What's Up With Social Studies Classes?

It's been in the paper a lot these days.  Why are American students so desperately uneducated about their country and history?  For a while, I thought, maybe it's just me, this is what I do for a living.  However, when I saw a recent editorial in the Chicago Tribune titled Flunking History, I knew it wasn't just my imagination.

While I won't rehash the entire article, you can read it for yourselves, it led me to a couple of conclusions.  One being, that if as parents, we don't put an emphasis on our history, why should our kids?  As a result, if you are trying to have a reasonably intelligent conversation with someone, how often does the history of our country (and I'm not talking names and dates) come up?  You MUST  to borrow the adage, know where you have been to know where you are going.

The names and dates are important-- they serve as markers in time for the cast of characters.  Without this information, we wouldn't know the key points.  However, simply memorizing these points does not give us the insight to how the people of those times felt or thought about the times they were living in.  Without the background info, you cannot make the connections that are so important to connect us to the people who have come before us.

Take a look at your child's social science curriculum. Does it have an emphasis exclusively ob the names and dates?  Or does it enable your students take the information and make the connections that  help them understand their place in
the world.  Remember, it's SOCIAL studies!