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Thursday, September 26, 2013

Bring Back Social Studies – From the Pages of The Atlantic | Mr. D's Neighborhood

Bring Back Social Studies – From the Pages of The Atlantic | Mr. D's Neighborhood:

Bring Back Social Studies – From the Pages of The Atlantic

President Bush signing the bipartisan No Child...
The beginning of the end: President Bush signing NCLB at Hamilton H.S. in Hamilton, Ohio. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Even if you’ve said it a thousand times, it doesn’t hurt to say it again.
Mr. D’s much more industrious little sister, Dr. D (yep, she finished that doctorate!) drew my attention to this recent article from The Atlantic.  The article advocates stopping the current trend towards neutering social studies as a distinct discipline in American education.
While the article itself breaks no new ground, it encapsulates the history and status of the issue well so that newbies to the struggle get an eye opener–whilst the veterans get a refresher course in the shitstorm that is No Child Left Behind.
Jen Kalaidis opens with the decline of student time spent studying social studies, to a whopping 7.6 percent.  More importantly, she details the history of this