Do 'New and Better" replace past values?
by Nancy Payne

The latest is the greatest. I need the coolest new look to be socially acceptable. Interest in history is living in thepast. We're doers who measure success by what gets done. History is a bunch of dates. It is not a rigorous science.

Typical thoughts of a contemporary American college student? Others? Probably. With that in mind, the UI School of Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Margaret Ritchie Distinguished Speaker series by examining “How the Legacies of the Past Influence the Future.”

Virginia Vincenti, professor of FCS at the University of Wyoming, and past president of the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, led students, alumnae, and community participants in a series of class discussions and lectures that challenged the audience to understand how America’s obsession with the “new and better” has obscured our recognition of values from studying and learning from the past.

The Margaret Ritchie School of Family and Consumer Sciences has a “rich heritage because of the legacies of faculty and alums who continue to make positive contributions to individuals and families,” said Vincenti.

Margaret Ritchie, known for developing leadership in her students and influencing lives during 27 years as head of the Department of Home Economics (1938 to 1965), was held up as a role model to emulate in a video that debuted at the September FCS alumni brunch.

“Her belief in the ability of students, friends, and colleagues to strive for the best and have a wonderful time in the process made a lasting impression on the school that continues a generation after her death,” said the video, titled, A Tribute to Margaret Ritchie.

By examining her role, we can learn from qualities that influenced so many lives, the video concluded. (Video copies are for sale from famcon@uidaho.edu, or call 208-885-6546.)

Is history passé? If so, why?
Why have we as a society turned up our noses to the study of history? Vincenti contends that “positivism (also known as empiricism), capitalism with its market mentality, and individualism are some of the underlying influences on American attitudes.”

New scientific theories replace old ones; individuals pursue their own economic self-interests competitively with minimal limits; planned obsolescence and advertising promote the new and reject the old in order to create demand.
Ethical questions are ignored, and “we lose sight of what is right and just.” Getting ahead becomes more important than improving society. “We get caught on a competitive treadmill that leaves us no time for a reflective study of how our lives got this way,” Vincenti observed.

“Our loss of historical perspective, linked with our fast-paced life as we search for the new and the better has warped our ability to think critically about the choices we make.” Vincenti suggests that if we investigate the past, to ask Why?, we can begin to discover the interplay of events, thoughts, and the larger social context of the past that is influencing our present.

“By understanding experiences that brought parent, spouse, student, or client to a particular perspective or feeling, we can gain a deeper understanding of, and develop a genuine empathy for those people with whom we interact daily,” she says. “On a larger scale, by challenging the media’s portrayals of what happened by asking Why?, we can begin to develop a new way of approaching life that better integrates what we know with who we are.”