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Ezine Ready

Independence Day Thought: Change Social Studies

I hope you know that Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence with the help of John Adams. I also hope you know that they both died exactly 50 years to the day that the Declaration was published: July 4, 1826.

The reason I say that I hope you know this is because few people do, and thats a shame.

I dont watch Jay Leno a lot, but I know he used to randomly ask questions to people on the street about things like American history, and theyd give totally idiotic answers. This, by the way, is a teachers worst fear: Seeing your former student on TV one night giving a thoroughly stupid response to a question they should know; that every American should know.

At what point did we decide that teaching vital aspects of American history was unimportant? I understand that not everybody is a history buff like me, but there ought to be a list of standards in history that we take seriously; that everyone should be required to know. My parents talked about taking civics in school (in the 1950s) where they learned everything about the U.S. and American history. From them, I got my love of this country and its history.

Did you take civics? Me neither. We took social studies, where we learned that Africans who had bones in their noses were people, too.

My point is that we have a shockingly low sense of patriotism in our social studies today. The students in my fourth grade class basically know that George Washington was our first president and thats about all. They dont know where we came from as a country. In fact, many of them think California is a country. Some think Mexico and Canada are states. They arent really sure why Abraham Lincoln was a great man. And theyve never even heard of Thomas Jefferson!

I dont mean to diminish the importance of the following knowledge, but I think it shows how our social studies priorities are mixed up in school today: They do know we treated Native Americans and African Americans badly. They generally think George W. Bush is a bad man. Those who think California is not part of Mexico do think it was stolen from Mexico by the U.S.

Those issues last mentioned are better suited for a more mature mind; not information for a nine-year-old whose thinking is very black-and-white. Where do they get this information? Television? Their parents? Former teachers (God forbid)?

Market report: Patriotism is down. Ignorance is up.

To celebrate this countrys 132nd birthday, I propose that we revamp our social studies to get back to basics at the elementary level. Whats wrong with promoting what a great nation we live in, and to truly know its proud history? Before we start getting into our mistakes (which have a deserved place in our education), lets tell our kids why theyre lucky to live here so that theyll have some perspective about our national miscues when we eventually talk about them.

In my class, we focus on California history because thats what fourth grade standards demand I teach. But I make sure we do the Pledge of Allegiance every day. We talk about what the Pledge means. And every chance I get, I try to put what went on California history into a broader, national, American perspective. I know not every teacher does this, but I feel its important. I want my students to be proud Americans, not ignorant dope heads on the Tonight Show. Father Junipero Serra has his place in history, but I dont think he trumps Adams and Jefferson.

After you leave, I want you to hit this link to the University of Virginias site on Thomas Jeffersons quotes about education. Ill leave you with one as a teaser and, at the same time, encourage you to get into a discussion about what we teach in social studies these days. I think there is room for some changes.

Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government;... whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights. --Thomas Jefferson to Richard Price, 1789.

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