Don't Know Much About History: Middle School and Social Studies
Students are not getting the same quality of instruction in history that their parents and grandparents received. Critics point to many reasons why, with some saying the major problem is vague history standards in most states.
Others point to the fact that the requirements of the No Child Left Behind law emphasize reading and math to the detriment of social studies subjects (history, government and geography).
General Structure of History in American Schools
Elementary school
- One year of state history
- One year of U.S. history, usually covering the American revolution
Middle school
- One year of U.S. history, usually the American revolution through the Civil War
High school
- One more year of U.S. history, usually the Civil War to modern times.
But there is evidence that this is starting to change, and some teachers are coming up with innovative approaches that use primary sources, which are now more easily accessed because of the Web.
What Is Social Studies?
"One doesn't know whether to say 'social studies are' or 'social studies is'" says Diane Ravitch, professor of education at New York University. "People don't know if it's a science or a collection of disciplines."
"Social studies is an umbrella term covering lots of different things," says Michael Yell, a seventh-grade history teacher in Wisconsin and vice president of the National Council of the Social Studies. "Science is another example of an umbrella term," he explains. "In elementary school, science is one subject, but by middle school it starts breaking out into chemistry and biology."
The same is true with math: in elementary school, children study basic math, but by middle school, math has branched out into algebra and geometry. The specializing continues in high school with trigonometry and calculus.
In elementary school, many subjects - history, geography, current events and maybe some government - are lumped into the social studies category, but once students reach middle school they will start receiving instruction in the separate disciplines.
History: The Spine of Social Studies
Prior to the 1930s, history was considered a core subject along with reading, writing and math. According to Ravitch, in her article A Brief History of Social Studies, social studies supplanted history in the early part of the 20th century. Educators and politicians felt that teaching chronological history was not the best use of school resources at a time when most Americans needed job skills and were not necessarily college bound.
The separate disciplines that make up social studies, however, can all be taught within the context of history. "You're getting government, economics, geography and sociology in history. They all come together in one particular time and place in history," says Ravitch.
While there are no national history requirements in K-12 schools, the most likely course to be required is United States history. In addition, every state requires at least one year of state history.
The generally accepted program of history instruction is to teach one year of U.S. history in elementary school, one more in middle school and one final year in high school. Students usually learn about the American Revolution in elementary school, then revisit the American Revolution in middle school and continue on through the Civil War. In high school, they cover the Civil War through modern times.
"The least well-formed curriculum in U.S. history is at the elementary level," says Ravitch. "The first course usually occurs in fifth grade and is concerned with the early years of the republic. There are no state tests of history in elementary school, so teachers might not teach it. There's nothing mandatory across all states."
In elementary school, usually in fourth grade, students study their state's history. In grades below fourth grade, history instruction is spotty - many times it's covered by looking at biographies. By high school there are more options in the form of electives, such as economics, psychology, even Russian studies. "There can be what are called 'area study' classes, depending upon what the teachers put together," says Yell.
