Social Studies

Upon watching Glenn Beck, I got to thinking about "Social Studies". I took Social Studies in school as a child. I have (still do...) refused to ever call it anything but History.
I think of how it was taught to me and for the most part, my teachers read the textbook verbatim and we defined vocabulary and took an open book test. Bo-ring! We also for whatever reason never finished the textbook, lucky to get up to WWII in class- WWI and WWI and all in-between were often smooshed into one week of speed-reading.

Anyways, to quote Ravitch, I wish to delve into social studies really quickly. No commentary, just the quote as it speaks for itself.
The CRSE, a branch of the Committee of Ten, had a chairman, also chairman of the Committee on Social Studies, Thomas Jesse Jones. Jones believed (and here comes the verbatim chunk of info from Ravitch....)
"Jones was one of the first to coin the term " social studies". This new filed was formed by the intersection of two congenial ideas; one was social efficiency, or teaching students the skills and attitudes necessary to fit into social order; the other was ' the new history," whose advocates believed that the content of history in the schools should be selected on the basis of "the pupil's own immediate interest" and "general social significance". Proponents of social studies believed that pupils could not possibly be interested in history unless it was directly related to the present."

a founder of current education, revered by many feared by me

William Torrey Harris quotes

(Washington DC Commissioner of Education, one of “Committee of Ten” (see below at end), helped found the first public kindergarten (with help from Susan Blow), as he was then superintendent of St Louis public schools. )

Our schools have been scientifically designed to prevent over-education from happening. The average American [should be] content with their humble role in life, because they're not tempted to think about any other role.
– William T. Harris, U.S. Commissioner of Education, 1889

"Ninety-nine [students] out of a hundred are automata, careful to walk in prescribed paths, careful to follow the prescribed custom. This is not an accident but the result of substantial education, which, scientifically defined, is the subsumption of the individual."

"The great purpose of school can be realized better in dark, airless, ugly places ... It is to master the physical self, to transcend the beauty of nature. School should develop the power to withdraw from the external world."

Committee of Ten by the late 1800’s, it became apparent that there was a need for educational standardization[1].

Across the nation, and within communities, there were competing academic philosophies to resolve. One philosophy favored rote memorization, whereas another favored critical thinking. Along another dimension, one philosophy considered American high schools solely as institutions that would from the start (, sometimes based on race or ethnic background,) divide students into college-bound and working-trades groups, whereas another philosophy attempted to provide standardized courses for all students. Somewhat similarly, another philosophy promoted classic Latin/Greek studies, whereas other philosophies stressed practical studies.

[edit]

To resolve these issues, the National Education Association formed The 1892 Committee of Ten. Committee members were chosen from educators across the United States, primarily from colleges and universities. The committee was chaired by Charles William Eliot, the president of Harvard University. Twelve years of education were recommended, with eight years of elementary education followed by four years of high school. All students would be taught, regardless of their further education plans or careers.