I’m considering changing my major (again). I don’t enjoy the classes required for a psych major. When I don’t like something, I tend not to do it and therefore end up with crap grades at the end of the semester or dropping the class several weeks in. I’m considering changing to history with a goal of eventually teaching it. I’d prefer the collegiate level, but a better option is on the secondary level.
Most people hate history. To them, it was just years of rote memorization of names, places, and dates from a long time ago. Read the chapters and answer the questions at the end, then do a worksheet. Memorize all the dates and events on this timeline. Memorize and recite this famous document, but receive no explanation of why it’s still relevant a thousand years later.
For current students, it’s even worse. Today Social Studies (and most other classes) are all about test preparation. You know, the state tests where if you fail, you don’t move on to the next grade (or graduate, depending on year), your teachers’ jobs are in danger, and the school just might be taken over by the government (if enough of you do poorly). So the curriculum is altered to only cover things found on the test and students get buried in work by teachers trying to get it all in.
In many districts, for a person to coach a sports team, they must teach a class. Many of these people are not teachers (although they may get certified later) and are often assigned, you guessed it, history and other social studies courses. These “teachers” are only teaching because they need to be in a classroom for an hour and thus do not teach at all. They give out worksheets and other busy work and may have students read the chapters out loud to fill the time, but that is it. They don’t want to be there, and neither do the students.
It is not until college that most students begin to become engaged by history. There are of course those who draw a boring professor or are just not interested and never learn to enjoy it. It takes a professor who can turn the past into more than just facts. One who can tell compelling stories of all these things that happened so long ago. One that can lead discussions and evoke thoughtful dialogue among students. People emerge from these classes with a newly found enjoyment for the subject and some even make it their primary field of study.
Why can’t this happen on the lower levels? Eliminate No Child Left Behind. Reform education. Hire qualified teachers who are passionate about the subjects they teach and let them inspire that same passion in their students.
This is something that can and should be done and not just for history and other social science classes. How many people are turned off of math or science due to similar policies? When we don’t educate those that are our future well, the future starts looking a lot like this.
