Growing Pains

The trend today seems to be to eliminate Social Studies from the elementary curriculum. It seems to be as we struggle to become a global society that Social Studies is needed more than ever. As we watch Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya struggle to overthrow cruel and inhumane dictatorships, and try to decide what, if any, support our own country should provide for these rebels, we have to know about their culture and how their struggles within their own countries affect the well being of the entire world. When we toppled the government in Iraq, we did not receive the welcome we thought we would, because we knew nothing of their culture. We did not know how to help in a way that was acceptable to their people.

When we start by teaching our young students how to create a community within their classrooms and build on that every year to reach out into serving neighborhoods, cities, states, nations and the world, we teach our students to become leaders. We need social studies to create leaders who understand the diverse cultures of the world to enable us to survive the growing pains we are now experiencing as we all struggle to become one society working together for the betterment of all.