If you read this blog, you know I started my last internship today at the Chippewa Valley Museum. You also know that part of my job there is to create a teachers' guide for a new exhibit they just developed. Awesome. Seriously. It's probably my favorite part of museum education, of those that I've experienced so far. My task today was to peruse other guides, as well as finally read those pesky Social Studies Curriculum Standards for the State of Wisconsin. (They sound really important, but most educators think they're ineffective). Basically, they break social studies into 5 different areas: history, geography, economics, behavioral science (what the hell is that?), and political science. Each category has learning objectives for grades 4, 8, and 12. As an educator, I, of course, have an opinion about them. I like the fact that we've attempted to standardize education. However, the standards are written using incredibly vague language. For example: "Identify major discoveries in science and technology and describe their social and economic effects on the physical and human environment." What would be considered "major discoveries?" Or social and economic effects? How competent does the student need to be? So obviously, a lot is left out. But...how are we supposed to include that? That turns social studies into a black-and-white subject, which it's not. It's complicated.
Another big issue...I went to a private school. My teachers didn't have to follow these standards. I never took a geography in my life, and I'm a victory lap senior. I also never took economics until college. Hence, the title of this post. I never touched half of the material in these curriculum standards. However, I still had a fabulous education. I learned to write well (obviously). I learned to recognize areas where I might need improvement. I learned to think critically and make connections between different subjects.
Which brings me to a novel idea. Do we need curriculum standards? I know, it's wild. But I would argue that many teachers are passionate enough to figure out what they should be teaching. Mine were. Teaching at any level is not a profession you can go into without a degree of love for education and students. And maybe this idea wouldn't work. I don't know, but perhaps it's time (again) to re-evaluate our education system here in the US. In addition, there are national standards as well, so which set do teachers prioritize? Or are they relatively the same? I have no idea. Clearly, I have to do more research on this topic. The only thing I'm sure of is that the standards we have now probably don't do what we'd like them to do. I understand that it's tricky, but I also know that a quality education is vitally important. As they say, you can only get by on charm for about 15 minutes...after that, you'd better know something. And considering we're getting beat by multiple countries in many different knowledge areas, we should probably at least do some re-evaluating.
I also realize it's impossible to get every student to the same level of competence in all subjects. Far too many variables exist for that to happen. But if anything is obvious, something has to be done.
Interestingly enough, this whole post addresses many reasons I left the elementary education major as a sophomore. And yet, here I am, still concerned about it :)
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