or an octal number representing the bit pattern for the new permissions.

The format of a symbolic mode is  `[ugoa...][[+-=][rwxXs-       tugo...]...][,...]'.   Multiple symbolic operations can be       given, separated by commas.

A combination of the letters `ugoa' controls which users' access to  the file will be changed: the user who owns it       (u), other users in the file's group (g), other users  not in the  file's  group  (o), or all users (a). If none of      these are given, the effect is as if `a' were  given,  but bits that are set in the umask are not affected.

The operator  `+'  causes  the permissions selected to be       added to the existing permissions of each file; `-' causes them to  be  removed;  and `=' causes them to be the only permissions that the file has.

The letters `rwxXstugo' select the new permissions for the affected users:  read  (r), write (w), execute (or access       for directories) (x), execute only if the file is a direc- tory or already has execute permission for some user (X), set user or group ID on execution (s), save program  text on swap device (t), the permissions that the user who owns the file currently has for it (u), the  permissions  that other users  in the file's group have for it (g), and the permissions that other users not in the file's group have for it (o).

A numeric  mode  is  from one to four octal digits (0-7), derived by adding up the bits with values 4,  2,  and  1. Any omitted  digits are assumed to be leading zeros. The first digit selects the set user ID (4) and set group  ID       (2)  and save text image (1) attributes. The second digit selects permissions for the user who owns the file:  read (4), write (2), and execute (1); the third selects permis- sions for other users in the file's group, with the  same values; and  the fourth for other users not in the file's       group, with the same values.

chmod never changes the permissions of symbolic links; the are never used. However, for each symbolic link listed on      the command line, chmod changes  the  permissions  of  the pointed-to file. In contrast,  chmod  ignores symbolic links encountered during recursive directory traversals.

-v, --verbose Verbosely describe changed permissions.

-R, --recursive Recursively change permissions of directories  and their contents.

--help Print a  usage message on standard output and exit successfully.

--version Print version information on standard output  then exit successfully.
 * Where would I got to suggest something like this as an addition to the man page included with most distros? The page is written in a less-readable style (paragraphs 3 and 6 in the description section don't make this obvious)?  A line like this at the beginning would quickly tell someone what order the parameters are in (it's entirely arbitrary).  Making it concise helps with this.
 * '*AAABBBCCC AAA=Owner, BBB=Group, CCC=Everyone else'  Also could have writen [d][owner][group][everyone] but less clear?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A0B:7080:10:0:0:0:1:E187 (talk) 02:35, 16 May 2018 (UTC)
 * If you are looking for the Linux man-pages project, see the links here. -LiberatorG (talk) 11:24, 16 May 2018 (UTC)

Removed the wrong-title tamplate from the dump
-don't want it on the talk page. Rich Farmbrough 14:09, 29 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Rewrite and Section Update
I added some content, and simplified the sections. Hopefully this rewrite is more readable and understandable. Gbeeker 15:32, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

String mode examples
I created a subsection of string mode examples, and then realized there is already an example section. Both can probably be combined. When I have a chance, I'll do that, unless someone else beats me to it. --Unixguy 19:39, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Tables
Anyone wanna clean up that table with the usage? The X entry is particularly long and hard to read. — SheeEttin {T/C} 23:08, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

Screenshot of man dump
Really? Wouldn't it be better replaced with a screen shot of usage? Is an image even necessary at all? There are already external links to various man pages and that screenshot is too small to use comfortably anyway. Not to mention the fact anyone likely to need the chmod man page probably has access to it via their terminal. 87.194.164.154 (talk) 11:17, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

Examples section markup
That examples should semantically be represented by an HTML table. --85.179.194.128 (talk) —Preceding undated comment was added at 22:52, 31 August 2008 (UTC)
 * you can do that kind of stuff yourself, too, but I'm not sure if it's any better now Yngvarr (t) (c) 23:04, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

The other chmod
Just adding information about the Unix function of the same name.--Rfsmit (talk) 23:02, 17 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Done. If you feel like reverting it, consider moving the information I added to a new article.--Rfsmit (talk) 23:28, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

"Particular care should be taken when a directory is the target because the effect is not intuitive."
Can we be a little more specific about what happens? Tisane (talk) 20:19, 9 April 2010 (UTC)
 * This article isn't useful for instruction anyway, so there's no need. 71.131.178.118 (talk) 14:44, 11 July 2011 (UTC)

comment
typical more documentation written by linux geeks (i mean that in a good way) that don't know how to write documentation for the rest of us (i mean that in a bad way). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.30.109.74 (talk) 12:05, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

References for when did +X appear
I recently encountered the +X option and wondered when it was added, so I started searching around.

Here are some web pages which seem to be reliable copies of old documents.

Solaris 2.x Advanced User Guide (page images, does not mention +X) http://www.scribd.com/doc/4001642/56/Changing-Permissions-chmod#page=67

Unix first edition man page (11/3/71, only octal modes provided) http://man.cat-v.org/unix-1st/1/chmod

6th edition (still only octal) http://man.cat-v.org/unix-6th/1/chmod

8th edition (symbolic modes but no +X) http://man.cat-v.org/unix_8th/1/chmod — Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.255.14.95 (talk) 18:45, 23 July 2012 (UTC)

Suggestions for improvements
I don't have time to edit the article just now. But here are some suggestions.

 * "Experienced Unix and Linux users tend to recommend that the user of this command check the man page (man chmod) on the system of interest."

Change to something like

 * Users of old versions of Unix should check the man page. (with footnote references to old man pages).

Or just delete the sentence.

Add information about using Linux chmod on NTFS volumes such as Windows shared via Samba, USB keys, USB external hard disks formatted as NTFS. It seems it may not work: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1658076

Mac OS X (and BSD?) support changing access control lists via chmod. https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Darwin/Reference/Manpages/man1/chmod.1.html

"Octets" is just the wrong word. An octet is eight bits, not an octal digit (3 bits).

The footnote on "respectively" gives the definition of the word, not support for the statement. Someone please change it...

 * "Particular care should be taken when a directory is the target because the effect is not intuitive.[according to whom?]"

Change to something like

 * "Note that the read and execute permissions on a directory have a different meaning: read access to a directory provides access to the 'names' of the files and subdirectories, while execute access provides access to the 'contents' (and attributes such as file size) provided that the name is already known.

Add examples: % mkdir d % ls -ld d drwxrwxr-x. 2 user group 4096 Jul 23 15:45 d % echo a>d/a % cat d/a a % head d/* a % echo b>d/b % head d/*

> d/a <
a

> d/b <
b % head d/a d/b

> d/a <
a

> d/b <
b % chmod a-r d % head d/* head: cannot open `d/*' for reading: No such file or directory % head d/a d/b

> d/a <
a

> d/b <
b % chmod a+r,a-x d % echo d/* d/a d/b % head d/* head: cannot open `d/a' for reading: Permission denied head: cannot open `d/b' for reading: Permission denied % head d/a d/b head: cannot open `d/a' for reading: Permission denied head: cannot open `d/b' for reading: Permission denied % And some more examples similar to the above to cover other permutations.

such as the output from these (after a little more work):

export PS1='% ' mkdir d ls -ld d echo a>d/a cat d/a head d/* echo b>d/b head d/* head d/a d/b chmod a-r d head d/* head d/a d/b chmod a+r,a-x d echo d/* head d/* head d/a d/b ls -ld d chmod a=w d ls -ld d ls -al d echo c>d/c chmod a+r d ls -al d ls -ld d chmod a=wx d ls -ld d ls -al d echo c>d/c head d/a d/b d/c head d/* echo d/* chmod a=r d echo d/* ls -ld d ls -al d chmod a=x d ls -ld d ls -al d echo d/* head d/a d/b d/c head d/a d/b d/c d/d rm d/a rm -f d/a chmod a=w d ls -ld d ls -al d rm -f d/a chmod a=wx d ls -ld d ls -al d rm -f d/a head d/a d/b d/c d/d

++++ Please avoid using meaningless names. DGerman (talk) 22:10, 16 December 2012 (UTC)

 * "In addition, it will not work on all file types. For example, it has no effect on a symbolic link."

This is not correct. It has an effect, changing the mode of the pointed to file or directory if the link was mentioned on the command line, but doing nothing for links encountered in recursive traversal.

The cited reference on "The chmod command options are specified like this:[2]" http://ss64.com/bash/chmod.html is not the most appropriate, although it seems to be a better man page than some.

ss64.com (http://ss64.com/docs/ "About SS64.com, Simon Sheppard’s website") seems to be accurate but not authoritative.

I suspect the best choice would be the FSF page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.255.14.95 (talk) 20:01, 23 July 2012 (UTC)

names consistent with usage
There is much documentation available which defines the syntax of a command without conveying an understanding of the usage.

I have tried to use meaningful words in filenames like "blest" (past participle of bless) to imply why one would want to remove write access. As well as findPhoneNumbers.sh which is supposed to be a script which warrants the use of the execute mode where the name phoneNumbers has not reasonable use for an execute attribute. — Preceding unsigned comment added by DGerman (talk • contribs) 16:18, 19 October 2013 (UTC)

Poor example
Coming across this article I noticed the poor Wheel of Fortune example. It has 8x more negative than positive ratings on YouTube. It is not even clear, that the contestants chose the letters on intent. It even looks like it was a coincident, because they were given an additional joker letter for their last turn - I'm not familiar with the rules of the game.

I'm not certain if I could edit it myself, but it should certainly be put to discussion. This little part of the article is not what I'm used from the high standards of Wikipedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.201.131.190 (talk) 00:32, 28 November 2013 (UTC)

"Numerical permissions" is difficult to understand (not useless)
This lists numbers in binary, but chmod does not take numbers in binary format! It takes them in decimal. This needs a new column with the numbers in decimal please.

I came to this page trying to find out how to decide the a decimal number if I know I want permissions X Y and Z. I left the page no wiser than when I arrived :( The man page also does not help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.216.142.12 (talk) 15:21, 4 March 2014 (UTC)

DGerman (talk) 20:58, 9 July 2014 (UTC)
 * The numbers in binary are under the column RWX and refer to which flag is set when using the #.
 * Perhaps you need to read the entires article, including the examples to gain an understanding of how to use the OCTAL numbers.
 * Better still, avoid using the admittedly cryptic octal modes and use the symbolic ones which took significant effort to implement.

Splitting up 'modes' table
The modes r,w, and x have vastly different effects dependent on if it's a file or a folder, which I don't think is clear enough in the current tables.

First of all, the description above the table talks about "three basic modes" but the table shows those three (r, w, x), plus three special modes (+X, s, t). I think "special execute", "setuid/gid" and "sticky" should move into the "Special Modes" section, but still refer to them close to the "three basic modes" table - or is there a good reason for having them here?

As a second step, I think there should be two "three basic modes" tables, one for files and one for folders, to make it easier to list the differences in behaviour, and especially noting the effect on whether you can create/delete/rename/list/execute/etc a file or folder, which currently isn't clearly shown.

This is an RFC, if anyone has some suggestions/amendments to the above, please let me know - I could make the actual changes next week-ish.Mwoc87 (talk) 17:02, 4 December 2014 (UTC)

The three basic modes are self-explanatory for files, but for directories, the abilities to read, write and execute have a special meaning, as shown in the following table, and explained by allegory below it:

The special meaning of read, write and execute modes for directories, and the interplay between the execute mode and read/write modes, can be explained by allegory - a directory can be seen as a book containing chapters (files). Read permissions on the book would give an index with chapter titles, e.g. on the cover of the book. For a full index, and everything else, accessing (x) the book is required. Adding, deleting or moving chapters requires write access to the book. Following the allegory, a child directory would be a book inside a book, to which the same rules apply.

Draft of new tables above, WIP. Please leave a message if you have edited it, or have suggestions.Mwoc87 (talk) 21:31, 4 December 2014 (UTC)

Have added a separate table on the effect on sub-directories, to explicitly mention that the 'r' and 'w' flags have no recursive effect on sub-directories, but that 'x' does. Ninja edit: Maybe it should be put into one table again, but with three columns for Files, Directories and Sub-Directories. Mwoc87 (talk) 12:26, 5 December 2014 (UTC)

New draft of a single table. Not sure if it's clear enough. Will think about improvements.Mwoc87 (talk) 22:38, 5 December 2014 (UTC)

Is System call useful
Is it useful to include the system call in this (or actually any unix command) page? DGerman (talk) 17:13, 30 August 2015 (UTC)

As no-one has responded I heave removed the system call section DGerman (talk) 01:03, 27 August 2021 (UTC)

screenshot helpful or confusing
Is the green on black screen shot, which in nearly impossible to read, really helpful?

If there are no objections I will remove it after August 2019. DGerman (talk) 21:42, 22 July 2019 (UTC)

OK after 2 1/2 years I'm deleting the screen shot.

much rework needed
This article has taken a literary feeling. I have removed the references to decimal and some of the binary ones (other than in the table) as unnecessary confusing. I will (unless someone else does ) rework the section on combining flags to determine rights and the references to odd, subtracting nothing if..., only if it is greater than or equal to ...

Also as someone has mentioned previously, the entire discussion about what modes are and what they permit is out of scope and is referenced the beginning of the article DGerman (talk) 01:20, 12 April 2021 (UTC)

Recent merge discussions
See: – wbm1058 (talk) 14:31, 26 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Talk:Modes (Unix) and
 * Talk:Unix file types.

stat structure not helpful, propose deletion
The early paragraph discussing the stat structure might belong with the file permissions but not in the chmod command. Unless anyone disagrees I'll delete it next time I'm here. DGerman (talk) 01:07, 27 August 2021 (UTC)

Animated screenshot
I think we need to discuss this: Can we make all screenshots animated? I have done animated screenshots in GIF for some (including this one) but people said they are slow, hard to read and small. I knew it myself and suggested to Commons to implement asciinema support: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Village_pump/Proposals/Archive/2022/02#Implementing_support_for_asciinema_cast_files

So what can be done? I want the command pages to look pretty as they look dull without ss or with ss that are low quality. --Comrade-yutyo (talk) 21:11, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

 * I agree that screen shots that are low quality are not desirable.
 * Unfortunately the commands and command line are "dull".
 * They are not graphical.
 * Screen shots or animated screen shots that are simply the typing of the command do not add anything.
 * An animated screen shot for something like aptitude however would, if done well, add something as it would show how the process works. DGerman (talk) 02:59, 4 April 2022 (UTC)
 * I agree with DGerman. Most screenshots can simply be replaced with text. Animated screenshots are even worse if they are slow. However, articles about a software utility that doesn't print its output all at once (like ping or CMake) could benefit from an animated GIF. I prefer GIFs that are recorded as the user types, though, because the GIFs where the input is played back character by character feel very unnatural. Dexxor (talk) 06:56, 4 April 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:Chmod


text:
Texas Longhorn

The Texas Longhorn is an American breed of beef cattle, characterized by its long horns, which can span more than 8 ft from tip to tip. It derives from cattle brought from the Iberian Peninsula to the Americas by Spanish conquistadores from the time of the Second Voyage of Christopher Columbus until about 1512. For hundreds of years the cattle lived a semi-feral existence on the rangelands; they have a higher tolerance of heat and drought than most European breeds. It can be of any color or mix of colors. In some 40% of the cattle it is some shade of red, often a light red; the only shade of red not seen is the deep color typical of the Hereford.

In the 21st century it is considered part of the cultural heritage of Texas.

History
The Texas Longhorn derives from cattle brought to the Americas by Spanish conquistadores from the time of the Second Voyage of Christopher Columbus until about 1512. The first cattle were landed in 1493 on the Caribbean island of La Isla Española (now known as Hispaniola) to provide food for the colonists.

Over the next two centuries, the Spaniards used the cattle in Mexico and gradually moved them north to accompany their expanding settlements. The Spaniards reached the area that became known as "Texas" near the end of the 17th century. Eventually, some cattle escaped or were turned loose on the open range, where they remained mostly feral for the next two centuries. Over several generations, descendants of these cattle developed to have high feed- and drought-stress tolerances and other "hardy" characteristics that have given Longhorns their reputation as livestock.

The Texas Longhorn stock slowly dwindled, but in 1927, the breed was saved from near extinction by enthusiasts from the United States Forest Service. They collected a small herd of stock to breed on the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Lawton, Oklahoma. The breed also received significant attention after a Texas Longhorn named "Bevo" was adopted as the mascot of The University of Texas at Austin in 1917. The animal's image became commonly associated with the school's sports teams, known as the Texas Longhorns. A few years later, J. Frank Dobie and others gathered small herds to keep in Texas state parks. Oilman Sid W. Richardson helped finance the project. The Longhorns were cared for largely as curiosities, but the stock's longevity, resistance to disease, and ability to thrive on marginal pastures resulted in a revival of the breed as beef stock and for their link to Texas history.

In 1957, Charles Schreiner III began creating a Longhorn herd on his ranch, the Y O, in Mountain Home, Texas, as a tribute to the ranching legacy of his grandfather, Captain Charles Armand Schreiner, and the Longhorns he ran on his ranches. Schreiner purchased five heifers and one bull calf for $75 each from the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge near Lawton. In 1964, Schreiner founded the Texas Longhorn Breeders Association of America. The YO herd were the first cattle registered with the association. To draw attention to the Longhorn and its new association, in 1966, Schreiner organized a cattle drive of Longhorn steers from San Antonio, Texas to Dodge City, Kansas. The drive was promoted as a centennial commemoration of the earlier Chisholm Trail drives. Schreiner arranged for local members of the Quanah sheriff's posse to stage a simulated “Indian attack” as the steers crossed the Red River at Doan's Crossing. The attack was so authentic that the steers stampeded with cowboys in close pursuit. Four hours were needed to reassemble the herd. In 1976, Texas Tech University in Lubbock persuaded Schreiner to stage a cattle trail drive to celebrate its new National Ranching Heritage Center.

In 1995, the Texas Legislature designated the Texas Longhorn as the state large mammal. In the 21st century, Texas Longhorns from elite bloodlines can sell for $40,000 or more at auction. The record of $380,000 on March 18, 2017, was for a cow, 3S Danica, and heifer calf at side, during the Legacy XIII sale in Fort Worth, Texas.

Registries for the breed include: the Texas Longhorn Breeders Association of America, founded in 1964 by the Kerr County rancher Charles Schreiner III; the International Texas Longhorn Association; and the Cattlemen's Texas Longhorn Registry. The online National Texas Longhorn Museum displays the diversity of horns found in the breed, stories about notable individual cattle of the breed, and a gallery of furniture made from cattle horns.

Characteristics
The Longhorn is genetically close to Iberian cattle breeds such as the De Lidia and Retinta of Spain and the Alentejana and Mertolenga of Portugal. Like other Criollo cattle of the Americas and many breeds of southern Europe, it is principally of taurine (European) derivation, but has a small admixture of indicine genetic heritage; this may be a consequence of gene flow across the Strait of Gibraltar from cattle of African origin dating to before the time of the Spanish Conquest.

The horns are in some cases very long. In general, the horns of bulls are of moderate length, while those of steers may be much longer. In 2022 the Guinness Book of Records reported the longest spread of cattle horns (on a living animal) to be: 323.7 cm for a steer called Poncho Via; 265.1 cm for a cow named 3S Danica; and 262.5 cm for a bull named Cowboy Tuff Chex. All three were Texas Longhorns.

Coat color is extremely variable. In some 40% of the cattle it is some shade of red, often a light red; the only shade of red not seen is the deep colour typical of the Hereford. The finching pattern is common; when the base color is black it is called zorillo, from the Spanish word for 'skunk'. Other colors include variations of black, blue, brown, cream, dun, grey, yellow or white, either with or without brindling (called gateada, from the Spanish word for 'cat'), speckling or spotting. Speckled and solid-coloured animals are in roughly equal proportion.

Use
The Longhorn was traditionally reared for beef. In the 21st century it is considered part of the cultural heritage of Texas; it is the official large mammal of the state.

It may be kept for conservation reasons, or bred for greater horn length. It is occasionally used for steer riding.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Texas Longhorn


text:
Talk:Texas Longhorn

Source
Source on the end of the longhorn's commercial viability is here: http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/BB/aob1.html

Ben Brumfield [[ Hello, I had a few comments on the sources used in the article. The introduction of the article speaks of the cattle's characteristic horns and I don't see how the reference has anything to do with that. Its a NatGeo article on sustainable beef. The fourth reference has no direct ling and when I tried looking it up i had a hard time validating the information. I believe its correct though and the title goes with what you're talking about in that section. Can you clear that up for me, just started and was wondering if a citation could be left like that. The references that showed both an ISBN number and PMID were great examples on how different things can be cited so thank you for that. All medical articles have a PMID? The last thing I wanted to mention was the last citation. I noticed that someone provided you with that citation but it still hasn't been put on the article, whats up with that, is it not a valid citation, It looks good to me.

Overall it was a great article with a neutral point of view and it was also a broad article. I wouldn't know what else to mention about the breed because it seems as if you put way more than what I could have researched myself, but i'm sure there has to be a few other things that could broaden this up more.I believe that the information on this article is up to date but it's lacking credibility in some areas. In order to improve this article I suggest focusing on verifying the information and to add a few more topics on the Texas longhorn. C mena15 (talk) 18:57, 10 September 2016 (UTC)
 * Excellent job, Carlos! Alfgarciamora (talk) 15:03, 16 September 2016 (UTC)

barbed wire theory

 * I don't buy the barbed wire theory. There's still plenty of cows on open range in the US, though nobody but hobby-ranchers run Longhorn.  The problem with the Longhorn is poor winter-hardiness, slow growth and poor meat production compared with modern breeds.  Toiyabe 23:27, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)

 * While I respect your opinions, I'm not sure you "not buying the barbed wire theory" is really enough of a reason to completely change the thrust of the article in terms of the Longhorn's demise -- you are, after all, only one person. I have references at the end of the page for barbed wire vis a vis the Longhorn's demise (as well as Ben's kind link above).  I am reverting your edits. Katefan0 19:44, Jan 31, 2005 (UTC)

 * I don't want to get into an edit war with you, but there are some serious points here about the breed that are completely absent from the article as you reverted it. Even if you don't agree with the barbed wire thing, you might want to think about the rest.

 * For example these links about the growth rates - http://www.gov.on.ca/OMAFRA/english/livestock/beef/facts/01-051.htm#t1 and http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/research/table3.htm - show that the Longhorns are down there with the dairy breeds. There's plenty more out there that you can find using Google.

 * With regards to winter hardiness, you can find some information on the web, such as at http://www.westyellowstonenet.com/state_of_montana/history.php (search for longhorn on the page). Most of that information I got out of a book called "Cattle in the Cold Desert" by  James A. Young and B. Abbott Sparks, though.

 * If you put it all together, Longhorns are essentially a feral breed that developed in Texas. Natural selection does not favor traits like rapid and efficient weight gain that cattlemen prize, and it's not surprising that the Longhorn lack them.  However, during the time period when land was plentifull and good beef cattle were rare, it made sense to stock ranches with Longhorn.   Under those conditions, a rancher could always make more money by buying more cheap Longhorn in Texas and running them on more land.  Once land became scarce, the way to make more money was to switch over to more productive breeds which was the downfall of the Longhorn.  Barbed wire can then be considered the symptom of land scarcity, but not the root cause of the decline of the Longhorn.
 * Finally, I live on open range in Nevada. If I forget to close my gate when I leave in the morning, the range cows will get in to eat my garden.  In my neck of the woods the range cows are all Hereford, or Hereford crosses, and they do perfectly well on their own for six or eight months of the year (they'll starve or freeze to death in the winter, though.  Longhorns are even less winter-hardy.).  Longhorns are certainly not the only breed that can take care of itself on the range, contrary to the thesis of the paper that Ben linked to.

 * I guess there's something romantic about a technological inovation such as barbed wire destroying the idylic ranching lifestyle and its poster-child the Longhorn. However, cattle are still run on open range in the US just about everywhere that the land can't be used for a more productive purpose.  And because of there is no longer a limitless open range, ranchers who seek to earn a living by ranching have to run the most productive breeds.  Toiyabe 22:31, 31 Jan 2005 (UTC)

 * I don't have easy access to the print sources listed, but here are some interesting references:
 * The link at the top of this talk page (Handbook of Texas History Online) includes this quote "More controlled livestock breeding was made possible by the enclosure of herds, thus virtually eliminating the demand for the longhorn cattle, which were most suited to the open range." Taking this sentence at face value, it claims that barbed wire was the root cause that allowed more controlled breeding.  It might also be taken to imply that the other breeds were more advantageous in a fenced in situation.  It stands to reason that these are not the same attributes selected for by most modern cattle ranchers.
 * Here is a source that links the downfall of the Longhorn to its being a leaner breed, which was not as profitable due to the trade in tallow.
 * Several sources claim the Longhorn's downfall was largely due to interbreeding. This may or may not have been made possible or easier by barbed wire.  It is also interesting in that one could claim the Longhorn was not really dying out but evolving into other breeds through genetic recombination with other varieties.  Here is one example:
 * The "open range" reference may be related to allowing the Longhorn to roam across the land once dominated by buffalo, once those animals became over-hunted:
 * Their reputation from hardiness may rise from the claim that they were well suited to eating a variety of native plants, so they made good use of whatever was on the land or to their high rate of successful unattended births (99%), from the same source.
 * "Disease resistant" may be related to their resistance to a certain type of tick that was devasting cattle heards after the American Civil War.   I've even heard it said that this breed of cattle prevented widespread starvation at the time, though that might be over-reaching.
 * I would suggest: In the late 1800's, the advent of barbed wire brought the open-range cattle boom came to an end and allowed for more selective breeding of cattle.  The leaner Longhorn beef was not as attractive in an era where tallow was highly prized, and the Longorn's ability to survive on often poor vegetation of the open range was no longer as much of an issue.  Other breeds demonstrated traits more highly valued by the modern rancher, such as the ability to put on weight quickly.  The Texas Longhorn stock slowly dwindled, until in 1927...
 * Posted by Johntex 00:43, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)

 * Well, I'll leave it to someone else to do the next version. I just ask the whoever that is run a diff on my version, and consider incorporating some of the changes I made rather than rejecting them wholesale.
 * The disease you referred to is Texas Feaver, something that the Longhorn brought with them from Texas, and a strike against them rather than an arguement for them.Toiyabe 02:12, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Please don't misunderstand me -- I have absolutely NO problem with information being added, and I agree that saying "barbed wire caused the Longhorns to decline" is probably a simplistic explanation, but it nevertheless IS part of the story, and you chose to remove it completely. That was my only problem. In terms of adding information, as long as there is sourcing to back it up, I say go for it. Katefan0 17:26, Feb 1, 2005 (UTC)

Mention of University of Texas at Austin Longhorns and Bevo
I disagree with taking the mention of The University of Texas and Bevo out of the first paragraph. You can't assume that someone typing "Texas longhorn" into Wikipedia's serach engine is looking for a breed of cattle. They may very well be looking for the sports team. A quick Google check shows that 5 of the top 10 search results for "Texas longhorn" are UT sports related, while the other 5 are about the breed of cattle. Also, if you look at "What links here" you see that many UT related topics link to this page. The first paragraph of this article should help people understand why they have come to a page about cattle if they were expecting information related to UT. Johntex 20:14, 12 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Personally, I think that they should remain simply because they are intrinsically linked. UT's sports team and mascot wouldn't be named what they are if Texas Longhorns weren't semi-legendary beasts (regionally at least).  And it's not like Longhorns as cattle mean much beyond the state's boundaries.  If UT's mascot and team was the Owls, I would agree -- an article about hoot owls wouldn't need a mention of UT's mascot and sports team.  But this is an intrinsically, historically Texas thing, and as such I think it's appropriate. · Katefan0(scribble) 20:36, Apr 12, 2005 (UTC)
 * Excellent point Katefan0. Also, on another topic, it is interesting to see that Wikipedia does not yet have an article on hoot owls.  And on yet another topic, the Rice University article never points to owl.  More work to be done...   Johntex 21:13, 12 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * OK hoot owl was just a capitalization problem, and I added the link from Rice to Owl. Johntex 21:19, 12 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Modern day use
Today Longhorns still have a practical breeding use. They are in general smarter, and posses a better survival and motherly instinct than other breeds. Here is Alberta pure bred Longhorns can have trouble in the winter due to their short hair however, I know of one which live near Lloydminster, Alberta that is about 20 years old and still calving successfully. In my herd I have a large protion of Longhorn breeding (with a slection of other breeds). Longhorn cattle are known for their habbit of disappering into the bush and comming back with a new calf. They usually have no trouble calving. Longhorn calves tend have a natural ability to find warm places quickly. I myself have seen a longhorn calf stand within minutes of birth. I am not alone in this and have found that this breed is used (at least in part) throughout herds all over north america. Kc4 21:43, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Good article nomination on hold
This article's Good Article promotion has been put on hold. During review, some issues were discovered that can be resolved without a major re-write. This is how the article, as of January 29, 2008, compares against the six good article criteria:

 * 1. Well written?: [[Image:Symbol wait.svg|15px]] The article has a few problems when it comes to the prose and Manual of Style compliance. First off, a lead section is a concise overview of the article. It should not introduce topics (such as color) that are not covered in the body of the article. I will be trying to fix some of this myself. The Purpose section could also use some structural work, and should probably be renamed to Traits and characteristics or something similar.
 * 2. Factually accurate?: [[Image:Symbol wait.svg|15px]] This article is lacking when it comes to the necessary verification. There are entire sections without a single in-line citation, and there aren't enough secondary sources present. The facts in the article need to be properly attributed to reliable sources through in-line citations. The Ga criteria requires that an article: "at minimum, provides in-line citations from reliable sources for direct quotations, statistics, published opinion, counter-intuitive or controversial statements that are challenged or likely to be challenged, and contentious material relating to living persons"
 * 3. Broad in coverage?: [[Image:Symbol wait.svg|15px]] The is basically broad in scope, but it feels pretty thin in terms of the traits and history of the breed (especially its current status). I'll be trying to help expand some.
 * 4. Neutral point of view?: [[Image:Symbol support vote.svg|15px]] Fair representation of all significant points of view.
 * 5. Article stability? [[Image:Symbol support vote.svg|15px]] No edit wars.
 * 6. Images?: [[Image:Symbol support vote.svg|15px]] The GA image criterion is that any images present have appropriate licenses, which is here met. I would however like to be able to try some of the new images I uploaded from Flickr, especially as the current lead image doesn't even show the entirety of an upright longhorn. The two I especially have in mind are Image:Texas Longhorn Steer Rocksprings.jpg and Image:Texas Longhorn cow.jpg. I'll try them out and please let me know what you think, but whatever image we decide on the article passes GA in this respect.

I'll try and help fix some of the things I brought up in the review myself during the hold period. The most important thing to focus on is citing what content is now present and uncited. The current amount of in-line citations is far from GA-class.

Please address these matters soon and then leave a note here showing how they have been resolved. After 48 hours the article should be reviewed again. If these issues are not addressed within 7 days, the article may be failed without further notice. Thank you for your work so far. Van Tucky 04:33, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

Another comment
Two issues VanTucky only touched upon: 1) Some of the references are hard to tell where they are from because they don't use deep linking, and Premier Longhorns is not explained. 2) It uses 20+ year old books to describe the current situation, the article would need a more modern publication to complement the old ones for these bits.Narayanese (talk) 12:14, 29 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I would definitely agree with what Narayanese has said above. Thanks for your helpful comments, Van Tucky 02:59, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

Traits and characteristics
These are longhorns. How long are the horns? Please, will someone tell us the average or longest length of horns using all length criteria given in the paragraph. Also give a comparison to other cattle regarding size. Who organized the cattle drives? And did the Ft Worth Stockyards handle many of these cattle. And did the packing plants in Ft. Worth process these cattle. At the termination of the cattle drive, where did the cattle go? Were they shipped on the trains or used at the termination point? How many cattle and cowboys in a traildrive? What was the increase in monetary value of the cattle at the end of the drive? If these cattle were brought here by Christopher Columbus, how many did he bring? How was he able to bring these huge animals or did he bring calves? How many longhorns are there today compared to other breeds? Why isn't the meat available at grocery stores? What is the price of longhorns versus other cattle? Are they still freerange or are the kept in feedlots? Do they have the same gestation time as other cattle? Is there usually only a single calf born? What is a good book for the curious person regarding this breed? 71.164.184.34 (talk) 00:31, 3 August 2008 (UTC)City Cowgirl

Merrill Lynch?
No mention of the Merril Lynch Bull? It's a black longhorn living in texas. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.99.84.127 (talk) 03:39, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

It's not likely that their logo is based on a still-living animal. The logo has been in use since the 70's 173.164.86.190 (talk) 19:49, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

Original Longhorn was skinnier, smaller, longer horns
the Book of Cowboys by Holling C. Holling is an old book which collects much information with not much indication where it comes from, but in this book is an account of the Texas Longhorn breed (with illustrations) which differs somewhat from this article. It says the TL were skinny, tough, fast, almost like a deer, and the ranchers imported eastern breeds to improve their herds; the result was a mixture. If this be true, then the original TL isn't around anymore - what people are collecting today as the original is only partly so. The photos of Longhorns in this article don't look like Holling's illustrations. I don't know how or whether this information should be incorporated into the article but I make a note of it here. Friendly Person (talk) 16:40, 15 February 2010 (UTC)

Another source to investigate is the Longhorn Museum in San Antonio. There is a stuffed animal there with a spread of 8 feet. http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2143067340100653658anMPya Friendly Person (talk) 16:40, 15 February 2010 (UTC)

"History" section missing history?
The history section jumps from the beginnings of the breed to the reasons for them being obsolete, with no explanation of their importance inbetween,. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.90.219.55 (talk) 04:32, 10 November 2010 (UTC)

Purpose
The way the "Purpose" section is laid out doesn't make a lot of sense. It goes straight from a paragraph detailing the purpose and use of the breed, to a bulleted list of different horn measurements. Doesn't this seem a little sloppy to anybody else?

CyanideSandwich (talk) 23:07, 14 November 2010 (UTC)

Record Reality
The article says, "'Shadow Jubilee' holds the record for the longest measured horns for any Texas Longhorn cow or bull in history at 88" tip to tip." The source for this is given as the website of the Dickinson Cattle Co. Inc. who bred the cow. There are two things wrong with this: 1) On their website it doesn't say she has a measurement of 88 inches, it says, three times, that her measurment is 86 1/8 inches. 2) This is not the record length for a Texas Longhorn.

http://www.abc.net.au/rural/content/2011/s3386694.htm?site=northqld&section=news

The link is to a report on Australia's ABC news website (complete with picture) of a Texas Longhorn steer called Johnny Reb with a spread measured by Guinness World Records as 2.77 metres, which is 109.055 inches, tip to tip.  Cottonshirt  τ   21:39, 13 March 2012 (UTC)

Where did they get those long horns?
I did a google images search for Alentejana and Mertolenga, the two breeds said to be close to the longhorn... they have short horns. Where'd the longhorn get its long horns? 71.190.78.67 (talk) 22:19, 21 August 2012 (UTC)

One question
Did the Texas Longhorn ever mated with wild buffalos in the past? Komitsuki (talk) 17:03, 13 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Possibly. - Bardbom (talk) 13:03, 7 September 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on Texas Longhorn. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20050213204247/http://www.enn.com:80/today.html?id=463 to http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=463

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 03:54, 2 January 2016 (UTC)

“Bevo at the Tower”
Please be more specific. Please add link. What is the “Tower”? What tower? SaltySemanticSchmuck (talk) 07:26, 18 July 2018 (UTC)

Size
Include approximate weight at birth and full grown (male/female). Would like a brief discussion about what causes steers (castrated males) to have longer horns than the females—especially since females have longer horns than the males (bulls, not castrated). 2600:1700:530:8B70:A9D4:8A3C:C682:6540 (talk) 00:37, 24 September 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Texas Longhorn


text:
Home economics

Home economics, also called domestic science or family and consumer sciences (often shortened to FCS or FACS), is a subject concerning human development, personal and family finances, consumer issues, housing and interior design, nutrition and food preparation, as well as textiles and apparel. Much less common today, it was, and is, mostly taught in secondary school or high school.

Home economics courses are offered around the world and across multiple educational levels. Historically, the purpose of these courses was to professionalize housework, to provide intellectual fulfillment for women, to emphasize the value of "women's work" in society, and to prepare them for the traditional roles of sexes. Family and consumer sciences are taught as an elective or required course in secondary education, as a continuing education course in institutions, and at the primary level.

Beginning in Scotland in the 1850s, it was a woman-dominated course, teaching women to be homemakers with sewing being the lead skill. The American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences at the beginning of the 20th century saw Americans desiring youth to learn vocational skills as well. Politics played a role in home economics education, and it wasn’t until later in the century that the course shifted from being woman-dominated to now required for both sexes.

Now family and consumer science have been included in the broader subject of Career Technical Education, a program that teaches skilled trades, applied sciences, modern technologies, and career preparation. Despite the widening of the subject matter over the past century, there has been a major decline in home economics courses offered by educational institutions.

Terminology
Family and consumer sciences were previously known in the United States as home economics, often abbreviated as "home ec" or "HE". In 1994, various organizations, including the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, adopted the new term "Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS)" to reflect the fact that the field covers aspects outside of home life and wellness. FCS is taught worldwide, as an elective or a required course in secondary education, and in many tertiary and continuing education institutions. Sometimes it is also taught in primary education. International cooperation in the field is coordinated by the International Federation for Home Economics, established in 1908.

These programs have been called human sciences, home science, domestic economy, and the domestic arts, the domestic sciences, or the domestic arts and sciences, and may still be referred to as such depending on the academic institution. After obtaining an FCS degree, there are a wide variety of career choices. For example, fashion and interior design, dietetics, education, hospitality, tourism, child development, and more. Home economics has a strong historic relationship to the field of human ecology, and since the 1960s a number of university-level home economics programs have been renamed "human ecology" programs, including Cornell University's program.

By country
Internationally, Home Economics education is coordinated by the International Federation for Home Economics (Fédération internationale pour l'économie familiale).

Canada
In the majority of elementary (K-6) and public (K-8) schools in Canada, home economics is not taught. General health education is provided as part of a physical education class. In high schools or secondary schools, there is no specific home economics course, but students may choose related courses to take, such as Family Studies, Food and Nutrition, or Health and Safety.

Finland
Finland has a 110 year history in home economics teacher education. Household economics and nutrition have been taught at university level since the 1940s. Finland has made home economics a required course for boys and girls. When at university, home economics courses fall under categories of the culture and education of nutrition and food, consumer education, environmental education, and family education. The Finnish National Core Curriculum for Basic Education in 2014 also states to reach sustainable development, home economics must be one of the key elements throughout curriculum.

Germany
Between 1880 and 1900, the Reifenstein schools concept was initiated by Ida von Kortzfleisch, a Prussian noble woman and early German feminist. Reifenstein refers to Reifenstein im Eichsfeld, a municipality in Thuringia and site of the first permanent school. Reifensteiner Verband comprised from 1897 till 1990 about 15 own schools and cooperated with further operators. About 40 wirtschaftliche Frauenschulen, rural economist women schools were connected to the Reifensteiner concept and movement and allowed higher education for women already in the German Kaiserreich. The 1913 doctorate of Johannes Kramer compared different concepts of home economic education worldwide and praised the system e.g. in Iowa. Additionally, home economics are taught as an optional course in lower- and mid-level secondary schools (Haupt- und Realschule).

India
Many education boards in India such as NIOS, CBSE, ICSE, CISCE and various state boards offer home science as a subject in their courses, sometimes called Human Ecology and Family Sciences.

Indonesia
Home economics are known in Indonesia as Family Training and Welfare (Pembinaan dan Kesejahteraan Keluarga, PKK). It is rooted on a 1957 conference on home economics held in Bogor; it became state policy in 1972.

Iran
The new books are Family management and planning lifestyle for girls in secondary high schools and a similar book for boys just as well.

Ireland
Home economics was taught to girls in the junior cycle of secondary school in the 20th century. It was added to the senior cycle Leaving Certificate in 1971, at a time when elimination of school fees was increasing participation. In subsequent decades new co-educational community schools saw more boys studying the subject. Increased third-level education participation from the 1990s saw a decline in practical subjects not favoured for third-level entry requirements, including home economics.

Italy
In 1945, just days before the Liberation of World War II, Ada Gobetti stated, "The most difficult problem will be that of the housewife. It will be one of the most difficult to resolve if one wants to create a new society." She wanted women, family, work, and society to form a new relationship through education and organization of the housewives. Although people were not taught formal classes of home economics, during the 1950s and 1960s home economics manuals had been fully published. These manuals were compulsory for children to read in school. These manuals focused heavily on how to be a good housewife during a new era of transformation and how to adapt to new behaviors and habits.

Starting from the Gentile reform, home economics was taught in the lower middle school and in the new unified middle school established in 1963. The name changed to Technical Applications, differentiated into male and female, which was taught until 1977 when it changed to the title of Technical Education, which no longer differed in relation to the sex of the pupils.

South Korea
In South Korea, the field is most commonly known as "consumer science" (소비자학, sobija-hak). The field began in schools taught by Western missionaries in the late 19th century. The first college-level department of family science was established at Ewha Womans University in Seoul in 1929.

Sweden
In Sweden, Home economics is commonly known as "home- and consumer studies" (hem- och konsumentkunskap). The subject is mandatory from middle years until high school in both public and private schools but is regarded as one of the smallest subjects in the Swedish school system. For many decades, the subject was only called "hemkunskap" and had a strong focus on the traditional common tasks of a home, family and practical cooking and cleaning. After the 2011 Swedish school reform, the curriculum have been restructured with more focus on the topics of health, economy and environment which includes Consumer economics as well as Consumer awareness.

United Kingdom
In 1852 Louisa Hope and others created the Scottish Ladies Association for Promoting Female Industrial Education. The intention was to ensure that females would learn sewing and in time other domestic subjects in separate gender based education. The Church of Scotland had decided in 1849 that it wanted female "schools of industry". Women were seen as centres of moral and religious values for families and upper class ladies in the new association saw it as their role to provide it.

In 1853 Hope published, The Female Teacher: Ideas Suggestive of Her Qualifications and Duties where she notes that women should be "keepers at home" and men should see to his "labour and his work until the evening". Education of females would elevate the "lower classes" and this was the "aim of the Scottish Ladies Association for Promoting Female Industrial Education".

Hope organised a petition of 130 signatures of "principal ladies of Scotland" demanding improved sewing lesson for girls in Scottish schools. The petition was supported by letters sent to newspapers and this was of underestimated influence. By 1861 grants were available to support this objective and in 1870 70% of schools were including sewing in their curriculum according to inspectors.

Thereza Charlotte, Lady Rucker (1863 – 1941) was a promoter of household science teaching. She helped establish Domestic Science as a university subject but only at one university in England.

In the UK, Home Economics was a GCSE qualification offered to secondary school pupils, but since 2015 been replaced with a course entitled Food and Nutrition which focuses more on the nutritional side of food to economics.

In Scotland, Home Economics was replaced by Hospitality: Practical Cooking at National 3,4 and 5 level and Health and Food Technology at National 3, 4, 5, Higher and Advanced Higher. The awarding body is the SQA.

Nineteenth century
Over the years, homemaking in the United States has been a foundational piece of the education system, particularly for women. These homemaking courses, called home economics, have had a prevalent presence in secondary and higher education since the 19th century. By definition, home economics is "the art and science of home management," meaning that the discipline incorporates both creative and technical aspects into its teachings. Home economics courses often consist of learning how to cook, how to do taxes, and how to perform child care tasks. In the United States, home economics courses have been a key part of learning the art of taking care of a household. One of the first to champion the economics of running a home was Catherine Beecher, sister to Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Since the nineteenth century, schools have been incorporating home economics courses into their education programs. In its early years, home economics began with the goal of professionalizing domestic labor for women whilst also uplifting the idea of "women's work". In the United States, the teaching of home economics courses in higher education greatly increased with the Morrill Act of 1862. Signed by Abraham Lincoln, the Act granted land to each state or territory in America for higher educational programs in vocational arts, specifically mechanical arts, agriculture, and home economics. Such land grants allowed for people of a wider array of social classes to receive better education in important trade skills.

Home economics courses mainly taught students how to cook, sew, garden, and take care of children. The vast majority of these programs were dominated by women. Home economics allowed for women to receive a better education while also preparing them for a life of settling down, doing the chores, and taking care of the children while their husbands became the breadwinners. At this time, homemaking was largely accessible to middle and upper class white women whose families could afford secondary schooling.

In the late 19th century, the Lake Placid Conferences took place. The conferences consisted of a group of educators working together to elevate the discipline to a legitimate profession. Originally, they wanted to call this profession "oekology", the science of right living. However, "home economics" was ultimately chosen as the official term in 1899.

The first book on home economics was Mrs. Welch's Cookbook, published in 1884 at Iowa State by Mary Beaumont Welch. Welch's classes on domestic economy were the first in the nation to give college credit on the subject.

Twentieth century
Home economics in the United States education system increased in popularity in the early twentieth century. It emerged as a movement to train women to be more efficient household managers. At the same moment, American families began to consume many more goods and services than they produced. To guide women in this transition, professional home economics had two major goals: to teach women to assume their new roles as modern consumers and to communicate homemakers’ needs to manufacturers and political leaders. The development of the profession progressed from its origins as an educational movement to its identity as a source of consumer expertise in the interwar period to its virtual disappearance by the 1970s. An additional goal of the field was to "rationalize housework," or lend the social status of a profession to it, based on a theory that housework could be intellectually fulfilling to women engaged in it, along with any emotional or relational benefits.

Pioneers of the field included numerous female figures, such as Ellen Swallow Richards, who had profound impacts on the home economics profession. In 1909, Richards founded the American Home Economics Association (now called the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences). From 1900 to 1917, more than thirty bills discussed in Congress dealt with issues of American vocational education and, by association, home economics. Americans wanted more opportunities for their young people to learn vocational skills and to learn valuable home and life skills. However, home economics was still dominated by women and women had little access to other vocational trainings. As stated by the National Education Association (NEA) on the distribution of males and females in vocations, “one-third of our menfolk are in agriculture, and one-third in non-agricultural productive areas; while two-thirds of our women are in the vocation of homemaking”. Practice homes were added to American universities in the early 1900s in order to model a living situation, with the first facility built for home management practice constructed in the early 1920s at North Dakota Agricultural College. The all-women ‘team’ model used for students was different from prevailing expectations of housewives. For example, women were graded on collaboration, while households at the time assumed that women would be working independently. Nevertheless, the practice homes were valued. These practicum courses took place in a variety of environments including single-family homes, apartments, and student dorm-style blocks. For a duration of a number of weeks, students lived together while taking on different roles and responsibilities, such as cooking, cleaning, interior decoration, hosting, and budgeting. Some classes also involved caring for young infants, temporarily adopted from orphanages. Children's service organizations helped supply the babies who were awaiting adoption. At Cornell University, the first practice baby was called Dicky Domecon, named after the phrase “domestic economy”. Dicky was borrowed by Cornell in 1920 when he was three weeks old. Practice babies belonged to the students and to the department and were considered central to the proper training and development of home economics students. Many fields of high acuity use simulation to enhance training in complicated situations. Childcare practicums were often included at the same time as other classwork, requiring students to configure their intellectual and home lives as compatible with one another. Home economics programs were using practice babies nationwide, however by 1959 less than one percent of programs still ran full-time operations. The practice was discontinued altogether by the early 1970s. According to Megan Elias, "in the ideal, domestic work was as important as work done outside the home and it was performed by teams of equals who rotated roles. Each member of the team was able to live a life outside the home as well as inside the home, ideally, one that both informed her domestic work and was informed by it. This balance between home and the wider world was basic to the movement."

There was a great need across the United States to continue improving the vocational and homemaking education systems because demand for work was apparent after World War I and II. Therefore, in 1914 and 1917, women's groups, political parties, and labor coalitions worked together in order to pass the Smith-Lever Act and the Smith-Hughes Act. The Smith-Lever Act of 1914 and the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 created federal funds for "vocational education agriculture, trades and industry, and homemaking" and created the Office of Home Economics. With this funding, the United States was able to create more homemaking educational courses all across the country.

Throughout the 1940s, Iowa State College (later University) was the only program granting a master of science in household equipment. However, this program was centered on the ideals that women should acquire practical skills and a scientifically based understanding of how technology in the household works. For example, women were required to disassemble and then reassemble kitchen machinery so they could understand basic operations and understand how to repair the equipment. In doing so, Iowa State effectively created culturally acceptable forms of physics and engineering for women in an era when these pursuits were not generally accessible to them.

Throughout the latter part of the twentieth century, home economics courses became more inclusive. In 1963, Congress passed the Vocational Education Act, which granted funds to vocational education job training. Home economics courses started being taught across the nation to both boys and girls by way of the rise of second-wave feminism. This movement pushed for gender equality, leading to equality in education. Starting in 1994, home economics courses in the United States began being referred to as "family and consumer sciences" in order to make the class appear more inclusive. With desegregation and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, men and women of all backgrounds could equally learn how to sew, cook, and balance a checkbook.

In the 1980s, "domestic celebrities" rose to stardom. Celebrities, such as Martha Stewart, created television programs, books, magazines, and websites about homemaking and home economics, which attested to the continued importance of independent experts and commercial mass-media organizations in facilitating technological and cultural change in consumer products and services industries.

Despite many secondary education establishments still referring to these enrichment classes as "home economics", the name was officially changed in 1994 by the American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences to "family and consumer sciences" to more accurately represent the profession and field as a whole. As society changed over time, so did the needs of students in these classes. Topics such as nutrition, family finance, and other social justice issues have been added to family and consumer sciences classes, most frequently taught in high schools and colleges.

Twenty-first century
Today FCS is part of the broader Career Technical Education umbrella. Career and technical education is a term applied to programs that specialize in skilled trades, applied sciences, modern technologies, and career preparation. While traditional Home Economics focused on preparing women to care for a husband, family, and home, Family Consumer Science continues to adapt its course offerings to meet the needs of today’s students both for personal growth and professional opportunities. Students can take classes in culinary arts, education, food science, nutrition, health and wellness, interior design, child development, personal finance, textiles, apparel, and retailing. Students who take FCS classes also have the opportunity to join the student organization Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America.“ Since 1945, FCCLA members have been making a difference in their families, careers, and communities by addressing important personal, work, and societal issues through Family and Consumer Sciences education. ” Through participating in FCS and FCCLA integrated events students develop 21st Century skills such as applied academic skills, critical thinking, resource management, information use, and interpersonal skills.

Present day, the prevalence of FCS and CTE courses help prepare students for careers rather than traditional courses that prepare one for university rather than life skills. Also, homemaking and home economics courses have developed a negative connotation because of the negative gender bias associated with home economics courses. Despite this, homemaking is now socially acceptable for both men and women to partake in. In the United States, both men and women are expected to take care of the home, the children, and the finances. More women are pursuing higher education rather than homemaking. In 2016, 56.4% of college students were female as opposed to 34.5% in 1956. Some schools are starting to incorporate life skill courses back into their curriculum, but as a whole, home economics courses have been in major decline in the past century.

In 2012 there were only 3.5 million students enrolled in FCS secondary programs, a decrease of 38 percent over a decade. In 2020 the AAFCS estimates that there are 5 million students enrolled in FCS programs, a significant increase from past years that is still growing.

title: Home economics