An article that I read this week entitled, "The Essential Role of Social Studies: Reflections on Arne Duncan's Article" discusses an article that Arne Duncan, former Secretary of Education, wrote about the importance of Social Studies in the classroom. The article discusses a problem that I have previously written about in my blogs, students being taken out of "unnecessary" subjects to focus on subjects that require "high-stakes" testing. The following quote from the article sums up my opinion on the matter because we are not only depriving our children of a vital piece of their education but we are also not adequately preparing our future leaders and members of our communities, "
This is a travesty because it increases the ignorance of our students, our future voters and our future leaders, in the vital area of civics." This problem can easily be avoided through integration. Social Studies is vital to literacy and that is just one example. Our students do need to learn to be great readers in order for them to read important documents and contribute to our society. However, why only teach them to read and not use that ability to educate them on social issues and social expectations? If students know how to read but they do not know anything about history or other cultures besides their own, then they are going to be ignorant and non-sympathetic to other people's morals and values. Duncan states that, "we may have the key, but there is more than one lock and the key does not fit them all." The article speaks of Social Studies being locked out and that without proper funding from the Department of Education, this trend will continue.
Imagine if these basic standards in 4th grade were overlooked, there are many things covered in just this grade level that educate our children how to function in a society:
EX.4.G.1.1 Understand locations have specific
addresses that include name of town/city and state.
EX.4.G.1.4 Identify tools that assist in obtaining
wants and needs.
EX.4.G.1.5 Use maps to locate places in the
classroom.
EX.4.E.1.2 Communicate the roles and impact
producers and consumers have on the North
Carolina economy.
4.E.2.1 Explain how personal financial decisions
such as spending, saving and paying taxes can
positively and/or negatively affect everyday life.
4.E.1.1 Understand the basic concepts of a market
economy: price, supply, demand,
scarcity, productivity and entrepreneurship.
These standards cover every day things that everyone must know to be successful. Maps are important to help us go where we need to go or to find important places. Also, everyone from every culture must understand the importance of financial issues and how markets work.
No comments:
Post a Comment