Why is social studies important?

Question 1: Why do I need to know this?

 1.  I think most students are thinking this. At least, I was in algebra class. Let's think about school in general. Why does the state require you to take so many subjects? Why not just focus on one or two?
    Nevertheless, here in the great USA education consists of a little bit of everything. We come from a HISTORY (or tradition) that educated people should know little bit of everything. We take science, math, writing, chemistry. You know the drill.
    As you progress through school you can decide on what you want to study (for example, a major). However, in high school your electives are few because the state wants you have a background in several fields. Lesson: Later, when you decide to on a career, a major, or a job an education will at least a little bit of knowledge about it. Make sense?

Question #2 Why do I have to take history? Those people are dead--what do they matter now?

There are several answers to this question. 
1.  I think the most important, is that history will provide you knowledge about the present.  The media (news people) do not give you background information about what is happening in the world. They don't have time. They write their articles and broadcasts with the idea that you know the basic facts about the world.
   Let's focus on one example, the front page of the Washington Post today  has an article about Syria's civil war. What does this have to do with history? That's current events, you say. Read this article here. This article is unusual because it does give background information. As you read it, pick out another article about Syria (there will be one) and read that one. See the difference? 
   In the first article, did you notice that part of the problem in Syria is that it's borders were decided by Europeans, not by Syrians? This was because in the late 19th century most of the Middle East were colonies of European nations. One of the tenants of modern government (from the Enlightenment from 18th century France) is that people govern themselves, but if you noticed in the article Syrians are very different and can't agree with each other. Lesson: Current events relate to past.

2. People look to the past as a model the future. We think that problems can be solved by studying the past. Think about the Renaissance, Italians were dusting off their libraries and rediscovering what the Greeks and Romans knew. For example, the Romans built the Pantheon, a contrete dome with a skylight. During the Middle Ages, it was a wonder because inside was a completely open space, unknown at the time.  Every medieval architect were scratching their heads trying to figure it out. It wasn't until the 1400s that Florence attempted to build a large church with a dome and then it took two architects and years to complete it. Until then, Florentines were praying that it was sunny before church because there was a huge hole in the roof. The dome on St. Peter's in the Vatican soon followed. And today no one thinks twice about building a dome. Our US Capital building---doesn't it look like St. Peter's?

3. Before I started teaching, I took a job in a office in Crystal City and I joined a carpool. There were two other passengers. One lady was a coworker of mine and the driver was from Bangeladesh, a small country near India. I knew he was a Hindu because he spoke about his faith frequently. One day, I was horrified when my coworker was astonished that our Hindu driver had never eaten a hamburger. I was shocked at her insensitivity since Hindus consider cows sacred.
     Social studies teaches you about different groups of people so that you are more likely to respect differences in others. If you have gaps in your knowledge like this, it could cost you. Lesson: In the job market, finding a job is all about who you know, if you offend a potential boss--guess what--your resume goes in the trash.

4. I visited a museum called the Nazi Documentation Center in Germany. This museum was built on the former site of the Nuremburg Nazi rally grounds where Hitler made speeches from a podium that still stands.  The museum focused on the rise of fascism in Germany.
    At the end of the tour, a movie played that interviewed two women who talked about their experiences at the rallies as teenagers.  They said that the rallies were exciting, but towards the end of the interview, they agreed that Nazis were detrimental  (bad) to their society. 
     Then one of the women said something I never forgot. She said that she didn't know what democracy was. She said that Germany never had a functioning democracy after World War I. Do you see where I'm going with this? If the German people had known that their rights were being violated...than maybe Hitler would not have come to power.
Lesson: It is important that you know how a democracy works. Know your rights, so that leaders or governments cannot take them away. What you don't know can hurt you.

Question #3  Okay, but how can study history help me right now?
 1. First, think about this: do human beings change? Are we different than the people that lived 100, 400, or 1,000 years in the past? 
   One day I asked my favorite professor, if the people of the past are like us. Do they experience what we experience?Today, although we have eletricity, mass communication, air travel,  but does that make modern peoples different?
No, he said, the human experience does not change. This means that we can apply what we know about the being human to people of the past.  All human beings need the same things: we need food, shelter, and clothing. Once your physical needs are satisfied, then people start exploring the arts, building monuments projects, start writing poetry---the list is endless. 
    Consider that during prehistory, early man entered caves and painted on the walls in Southern France. Remember that they left no written records, but historians and archeologists and make inferences (the facts + our knowledge).
   So, what can we conclude about these ancient peoples? These people must have had plenty of food, shelter and resources. Lesson: Historians study of people and it can clue us into human behavior. People don't consider creating art when they are hungry, wet or unsafe. 

2. Studying social studies teaches you about how to research.   ( See my research page for more specific information)