History & Civics
People live in the present. They plan for and worry about the future. History, however, is the study of the past. Given all the demands that press in from living in the present and anticipating what is yet to come, why bother with what has been? Given all the desirable and available branches of knowledge, why insist—as most American educational programs do—on a good bit of history? And why urge many students to study even more history than they are required despite history’s absence on high-stakes standardized testing?
We believe a cogent and ongoing study of history is necessary for the following reasons:
It is in history lessons that students learn skills ranging from reading a map to making an argument. Students learn how to assess the validity of evidence, evaluate conflicting points of view and apply facts to making decisions.
We believe a cogent and ongoing study of history is necessary for the following reasons:
- To help us develop judgment in worldly affairs by understanding the past behavior of people and societies
- To help us understand change and how the community, nation and world we live in came to be
- To help us develop essential skills for good citizenship
- To inspire us
- To help us develop essential thinking skills
- Reading at the evaluation, synthesis, analysis and interpretation levels
- Analytical thinking skills through writing
- Analytical thinking
It is in history lessons that students learn skills ranging from reading a map to making an argument. Students learn how to assess the validity of evidence, evaluate conflicting points of view and apply facts to making decisions.