SOCIAL SCIENCES

Philosophy

Citizen participation in public life is essential for the health of our democratic system. Effective social studies programs help prepare students to identity, understand and work to solve problems that face our increasingly diverse nation and interdependent world organization. A well designed social studies curriculum:

· Begins in preschool and continues throughout formal education and includes a range of related electives at the secondary level.
· Fosters individual and cultural identity.
· Includes observation of and participation in the school and community as part of the curriculum.
· Deals with critical issues in the real world.
· Prepares students to make decisions based on American principles. Demands high standards of performance and measures student success by means requiring more than the memorization of information.
·Helps students realize the social, political, and economic reasons that caused people to immigrate to America in the late 1800's.
· Helps students realize the social, political, and economic effects of the immigration movement in America.
· Helps students understand the role of labor unions in America.
· Depends on innovative teachers broadly prepared in history and the humanities, social sciences, and in educational theory and practice.
· Involves community members as resources for program development and student involvement.
· Leads to citizenship participation in public affairs.
· Fosters attitudes and values for participating in a democratic society.

A curriculum with such a design contributes not only to the development of students' capacity to read and analyze, but also to their ability to link knowledge and skills with an understanding of and commitment to democratic principles and their application.

In addition to the above curriculum design, an effective social studies program would promote

1. Informed citizens who are aware and involved with solving local, state, national and world problems.

2. The acquisition of knowledge in the social studies by understanding the various disciplines of the social sciences; (i.e., anthropology, history, geography, government, economics, psychology, and sociology).

3. The development of study skills for functioning effectively in a complex society. Such study skills include data gathering, intellectual skills, interpersonal skills and decision making.

4. The appreciation of values for effective citizenship. Such values include justice, equality, responsibility, freedom, diversity, and privacy.