Social studies has the ability to feel very relevant and contemporary for students, when taught in an engaging way. Even a world history course that covers events from hundreds or thousands of years ago can prompt student discussions surrounding ethics, human tolerance, governance, and human rights. Social studies challenges students to ask tough questions and reflect on the way they interact with each other, with their community, with their government, and with the rest of humanity. It is a broad field that empowers students to reconsider their identity and role in society. A strong social studies background is essential to how an adolescent identifies with the large and overwhelming world around him or her.

History and political science, in particular, combine to make all human experience accessible and open for discussion. The study of history demands students to evaluate history’s actors and the decisions they made and how that affected the social environments around them. Political science draws these analytical skills into present debates of government, authority, fairness, and citizenship. Social studies prepares students for future careers and citizenship by developing their eye for valid arguments, clear thinking or processing of new knowledge, and their role in civic life. To teach students how to ask important societal questions, evaluate claims, and defend their beliefs is to strengthen their voice and support the core of their being: ideas.

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