As a middle school English teacher, I'm perpetually amazed at the problems you describe. For example, one class reading references Prohibition, and maybe only one or two students *per class* each year know what it was.
It gets worse and worse every year.
Adding to a lack of cultural and historical knowledge, a general grasp of idioms and figurative language is in free fall. You could spend weeks covering "the basics" and still drown.
At the age of 33 one of the things i realised that native language literature classes were doing was instilling a common cultural narrative/code. The whole "blue curtains symbolise sadness and such". When i was in school i never understood why the symbols meant what the teacher said and the meanings didn't make sense and thus i took it more literally (like the sun is just the sun and does not convey hope). Yes, i did suck at interpretations.
With individualisation and being in smaller "bubbles" we are losing stuff that would help us relate to the bigger community (like country) and to easily convey messages in a way that the recipient would understand.
I fight this battle daily. The said truth is that the fight is often with educators. I was told by a fellow educator that as long as I kept them safe and fed, nothing else mattered because they were not working for credits. It absolutely floored me. Kids need knowledge and the adults in their lives must share a love for knowledge with our kids.
As an educator of more than a decade, I would say that the biggest deficit in education is geography and social studies. Why? Those topics are not on end of year tests, so schools and teachers don't feel pressure to make sure the students know them. Why? The public has very strong opinions about what should and should not be taught in social studies classes, and so politics get in the way of progress.
Being over 65, I appreciate having learned a lot of historical facts in my schooling. I also remember filling in diagrams about the three branches of government. I can’t imagine being in the world with a lack of that context! It’s pretty appalling. I wonder how much history my daughter and nieces and nephews got? Maybe I’ll do a little survey of my own!
There is clearly a "knowledge gap" in students today, but it is very unclear what important knowledge is missing. Not knowing that the District of Columbia is the capitol of the US and the seat of government is probably a common lack - why should students and adults remember this isolated info when they don't need to use-remember it on a regular basis? Is that fact really important to know and remember? With so much info around, what is really important to know and remember? It would be more discouraging to know that many older children and adults have limited knowledge of the contents of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence than the name D.C. Is there a lack of knowledge of the causes of the Revolutionary War, whom we fought against and why, and the outcome? What knowledge is there about slavery and the Civil War? World War 2? The cold war? Current issues facing the US? I would hope that Americans have an understanding of, or are constantly learning about the scientific method and scientific investigation, and how scientists go after the "truth". If we're going to complain about student lack of background knowledge, let's make sure that we focus on the most important information needed to understand the world around us, not just selected, isolated facts that are interesting to know but may not make a difference to our lives and the lives of others. We should also consider the age of students and where they are in school and the learning process...
One additional reason to know this stuff is we are democracy. As citizens we have a duty to be informed and be knowledgeable, so we can vote properly and keep this democracy.
When are we going to discuss how the very knowledge-based programs that many endorsed are going to make the next move, which is to have social studies embedded into the knowledge-based curriculum addressing geography, economics and the skills of thinking like a historian in them. The Science of Reading will fail if we continue to ignore the importance of social studies and how it needs to be addressed in these programs. In addition, states must begin to assess knowledge instead of just comprehension.
I agree that social studies (particularly history and geography) have been neglected, especially at the elementary level. In an ideal world, elementary schools would spend far more time on them and less time on the "reading block." But in a system where there's so much pressure to spend time on the "tested subjects," reading and math, it's very hard to make that shift happen.
Knowledge-building elementary literacy curricula DO cover social studies topics, to varying degrees, and they're probably our best hope, at this point, of enabling kids to acquire that kind of knowledge. So I'd say they have already "made the next move" that you allude to.
Some social studies proponents criticize those curricula, as you seem to be doing, for not teaching the skill of "thinking like a historian." But historians can think the way they do largely because they already know a lot about history--and at least some of the knowledge-building literacy curricula teach a lot more about history than the typical elementary social studies curriculum does (history is generally left out until at least fourth or fifth grade, often on the mistaken assumption that it's developmentally inappropriate for younger students).
Younger students can and should be taught to ask the kinds of questions historians ask--like whether a certain source is reliable--but that can be done within the context of a literacy OR a social studies curriculum. Sometimes people assume a literacy curriculum will only focus on literary analysis--things like character or setting. But that is definitely not true of the knowledge-building literacy curricula I'm familiar with.
One of my required courses during teacher training several decades ago to become a high school English teacher was called "Reading in the Content Areas". What we need is "Content in the Reading Areas". And matching that content to social studies/science standards makes the most sense. Otherwise, your elementary school teacher has every right to complain that they are experiencing "everything, everywhere, all at once." Take pity.
Natalie, this is so important to talk about, and so true. It's crucial to ensure students have access to high quality instruction, curriculum and, most of all, teachers who have a solid foundation of knowledge and professional learning to support their students. The future is in our hands. Thank you for using your platform to drive awareness and positive change. You are the BEST!!
What’s the point of teaching civics if it’s not on the state exams and doesn’t impact my annual bonus like their ELA and math scores do?
(Okay, really I’m not saying there’s no point, only that schools and teachers respond to incentives and we’re coming off the tail end of a bipartisan curriculum and testing regime that saw language and mathematics as the only content worth testing.)
I remember someone saying that the purpose of school now is to prepare children for the exams.
Heck, i remember the 11-12th grades was basically preparation for the final exam. We were taught to do things in a way that would meet the exam requirements.
As a middle school English teacher, I'm perpetually amazed at the problems you describe. For example, one class reading references Prohibition, and maybe only one or two students *per class* each year know what it was.
It gets worse and worse every year.
Adding to a lack of cultural and historical knowledge, a general grasp of idioms and figurative language is in free fall. You could spend weeks covering "the basics" and still drown.
At the age of 33 one of the things i realised that native language literature classes were doing was instilling a common cultural narrative/code. The whole "blue curtains symbolise sadness and such". When i was in school i never understood why the symbols meant what the teacher said and the meanings didn't make sense and thus i took it more literally (like the sun is just the sun and does not convey hope). Yes, i did suck at interpretations.
With individualisation and being in smaller "bubbles" we are losing stuff that would help us relate to the bigger community (like country) and to easily convey messages in a way that the recipient would understand.
I fight this battle daily. The said truth is that the fight is often with educators. I was told by a fellow educator that as long as I kept them safe and fed, nothing else mattered because they were not working for credits. It absolutely floored me. Kids need knowledge and the adults in their lives must share a love for knowledge with our kids.
As an educator of more than a decade, I would say that the biggest deficit in education is geography and social studies. Why? Those topics are not on end of year tests, so schools and teachers don't feel pressure to make sure the students know them. Why? The public has very strong opinions about what should and should not be taught in social studies classes, and so politics get in the way of progress.
Being over 65, I appreciate having learned a lot of historical facts in my schooling. I also remember filling in diagrams about the three branches of government. I can’t imagine being in the world with a lack of that context! It’s pretty appalling. I wonder how much history my daughter and nieces and nephews got? Maybe I’ll do a little survey of my own!
There is clearly a "knowledge gap" in students today, but it is very unclear what important knowledge is missing. Not knowing that the District of Columbia is the capitol of the US and the seat of government is probably a common lack - why should students and adults remember this isolated info when they don't need to use-remember it on a regular basis? Is that fact really important to know and remember? With so much info around, what is really important to know and remember? It would be more discouraging to know that many older children and adults have limited knowledge of the contents of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence than the name D.C. Is there a lack of knowledge of the causes of the Revolutionary War, whom we fought against and why, and the outcome? What knowledge is there about slavery and the Civil War? World War 2? The cold war? Current issues facing the US? I would hope that Americans have an understanding of, or are constantly learning about the scientific method and scientific investigation, and how scientists go after the "truth". If we're going to complain about student lack of background knowledge, let's make sure that we focus on the most important information needed to understand the world around us, not just selected, isolated facts that are interesting to know but may not make a difference to our lives and the lives of others. We should also consider the age of students and where they are in school and the learning process...
One additional reason to know this stuff is we are democracy. As citizens we have a duty to be informed and be knowledgeable, so we can vote properly and keep this democracy.
When are we going to discuss how the very knowledge-based programs that many endorsed are going to make the next move, which is to have social studies embedded into the knowledge-based curriculum addressing geography, economics and the skills of thinking like a historian in them. The Science of Reading will fail if we continue to ignore the importance of social studies and how it needs to be addressed in these programs. In addition, states must begin to assess knowledge instead of just comprehension.
I agree that social studies (particularly history and geography) have been neglected, especially at the elementary level. In an ideal world, elementary schools would spend far more time on them and less time on the "reading block." But in a system where there's so much pressure to spend time on the "tested subjects," reading and math, it's very hard to make that shift happen.
Knowledge-building elementary literacy curricula DO cover social studies topics, to varying degrees, and they're probably our best hope, at this point, of enabling kids to acquire that kind of knowledge. So I'd say they have already "made the next move" that you allude to.
Some social studies proponents criticize those curricula, as you seem to be doing, for not teaching the skill of "thinking like a historian." But historians can think the way they do largely because they already know a lot about history--and at least some of the knowledge-building literacy curricula teach a lot more about history than the typical elementary social studies curriculum does (history is generally left out until at least fourth or fifth grade, often on the mistaken assumption that it's developmentally inappropriate for younger students).
Younger students can and should be taught to ask the kinds of questions historians ask--like whether a certain source is reliable--but that can be done within the context of a literacy OR a social studies curriculum. Sometimes people assume a literacy curriculum will only focus on literary analysis--things like character or setting. But that is definitely not true of the knowledge-building literacy curricula I'm familiar with.
One of my required courses during teacher training several decades ago to become a high school English teacher was called "Reading in the Content Areas". What we need is "Content in the Reading Areas". And matching that content to social studies/science standards makes the most sense. Otherwise, your elementary school teacher has every right to complain that they are experiencing "everything, everywhere, all at once." Take pity.
Natalie, this is so important to talk about, and so true. It's crucial to ensure students have access to high quality instruction, curriculum and, most of all, teachers who have a solid foundation of knowledge and professional learning to support their students. The future is in our hands. Thank you for using your platform to drive awareness and positive change. You are the BEST!!
Thanks!
What’s the point of teaching civics if it’s not on the state exams and doesn’t impact my annual bonus like their ELA and math scores do?
(Okay, really I’m not saying there’s no point, only that schools and teachers respond to incentives and we’re coming off the tail end of a bipartisan curriculum and testing regime that saw language and mathematics as the only content worth testing.)
I remember someone saying that the purpose of school now is to prepare children for the exams.
Heck, i remember the 11-12th grades was basically preparation for the final exam. We were taught to do things in a way that would meet the exam requirements.