Social Studies Rationale

The social studies discipline and subject is a vital aspect of education for students in their academic careers as well as the years that follow as they establish their roles as adults in an American democratic society and a global world. The study of social studies provides students with the basic skills and knowledge to continue to learn, make informed decisions, positively participate in society, and achieve personal goals of interest. These abilities and ambitions are first developed and then fostered in social studies classrooms. Without this discipline the American society would be less prepared, informed, and capable. Social studies has the capability to guide students skill progress, stimulate students interest and awareness, and enhance their thought processes and decision making. Some of the major skills social studies will help students master include critical thinking, writing , reading, analysis, interpretation, independent thinking, and more. If these skills are practiced consistently throughout a school year, students can begin to master them. It is these skills that will build a foundation for the knowledge, ideas, abilities and stimulated interest that social studies can provide for students. Social studies is also designed to increase historical understanding; turning points, cause and effects, progress and decline, empathy, connecting past and present, and historical agency. Learning about social studies and history topics and creating an enduring understanding are pertinent to a student s future as an adult in a democracy. Social studies has the ability to challenge students to draw connections between the past and the present and from small singular events to bigger and broader ideas. Drawing these connections is vital to critical thinking and will open up opportunities for thinking and developing

independent ideas. This strength in thinking skills is important to every day life and overall personal success as a student, an employee, the President, a mother or simply a person. Social studies has the ability to expose students to common biases and multiple perspectives from an early age preparing them for the reality that waits for them after high school, including diversity and dishonesty. This awareness of bias as well as multiple perspectives that students can learn in class will allow students to study social studies beyond a classroom in a successful and accurate way. Teaching history through different mediums in social studies class, such as film, images, text, popular culture, current events, music and more, students will learn the skills to interpret those mediums and therefore can continue to learn on their own. These practices establish empathy and instill values such as tolerance that students will have to practice throughout their lives. One of the most important impacts of social studies is its ability to prepare students and adolescents to be productive, successful, and active citizens in a democratic society. All of the skills, ideas, and exposure all funnel into the overall idea of guiding the development of independent, individual, intelligent and informed American citizens who can actively participate in society to make necessary changes and improvements.