This nation, with its vibrant history, is rapidly becoming a country without a past, thanks to the neglect of the study of history in the nation's schools.
Parents whose children are enrolled in social studies classes presume that this study material contains lessons in history and geography, as it was originally intended to do. More likely than not, their children are learning little or no history.
In fact, history is but one of approximately 25 topics, ranging from gun control to sexism, presently embraced under the social studies umbrella. Social studies, as it is now perceived, is largely current events oriented and includes such topics as environmental education, career education, and consumer education.
"Because of the ill-defined nature of the field, it is easily invaded by curricular fads," writes education historian Diane Ravitch. Describing the confusion that is social studies, she notes:
To some teachers, social studies means the study of the social sciences, and many schools now offer courses in sociology, economics, psychology, and anthropology; to others, it consists of studies that promote understanding of current social problems. Still others see it as a field whose purpose is to teach good behavior and good citizenship. A currently popular definition holds that its purpose is to teach values, critical thinking, and respect for cultural diversity. ("Decline and Fall of Teaching History," The New York Times Magazine, November 17, 1985).
Beyond this, students are supposed to learn moral education, legal education, urban studies, and a variety of social sciences. In an attempt to define the content of social studies, the authors of a recent study for the National council for the Social Studies threw up their hands and called it "a smorgasbord of this and that from everywhere…as confusing and vague as is the goal of citizenship" (Robert d. Barr, James L. Barth, and S. Samuel Shermis, Defining the Social Studies).
A good example of an attempt to cram a fragmented hodgepodge of social sciences and contemporary issues into one textbook can be found in the Allyn and Bacon fourth-grade textbook, Cultures of the World, which is basically a cultural comparison of Java, Kenya, Venezuela, and Europe.
Within the section of each country or continent, the reader is made to jump from a discussion of energy problems, to the environment, to consumerism. Any mention of history is short, general, and, consequently, vague. In the section on Western cultures, the authors condense what historians would call the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery and Exploration:
The people of Western Europe went on inventing new things. They also used inventions from other cultures. For examples, Europeans learned about gunpowder, paper, printing, and the magnetic compass. They put their knowledge to use. They invented guns. They invented printing presses. They learned how to build strong sailing ships. Then, with the help of the compass, Europe's sailors explored the world.
The Allyn and Bacon book is not exceptionally bad, but rather
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