Leaving aside the fact that social studies is the ultimate “student
empowerment” course, the fact is that social studies, properly taught, is akin
to storytelling. It is drama, it is soap opera, it is a passion play, it is
conflict, it is the story of life itself.
Part of the problem is the lack of teachers with degrees in
social studies fields like history, international relations, economics, and pre-law
to name a few. Often times social studies is in fact a dumping ground for “coaches
that teach,” and I also suspect that social studies teachers are most often not
only those with education degrees but those with a lower GPA than other
education majors.
But by far the greatest problem are the core content
curriculum requirements, requirements that aren’t even assessed with a subject
test as part of the HSPA. If we don’t hold the teachers accountable, then why
are we bothering to mandate what they teach?
There are definitely items that I believe every graduating
student should know in the “field” of social studies, but these items are
fundamentally different than what NJ currently requires.
So let us please make every effort to make social studies
less boring. Let’s hire teachers with expertise in their subject areas, lets
liberate their classes from irrelevant State mandates, and let us refocus
social studies on those things that all high school students truly need to know
to meet the demands of a market economy and republican form of government. Let
our teachers have some fun, and I have no doubt our students will too!
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