The Article

MSU Distinguished Professor Jere Brophy, Professor Janet Alleman, and doctoral student Carolyn O’Mahony collaborated to write this chapter on social studies as it has been taught in U.S. elementary schools. The authors address the evolution of social studies as a school subject, its purposes and goals, and its present status.

Discussion

The authors note that lacking a broad perspective on social studies as a coherent K-12 subject, elementary teachers often are confused about its purposes and uncertain about how to teach it. The confusion is understandable, they add, given that the history of social studies has been marked by ongoing debates over its nature, scope and definition. The National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and most leaders in the field consider social studies a coherent K-12 subject organized to prepare young people for citizenship. However, some discipline-based organizations and leaders prefer to view social studies as an umbrella term for courses in history, geography, and the social sciences. In addition, while most social studies educators accept the idea that social studies bears a special responsibility for citizen education, conflict arises because they differ in their definitions of citizen education and methods to accomplish it. Historically, citizen education has always been an important function of public schooling in the U.S, the authors point out. “This was reaffirmed during the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, when the nation was absorbing millions of immigrants and feeling the need to inculcate them in democratic traditions and values, especially in the elementary grades, which were the only schooling that most citizens experienced at the time.” It was at that time that the so-called “heroes-holidays-history” curriculum became popular, reflecting recommendations of a committee appointed by the American Historical Association. This curriculum involved studying Native American life, the history of Thanksgiving, the story of Columbus, the European backgrounds of American history, and other areas. The authors chronicle the various changes in social studies education during the 20^th Century. Today, for example, it has become increasingly important to adopt a global perspective on the topics addressed in social studies, as well as to add a multicultural perspective to aspects that are specific to the United States. Thus, even as teachers continue to focus on educating students in core values and a common culture, they also connect these issues to multiple perspectives. “The ‘e pluribus unum’ motto provides a useful lens for viewing the ways in which social studies … has changed and yet remained the same over the last century. Social studies education has moved from a focus on the unum, the notion of a single American identity, to a focus on the pluribus, the consideration of multiple peoples who together make up the American nation as it moves into the new millennium.”

What It Means to You

As the authors make clear, elementary teachers are often confused about the purposes of social studies and uncertain about how to teach it. Do teachers in your district have a coherent understanding of social studies? The confusion over the goals and purposes of social studies can have negative consequences, leading teachers to downgrade its importance in the curriculum or offering fragmented programs because they select activities for convenience or student interest rather than for their value as means of accomplishing educational goals.

For More Information

Brophy, J., Alleman, J. & O’Mahony, C. (2000). Elementary school social studies: Yesterday, today and tomorrow. In Thomas L. Good (Ed.), American education: Yesterday, today and tomorrow, 256-312. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

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